By Alex Balimwikungu
A few hours after she was born, singer Rema and Hamza Ssebunya’s daughter Aaliyah Ssebunya had an Instagram account. Within hours, it had thousands of followers. We can rightly predict that by the time baby Aaliyah’s account is finally verified, it will have millions of followers. This will set her on the path to become a top earning infant.
Parents in the social media era are too aware that influence is powerful and it doesn’t matter whether it comes from a baby. They (parents) are putting their babies out there in the public eye. That fad is not lost on Anne Kansiime and fiancé Skylanta. Their son, Selassie Ataho, won a brand endorsement deal with Uganda’s Mukwano Industry. The two don’t compare to Princess Latifah Dangote, daughter of Tanzanian singer Diamond Platnumz and socialite Zari Hassan. She was once dubbed the most expensive baby in East Africa. She presently has 2.9 million followers,
Fans did not see Latifah’s face until 40 days were over and the revelation also came with an announcement that she was the brand ambassador for BabyShop at Msasani City Mall and Pugu Mall in Tanzania. The Baby Shop complimentary contract was worth one million Tanzania shillings (sh1.5m) monthly for one year.
Skylanta holding Selassie Ataho, his son with comedienne Anne Kansiime
A picture of the Ssebunyas, announcing Rema’s pregnancy
Zari and Latifah Dangote. The child has almost three million followers
National Microfinance Bank (NMB) of Tanzania also jumped on board and offered 50 million Tanzanian shillings (sh77m) to Diamond and Zari for their cute princess to promote the company’s Junior Account, as well as feature as the face of the bank on some occasions.
Influence is powerful — but can it really come from a baby? The answer is yes and parents of top-earning infants on social media certainly think so.
People have made careers out of their channels on YouTube and are now raking in big money on Instagram too. No matter what field they belong to; sports travel or food, when these influencers post and share, the world stops to listen. Surprisingly, this strong voice not only belongs to experts and seasoned players, but also to the rich kids of Instagram!
It would surprise you how much these tots who are barely 10 years of age make per post. Their tech-savvy parents have truly dedicated their lives to documenting their babies well and all-day in exchange for a few millions.
According to new data compiled by Bella Baby, Insta-kids as young as one can command thousands of dollars for a single sponsored post. When it comes to raking in the money, our Ugandan babies pale in comparison to their international counterparts. Here are some of the top earning kids
- Boomer Phelps – four years (sh10m per post)
The very adorable Boomer is the son of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and model Nicole Johnson. Boomer’s Instagram account shows he loves spending time with his dad and has also inherited his athletic attributes.
- Coco – ( sh11m per post)
This nine-year-old Instagram star who is known for being a young model and fashion icon from Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan dresses better than most adults. Her 636,000 followers on Instagram look forward to snaps of her stylishly dressed in cutting edge high fashion
- Ava Foley (sh13m per post)
The seven-year-old Ava from California has over 816,000 followers on Instagram and is the daughter of YouTube star Michelle Foley. She is also friends with a very well-known fellow kid-influencer Everleigh Soutas. Their collaborative Instagram account, which is run by their mothers, has more than one million followers.
Everleigh Rose Soutas (Sh58m per post)
Fashion blogger and photographer Savannah LaBrant, mother of seven-year-old Everleigh, handles her Instagram page that boasts 5.1 million followers. The toddler fashionista also shares a Tik Tok and Instagram account called ForEverAndForAva with her friend Ava Foley. Everleigh’s posts often include her younger sister Posie Rayne LaBrant (the one-year-old baby has 1.7 million followers too), attracting an average of 590,403 likes per post and an engagement rate of 11.39%.
