Hong Kong – October 19, 2026 -- TECNO and BBC StoryWorks have released a new film about "100 Portraits of Becoming," a two-year portrait project that will collect 100 portraits and personal stories across five countries, starting in Kenya.
TECNO co-created the project with visual artist Angélica Dass. It pairs Dass's approach to portraiture with TECNO's Universal Tone imaging technology, which is designed to represent different skin tones fairly. The countries involved are Kenya, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Brazil.
Three Kenyans tell their stories on camera
The film introduces some of the people behind the Kenyan portraits, the project's first chapter.
Agripreneur Alex Mutua Muli connects local farmers to wider markets, building a future in the community where he grew up.
Alexander Odhiambo turned an uncertain start to his career into a new beginning. He co-founded a software company from a small apartment in Nairobi, and it now serves markets across Africa.
Jelimo Cheboi started with a small WhatsApp group and co-founded GirlSkate Nairobi. The group has grown into a community where girls and women can take up skateboarding, challenge expectations and find belonging.
Each story challenges an assumption
According to the film's framing, the three stories question where opportunity can be found, what a career can become and who gets to belong. Their lives, it argues, cannot be summed up by a single image or label.
Tom Deakin, Director, Content Strategy at BBC StoryWorks APAC, said the team wanted to look beyond an image and let people tell their own stories, hoping viewers will see others with more curiosity and understanding.
The project moves on to more countries
After Kenya, the project will continue to more countries. The finished work is meant to form a growing collection of 100 people and 100 stories. Updates will appear on the BBC StoryWorks project page and the project's official website.