KISUMU, Kenya—Kenyan street hawker Enokh Mulure and two friends recently spent about $1,300 on a truckload of Barack Obama mugs, calendars, baseball caps and T-shirts. Mr. Obama is making his first trip to Kenya as president this week, and to Mr. Mulure that means one thing: “Business.”  He isn’t the only Kenyan betting on an Obama cash bonanza. Across this east African nation, entertainers, hoteliers, safari companies and even some of the commander-in-chief’s distant family members are trying to profit from Kenya’s ancestral ties to the 44th president. Articles in Kenyan dailies are offering tips on how Kenyans can cash in on the visit.  The commercial buzz ahead of Mr. Obama’s arrival is crowning a seven-year boom for all things Barack: Kenyan radio stations have long blasted pop hits invoking Mr. Obama’s name. A company that sells mobile phone add-ons offers seven Obama-themed ringtones ranging from inspiring quotes to excerpts from his 2008 victory speech. Tourists coming to see the wildlife in Kenya’s safari parks book “Obama tours” that include a day in the village where his father was born.  The bottom line: In Kenya, Mr. Obama is more than a visiting dignitary—he is a symbol of opportunity and a brand that generates serious capital. His visit is shining a spotlight on a dynamic and bizarre industry—those cashing in on the Obama name.  “He’s got a blood connection with Kenya,” said Kenyan tourism board chief Muriithi Ndegwa, who stressed Obama-themed excursions are a “niche product” that complement the country’s big animal safaris and beach vacations.  “That’s a product we’re supporting so people can pay pilgrimage to the place where he traces his roots,” Mr. Ndegwa said. Kenyans know Mr. Obama was born in the U.S., but they still look upon him as a native son.  Mr. Obama will be in Nairobi this weekend to discuss policy, security, and entrepreneurship with Kenyan political and business leaders. If the Obama-namesake enterprises are any indication, the Kenyans have the entrepreneurship covered.  Towns across the country are planning parties and cottage business ventures irrespective of whether the president is scheduled to visit. Kisumu—the closest city to the Obama family’s ancestral village—hasn’t been mentioned as part of Mr. Obama’s itinerary, but locals are planning street parties and selling Obama-emblazoned T-shirts they say will be the “uniform of the festival.” The T-shirts show Mr. Obama’s face and the Kenyan and American flags blending into one.  Helping to organize the Kisumu party is a comedy duo who make a living mimicking Mr. Obama. Lawrence Oyange, 32, began impersonating the president back in 2006. With his partner, Milton Obote, he has built a nationwide following with his Obama-themed act—hosting mock U.S. elections, doing club routines and performing at corporate events.  The jokes are rather different from Mr. Obama’s patter at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner. Many of the yarns revolve around fishing—the traditional livelihood of the area’s Luo people. One joke suggests Mr. Obama run pipes from Lake Victoria to the Mississippi so Americans can turn on their faucets and watch Kenyan fish pour out. Seeing a reporter’s quizzical reaction, he explained it brings down the house in Kisumu.  About an hour’s drive away in the village of Kogelo—where Mr. Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr., was born—the president’s close and distant relatives are cashing in on the family name.  One distant cousin, Nicholas Rajula—who says he shares “some grandfather” with Mr. Obama, has created a thriving hotel business off his presidential connections.  Opened in 2010 with 17 rooms, the now 60-room Kogelo Village Resort boasts a meeting hall called the White House, a cement statue of Mr. Obama and bungalows named after Obama family members including Sasha, Malia and Mr. Rajula himself. The 55-year-old arranges for guests to meet with Barack Obama’s step-grandmother Sarah—commonly known as Mama Sarah—and to visit the gravesite of the president’s father.  “I understood the deal that we could sell here was America,” Mr. Rajula said, explaining his decision to open the hotel in Kogelo and outfit it with Obama references and paraphernalia—including a holographic photo that shifts between a picture of Mr. Obama and one of Martin Luther King Jr. For Kenyans, he said, Mr. Obama means that they too can be part of the American dream. He declined to say how much he was making, but said “we are doing well.”  During a recent week, rooms were booked solid with county officials. He is also expanding: building a pool and “luxury” cottage, where he hopes President Obama will one day spend the night.  About 2 kilometers down the road, American and Kenyan flags fly outside the Barack H. Obama restaurant, owned by the president’s half-brother Malik Abongo Obama, who also has started a foundation in their father’s name.  Gary Zimet, a Los Angeles-based owner of a website called Moments in Time, said Malik Obama has offered to sell some of the president’s old letters, including a 1995 missive in which the U.S. president talked of his reservations about a career in politics. Mr. Zimet, whose website trades in such letters, estimates the letter’s value at $15,000 and said Malik Obama offered to sell it to him before selling it elsewhere.  Malik Obama made a failed attempt to enter Kenyan politics in 2013, invoking a familiar slogan: change. He declined to be interviewed for this article.  County tourism chief Charles Akelloh said about 600 visitors a month come to the village because of its Obama connections. They have opened a tourism office in the village in the hope of getting more accurate information, and to set some sort of schedule for people going to see Mama Sarah—who is also the major attraction for visitors on the Obama tours.  Mama Sarah appears to take fame in stride. The 94-year-old has used her celebrity to attract funding for area schools and women’s programs. She talked about Mr. Obama going to market with her, carrying vegetables on his back, when he visited as a young man. She even joked about fixing up a Wall Street Journal photographer with the president, suggesting she could make a good second wife.  Asked her opinion of her step-grandson, Mama Sarah responds with a politician’s acumen: “I am just wishing him well with what he is doing in America as president.”  Write to Heidi Vogt at heidi.vogt@wsj.com
People in Kenya are hoping for a boom in Obama-related merchandise when he makes his first visit there as president this week.