LONDON, January 13, 2026 — Tilt House is pleased to announce a new partnership with 

, a UK-based think tank working to safeguard humanity from nuclear risks and security threats.

Through the partnership, Tilt House will support BASIC with strategic communications, PR, digital storytelling and website management as the organisation continues to shape policy conversations on international security and nuclear disarmament.

BASIC is known for its long-standing work bridging research, policy and diplomacy. By promoting dialogue that help states overcome complex political and strategic differences, BASIC plays a critical role in informing security policy at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

Tilt House will work closely with BASIC to strengthen how its research and convening power is communicated to policymakers, partners and the general public — ensuring their complex ideas reach the right people.

“BASIC is doing some of the most thoughtful and necessary work in the international security space today,” said Sam Viney, co-founder and managing director of Tilt House. “We’re excited to support them in sharpening their communications so that their ideas can truly land with their audiences.”

The collaboration builds on Tilt House’s experience working with mission-driven organisations and research institutions that operate at the intersection of policy, innovation and social impact.

“Any work on international security policy today demands that we appreciate the complex interplays between it and other policy areas,” explained Sebastian Brixey-Williams, BASIC’s executive director. “We were drawn to Tilt House’s ethical and interdisciplinary issue areas — cutting across climate change, social justice and peace and security — as well as the range of communications expertise they have at their disposal.”

For BASIC, the partnership comes at a time of growing demand for evidence-based, internationally minded policy analysis. As governments and institutions grapple with evolving security risks — from nuclear governance to emerging technologies — effective communication is essential for informing real-world decision-making.

Tilt House announces new partnership with think tank BASIC

By Gladys Megai, Digital Marketing Associate, Tilt House, and Sam Viney, Co-Founder, Tilt House

As Nigeria turns to off-grid power solutions, its green energy transition may depend on an unexpected partner. We regret to inform all policymakers, clean energy champions, and press: the hero of this story is… the niche social media influencer. Hear me out.

Today, around four in ten Nigerians — more than 80 million people — still live without access to electricity, the largest energy-access gap of any country in the world. The national grid simply doesn’t reach everyone, and where it does, it often can’t keep up with demand. Across the country, blackouts happen often. That’s why diesel and petrol generators are everywhere. By 

, these generators make up more combined power than utility-scale plants.

Going solar is an appealing alternative to noisy and expensive generators. Solar is now very affordable. The cost of solar panels has dropped by over 90% over the last ten years. Though startup costs can be pricey, financing options are now a common way to break up initial product costs into small, manageable payments.

It’s no surprise that social media is on the rise, and Nigeria is no exception. The country ranks among the world’s heaviest social media users, with the average user spending 

What may come as a surprise (at least to these millennial authors) is the digital phenomenon that is flipping the script on search engines.

Once upon a time, websites carried a certain “I’m official!” glow; something that social platforms couldn’t quite match. But that’s changing fast.

 of Gen Z uses social media as their primary search engine, which is leaving the old guard (yes, even Google) playing catch-up.

This trend is especially true in Africa, where Facebook reigns, and small businesses often 

How can we explain these digital trends, and how does it tie back to solar?

For one, trust is a critical issue in Nigeria’s digital economy. Higher-than average rates of fraud and scams mean that people are especially cautious online.

In Nigeria, this has created a “trust filter” where audiences pay close attention to who is speaking, not just what is being said. A familiar face from their community recommending a solar product feels far safer than an anonymous advert.

Trust issues aren’t just Nigeria’s problem, though. They’re everyone’s. And though I’d love to pin them on our collective exes, these ones are deeply systemic. In a world where brand voices are suffocating and everything is starting to sound homogeneous (cough, ChatGPT, cough), a little authenticity can go a long way. 

So, while marketers could invest millions on high-budget TV productions, billboards, and fancy websites, it’s plausible—if not highly likely—that their audiences are tuning them out altogether. Smartphones and social media have leapfrogged the television.

not clout. In rural Zambia, for instance, a study found that most solar converts are 

That’s where influencers come in. And I don’t mean the usual suspects. The smaller and more niche, the better, honestly.

These influencers may only have a couple thousand followers, but they often have something that the big wigs may not: A raw offering of humanity.

, known for her relatable family and home content, were to share how solar has helped her keep the lights on during dinner parties, she would be providing social proof to hundreds of thousands who trust her.

, one of Nigeria’s leading tech storytellers, whose videos break down how innovations, from mobile devices to home power solutions, fit into everyday life. His grounded storytelling makes tech feel personal and attainable. If someone like Fisayo were to showcase how clean energy products integrate seamlessly into a modern Nigerian lifestyle, his audiences would be likely to listen and act.

A new initiative funded by the IKEA Foundation, 

, is exploring exactly this concept: how micro-influencers can be used to shift behaviour and build trust in the solar space.

Through the project, Tilt House, a small but growing mission-driven communications agency (that’s us!) is working with leading Nigerian off-grid solar companies to partner with these influencers.

The goal is to meet audiences where they already are: on WhatsApp groups, Instagram reels, and TikTok videos that blend everyday life with practical problem-solving. It’s a subtle but powerful shift: from polished ads to conversations that feel like they’re coming from a neighbour who’s tried it, tested it, and trusts it.

The project is working with local research and behaviour change communications experts to produce tasteful content that will digitally capture what’s already happening in the real world: authentic human interactions.

With the future of our climate at stake, it’s time to take an all-hands-on deck approach. In a country where trust and community drive decisions, everyday influencers from the hairstylist, the tech tinkerer, the lifestyle mum, might just be the unexpected heroes of Nigeria’s solar revolution.

Solar's unlikely ally

By Sam Viney, Co-Founder, Tilt House

It’s official: 

 love social media. On average, people in these two countries spend more time on social media than anyone else in the world, averaging over three and a half hours per person each day. As an Arsenal Football Club fan, this doesn’t surprise me. Type "Arsenal" into any social media platform, and it quickly sparks millions of comments from Kenyan diehards.

Enough about Arsenal; it’s been a lacklustre season so far. What’s particularly striking is that, despite Africa having the lowest proportion of people globally with internet access, the continent ranks disproportionately high in social media usage. It’s not just Kenya and South Africa—four of the top 20 countries with the highest per capita social media usage are in Africa.

What’s behind this? Social media, rather than websites, is the norm in Africa. It’s clear too that Facebook reigns supreme across the continent. While the platform has been pushed out by newer competitors in Europe and the US, in Africa it’s still the main player.

, with the number projected to rise to over 

 of all social media traffic in the region.

Facebook’s dominance in Africa is no coincidence. A decade ago, the company launched an ambitious plan to use drones to 

 to rural areas across Africa and Asia. The project was short-lived, but Facebook quickly pivoted, launching 

’, offering millions of people living in Africa free access to Facebook and a select number of other platforms. While users could access information on the platform often without having to pay for data, the format was limited: no photos, videos, or audio – just basic text.

 in 2022 revealed that the programme helped Facebook gain an astonishing 

 in the second half of 2021 alone. Furthermore, partnerships between telecommunications firms and social media companies have led to ‘social bundles’, which give users free access to specific social media channels for a certain period of time.

 has been steadily chipping away at Facebook’s market share in Africa, the platform remains dominant, particularly in low-income and rural areas. As the continent’s population continues to grow rapidly and register its online presence, Facebook is compensating for 

I met Timothy in Nairobi in 2023 when the 60-year-old painter's Arsenal-themed signs and knick-knacks unsurprisingly caught my eye. “Yeah, I’m on Facebook,” said Timothy. “I’ve got to sell my work. I write about each one of my products on there, and people just contact me to buy them.” Our conversation reveals that Timothy has used social media as a search engine for years to flog his rather charming football memorabilia. He doesn’t have a website but provides long descriptions of his work, has a public business page, and shares videos of his products on Facebook and Meta-owned WhatsApp. He estimated that a solid 30% of his sales involved Facebook or WhatsApp in some shape or form.

Anyone working in social media and digital communications will have heard the new truism, or perhaps cliché, in marketing that “social media is the now a search engine". Forbes reports that 

 now use social media to search for answers to questions and find products. For Gen Z, the number is even higher — 

 of them use social media as their primary search engine for information and to buy goods.

This year, marketing teams have been scratching their heads: if people are actively looking for answers to specific questions, not just seeking entertainment or passively absorbing information on social media, how can we create content that serves them and meets their needs? In practice, this means creating longer, more factual posts that blend video, text and ‘meta-data’ (descriptions of what you are posting about on the backend of Facebook) which are more educational and searchable in nature. At Sun King, Africa’s largest off-grid solar company, Tilt House is working with their fabulous social media team to help make solar more searchable on social media. It works! Social media is a fast-growing source of sales.

Having developed African social media projects and channels for over a decade, I can confidently say that social media has always been the primary search engine for the continent. The paucity of e-commerce websites and traditional information-heavy web platforms, in conjunction with the prevalence and ease of access to social media, means that, in some ways, social media 

 the internet for certain demographics in Africa. This trend isn’t a recent development — it’s been the case for years. This dynamic arguably becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: social media is the norm, so people only post on social media, and website and app development become more of a ‘nice to have’ than a ‘need’ for many resource-constrained organisations and businesses.

Traditional e-commerce websites and apps are becoming more and more common across Africa, but social media — primarily Facebook — remains the main online storefront for almost all businesses, large and small, across the continent. Yes, Instagram is important for younger users and TikTok for even younger ones, but Facebook provides an often-free way for all customers to search for, contact, promote and rate businesses — all in one fell swoop.

Over the last decade, Facebook has adopted deliberate strategies to expand its reach on the continent, and reach those with limited or no previous access to the internet. The moral questions surrounding access to information and net neutrality are pertinent. In India, for example, Facebook’s ‘Free Basics’ approach has engendered fierce criticism, leading to 

 preventing it from introducing its free app. African governments have largely, thus far, opted not to follow the same approach.

Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are among the top 20 countries globally for social media usage. Despite internet 

 in countries like Ethiopia and Uganda, where governments have limited or temporarily closed access to the internet and social media platforms, it’s highly likely that we’ll see more African nations enter the Top 20 list very soon.

Today, most people in Africa have potential access to smartphone data coverage. Smartphone affordability remains the key barrier to mobile internet for most. But, prices have reduced dramatically with an influx of devices priced at below $100. Companies like Sun King and M-Kopa are offering bottom-of-the-financial-pyramid customers with affordable and fair loans to purchase phones, paying them off over 12 to 18 months, improving access to this modern necessity.

It stands to reason that of those gaining access to the internet for the first time in Africa, many will use it primarily to access social media because it is either free to access or heavily subsidised. Just as my Mum’s loyalty to her recently hacked AOL email account attests (sorry, Mum), people’s first introduction to the internet will have a lasting legacy. Facebook is creating a captive audience in rural Africa by providing free or close-to-free access to its channels.

Communications professionals must pay close attention to the evolving African digital media landscape. The global internet landscape has undergone significant changes, with social media now playing the central role – duh, of course. However, nowhere is this more pronounced than in remote Africa communities, where social media serves as a primary channel for accessing information.

Treating social media as a search engine is not a trend confined to Africa alone — people worldwide are actively turning to social media to search for products, services and information. However, in Africa, this dynamic will continue to be increasingly pronounced. With limited access to traditional search engines, a paucity of traditional websites promoting services, and the often-prohibitive cost of services like Google for consumers, it's smart to make sure that information is made highly searchable on social media platforms. This is an art and a science: businesses and content creators are capitalising on the demand for accessible, easily searchable information in a digital ecosystem where social media is the first point of call.

 people access social media in Africa and 

 people can access on the internet will have significant political, social and business implications. Greater regulation and scrutiny of how African citizens access information through social media and who bears the cost of that access is critical. At the same time, Kenyans and South Africans will continue spending over three and a half hours daily on social media. It’s where people communicate. Communications professionals looking to engage communities who have recently gained access to the internet should be aware of these unique dynamics.

News and views

Tilt House announces new partnership with think tank BASIC

Solar's unlikely ally

How social media became the primary search tool in Africa