Ordior is proud to welcome a true African music icon and industry reformer into our global executive team: John Katana HSC has officially joined as Head of Music Rights & Royalty Innovation – Africa & Global Markets.

This is more than a title—it’s a movement.

With over 40 years of experience at the intersection of music, copyright, and cultural policy, John brings an unparalleled legacy of leadership and transformation. As the legendary frontman of Them Mushrooms—the band behind the global Swahili anthem “Jambo Bwana (Kenya Hakuna Matata)”—John helped define the sound of a generation while planting the flag for East African music on the world stage.

But John didn’t stop at the spotlight. He became the system.

As General Secretary of the Kenya Musicians Union (Ke-MU), a RIKE Board Member, and former leader within MCSK and the Kenya Copyright Board, John has worked tirelessly to protect the rights of artists across the continent. He’s lobbied policy, built frameworks, trained creators, and fought for every dollar owed to musicians lost in the system. His contributions have been honored at the national level with the Head of State Commendation (HSC) and Mashujaa Award—Kenya’s highest recognitions for cultural heroes.

John’s journey to ORDIOR began through our deep partnership restoring and managing the full copyright and royalty catalogue for Them Mushrooms. Working hand-in-hand with the ORDIOR and Blue Pie teams, we uncovered a powerful synergy—not just in systems, but in vision.

This isn’t just about African music. It’s about African rights, African revenue, and African creators getting what they’re owed—globally.

With John at the helm, ORDIOR is expanding its royalty recovery and rights administration services across the continent, empowering artists, labels, publishers, and collection agencies with transparent tools, scalable systems, and next-gen copyright infrastructure.

John Katana HSC is now leading the charge across:

• Africa’s creative economies
• Global music licensing, publishing, and metadata reform
• Royalty innovation and tracking tech for developing markets
• Training, empowerment, and policy guidance for rights holders

Welcome to the team, John. Your legacy is powerful—your next chapter is global.

Let’s change the system, continent by continent.

You’re home now and Jambo Bwana still echoes, but now… it’s about royalties and with Ordior on the team you know we will get the work done !

Welcome to ORDIOR.

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