TikTok sensation Khaby Lame has been named Forbes Most Influential person.
Lame rose to fame over his witty videos depicting how one can easily perform a task without using complicated tools.
He has millions of following yet in his videos he never speaks.
The magazine approximated Lame's income to be at $16.5 million (Sh2.4 billion) as of June 2022. This the company attributed to the endorsement that the influencer has had since his breakthrough.
He also told Forbes that for every post he makes on his TikTok and Instagram, he earns a total of $750,000 (Sh110,000,000)
Forbes reported that Lame has worked with brands such as; Hugo Boss, Binance and Middle East bank QNB, Fortnite among other partnerships.
The 23-year-old also told Forbes that the brands he is working with must fit his family and friends, this excludes alcohol, cigarettes and any product bad for human consumption.
“I turn down most requests. I want to work clean. I’ve never worked with an alcohol company, cigarettes or anything that’s bad for you because a lot of kids follow me," he said.
The Italian influencer became more popular during the Covid-19 pandemic period when he would mimic and mock other people, and show the simplest way to do his tasks.
He has since gained over 160 million followers on his TikTok with 2.4 million likes.
“When I started making videos, people told me to get a proper job. But I continued to make videos because that’s what I like doing, even though no one was watching them," he told Forbes.
To rank Lame as the most influential creator, Forbes said it used data on the earnings, follower counts, engagement rates and entrepreneurial activities of thousands of internet personalities with the help of creator marketing firm Influential.
"Between June 2022 and June 2023, our 50 leading creators leveraged their combined 2.6 billion social media followers to haul in an estimated $700 million in earnings. That’s a 23% jump from 2022’s $570 million," the company said.
However, in matters of creation, Lame became number 11 on the Forbes list.
The top creator badge was earned by Jimmy Donaldson alias Mr Beast
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