diff --git a/test-helpers/src/connection/kafka/python/main.py b/test-helpers/src/connection/kafka/python/main.py
index 57d62e2a2..4b11a7d17 100644
--- a/test-helpers/src/connection/kafka/python/main.py
+++ b/test-helpers/src/connection/kafka/python/main.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 from kafka import KafkaAdminClient
 from kafka import KafkaProducer
 from kafka.admin import NewTopic
+from kafka.errors import UnknownTopicOrPartitionError
+from time import sleep
 import sys
 
 def main():
@@ -17,9 +19,12 @@ def main():
             replication_factor=1
         )
     ])
-
     producer = KafkaProducer(**config)
-    producer.send('python_test_topic', b'some_message_bytes').get(timeout=30)
+
+    # send first message with retry since the topic may not be created yet.
+    retry_if_not_ready(lambda : producer.send('python_test_topic', b'some_message_bytes').get(timeout=30))
+
+    # send second message without retry, it has no reason to fail.
     producer.send('python_test_topic', b'another_message').get(timeout=30)
 
     consumer = KafkaConsumer('python_test_topic', auto_offset_reset='earliest', **config)
@@ -36,6 +41,19 @@ def main():
 
     print("kafka-python script passed all test cases")
 
+def retry_if_not_ready(attempt):
+    tries = 0
+    while True:
+        try:
+            attempt()
+            return
+        except UnknownTopicOrPartitionError:
+            tries += 1
+            sleep(0.1)
+            # fail after 10s worth of attempts
+            if tries > 100:
+                raise Exception("Timedout, hit UnknownTopicOrPartitionError 100 times in a row")
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()