STORIES FROM MY HEART

On the 26th of October 2016, my then boss called me into her office and informed me that I had been affected in a restructuring exercise. It was 2.00pm on a Wednesday and I was preparing for my evening TV show,   The Business Centre . In a matter of minutes I had lost a very well paying and prestigious job as a TV host in the country’s leading media house. It was a difficult time and I cried every night, wallowing in self -pity and anxiety. I realised pret t y quickly though, that even though I was emotionally broken I  needed to  face the truth and to deal with the feelings of betrayal, rejection, denial, and the anger that I felt. I knew that I had no choice but to focus on what the future held for me and my family. As a sole breadwinner, I was completely anxious about the future. I had a bank loan, school fees, rent etc that I needed to take care of. I was scared! That was the first time I truly understood what insomnia was. I couldn't sleep well , I stayed up crying a...

A few years ago I began to dream about owning a personal care product so I began to engage a couple of people in the Industry. I wanted to know everything I could about bath and body products, what sells, what doesn't, what gaps exist and where I could begin from. Today, I'm grateful for the great insights I received from all those I spoke with. After all the discussions, and years of back and forth discussions into the wee hours of the morning, I found my space. I wanted to create something that was authentic, beautiful and African in its mould Natural and most importantly, Globally competitive. What drives my passion is a need to see an African, home made brand that will rise beyond a cottage shop and retail in international personal care shops. This finally, led to the birth of Keyara Organics, a dream that has been a long time coming, we want to play in the Global playground. I'm eternally grateful to God for answering my numerous questions and giving me the courage ...

This week I had the opportunity to moderate and MC  Pivot East Africa 2014. The yearly event seeks to receive amd award pitches from app developers,  both Web and mobile. What an incredible event it was, a first for me. It was inspiring to see about 20 start ups across categories such as utilities,  enterprise, finance, social and entertainment share their ideas on how they want to make a difference given the opportunity they have seen in the market. In between the pitches we had 'fireside chats' that Focused on issues facing the industry that's still in its infancy stage compared to other developed tech cities across the world with a comparative  look at Telaviv,  Berlin and of course Silicon Valley.  One of the fireside chats I moderated focused on the hype vs substance debate across the tech start up ecosystem in Kenya, with topics ranging from sources of funding and the almost controversial role of NGO funding in the start up ecosystem and it was inte...

Dear Activists, Perhaps I have never really understood how activism works, you see I am just a journalist. It disturbs me each day when I recall how 276 girls were kidnapped in Nigeria, something that took the world about 3 weeks to notice. Over lunch a few weeks ago I mentioned to a friend how I was at a complete loss following the overflow of "Hash tag activism" that even got the attention of #Flotus among many other leaders locally and internationally. But several weeks later, only 50 girls gave been reunited with their families,  (I hope to God that it is true) leaving 226 still missing. The offial number communicated in 219 girls still missing, I don't know what happened to the 7. Now the world has gone silent on #bringbackourgirls. If this doesn't call for change of tack in the world of activism,  then you should hang your brand new boots because there's no *walking* on those twitter streets. Once upon a time, Noise = Activism,  but the world has changed sin...

Greetings, I'm sure your in-tray, your Excellency does not need an envelope from another anxious Kenyan. But things are thick, and you probably feel the heat a lot more than we do. But I am getting anxious sir. I had a conversation with a friend today and we spoke about Economic Sabotage and where that can lead us as a country. You see sir, I've been following the conversation about #KenyaRising keenly since 2006, when we first began to fully realise and define the growth the country had had since 2002, when President Kibaki came to power. There's a host of things that are feeding into a full blown economic sabotage, MRC, Alshabab have already done well in that regard. 2007 is a memory I wouldn't want to awake, for you, for me now for the millions of Kenyans who have tried to rise above the fateful bloody days. But it happened, and close on it's heels the global crisis happened. We were back to scratch as a country. We saw investors flee, but shortly afte...

Thursday was one of the busiest days in any Business Journalist's calendar. However Budget day, 2014, in today's form is no longer the secret it always was under the old constitution. By April the estimates are out, and most accounting/audit firms and economists begin to do their analyses of how Government will spend it's monies. For a government that has been criticised to live above its means, we were keen to find out how the Cabinet Secretary, Henry Rotich was planning to raise the 1.8 trillion shilling 2014/2015 budget. Most economists agree however that we as a country are still within manageable debt levels as far as international standards are able to go by, therefore the question of whether we will borrow the money and the impact of this did not feature as much of a question. These were the key issues I wanted to centre on: 1. Is this a growth focused budget? 2. Is the budget deficit a real problem, REALLY ? 3. Are we convinced that treasury will ach...

Last time I wrote about the issues a working mother faces, It was picked up by a blog and taken way out of context. It went from being something I was feeling terrible about to "She thinks she is the only one who feels this?" It pained me to read some really hatefull comments, and have since learnt not to go through with it, but I still strongly believe most working mothers go through exactly what I blogged about last time, and it eases the burden to share what we are going through as mothers. Anyway, motherhood is a calling, (take that!) no matter what our jobs are, and I know that every working mother wants to have the best relationship with her children, and be the best mother she can be. This year I decided to start cooking and doing DIY crafts with my daughter as one of the ways in which we can truly bond and for me to create a better relationship with her. I have learned with time and hindsight that mothers have the greatest influence on their children, and I ...

I would have sworn the light skin debate belongs in 1983. Dead and buried together with culottes and Kenya Uniform long and wrinkled skirts or Irene Lipstick, a cheap favorite way back when it was fashionable to wear lipstick only on the lower lip. Make that a lipstick that was green and turned red on application. I would have safely assumed that skin lightening is dead. Buried 6 feet under together with words like Cutex, 'don't touch my toes' or tinga tinga, which was village speak for 'Tractor'. The #bleachedbeauty tirade of tweets and blogs recently perked a desire to rethink values. The good old values that taught us how to be girls, ladies then women. When the debate was at its peak, I sent out a tweet that said "change your values,not the color of your skin". If you think this blog is about Vera Sidika exit stage left. But since I have already mentioned her, I will let you know like her spunk. It takes a gutsy woman to be confident i...

I attended a rather interesting launch by Old Mutual Kenya last evening. What they are trying to do is something I believe can evolve into a movement and not the constant usual annoying one sided conversations done by insurance sales people. You see, today, I hardly pick up the calls of several insurance people because a majority of insurance sales people are trained to be long winded and annoying. But, whichever way we look at it, insurance is an almost sure route towards financial freedom. What Old Mututal kenya is trying to do is to change the conversations around why it is important for us as parents and young adults to begin to secure our financial freedom. I was asked to speak for a quick minute, and here are the thoughts I shared. "Conversations about Finance, Economy and money in Kenya and many places across the world are generally carried out by Men. Yet across a huge number of Kenyan households it is the women who control the purse strings, working day and ...

Yesterday I was reading a conversation on twitter (kenentrepreneur  and someone else I cant really remember now) and they talked about how Social media is too young to have experts. And in a sense I do agree. Social media, especially for brands, organisations and celebrities in our space (meaning in Africa) is still trying to find it's proper footing. While several people associate it with a twitter handle and a facebook page, it is way above that, it is in my opinion, what email was to secretaries in the mid 80's. Neither here nor there, butdefiantely cheaper, faster, and without the walk to post office, or to the next post office when they ran out of stamps. But there are a few people who seem to be getting it right. Last week I had breakfast with Mark Kaigwa , amazing young man who talked me through how things work, what to do, and what not to do. I also set up a coffee date with Marvin Tumbo , he who runs the TNA online strategy(Uhuru Kenyatta). They're b...

I am fascinated by leadership. I constantly ask myself what it is about leaders that make them stand out, or how they manage to be the ones charting out the path for others to follow. How do they convince others that their plan, strategy and ideas are what others should believe in, and take them up as if it were their own, with such passion and infectious energy? When I heard that Caroline Mutoko had been appointed the chair of the Kenya Tourism Development Corporation , my leadership alert perked. Caroline Mutoko is a leader. No doubt. We have seen her in action, on the streets, on Radio, and when recently watched her on CNN's African voices , I wondered, how one person can garner so much leadership essentials, and how she manages to not only run a high level career, maintain a genuine patriotism for a country whose leaders she constantly contests, and still be a doting mother. Now, Tourism is topmost in the Kenyan agenda. Ms Mutoko displays through her steel hand a con...

WASHINGTON DC , 18th September 2011 The IMF annual meetings kick off this week. It's bound to be an exciting time to see how the IMF is responding to global matters, but most importantly for me, how the IMF is responding to the cyclical challenges of poverty, unemployment, rising commodity prices and a weakening currency for many Africans states. In Kenya, there are different schools of thought regarding the IMF's precense and actions in the country. On one side we have the sceptics: After Kenya’s ‘Golden years’ that’s the first ten years after Kenya’s independence, when the growth was impressive, education enrollement doubled, came the 'lost decade' then a number of Kenyans developed hardlines over what they refer to as the worst social experiments. This happened when the IMF and the world bank proposed the structural Adjustment programmes (SAP'S), which gave priority TO spending areas that critics say locked out key social developement sectors such as ...

Yes there is! In countries where corruption is rife, you give in to corruption because you know you will get whatever it is you want, but here in Kenya, you could pay for it and pray for dear life that you get it. That’s inefficient corruption. These are the kind of insights that get me out of bed every last Saturday morning of the month. But the Topic was not on Inefficient corruption:-). Woflgang Fengler, who is the Lead Economist for the World Bank in Kenya was the main man at Aly Khan Satchu’s, :Mindspeak.The Business Club" , this past Saturday. After quite a party on Friday Evening, I made it just in time for the short and sweet look at Kenya’s Economic Outlook for 2010. It felt like I was in a Mini Davos, engaging with critical minds on the shape that the Kenyan economy is likely to take in 2010. ( I dare dream!) Fengler’s presentation was great, straight to the point and very well researched. Being an economist for the World Bank is no mean feat. It is a common notion th...

I had watched it on TV for eons, the millions of wildebeest crossing over to the Maasai Mara after depleting the magnificent Serengeti of all its green grass. The untouched pastures of the Maasai Mara lures the gnu’s into making the champagne colored plains in the heart of the African Bush one of the most spectacular wildlife locations in the world, this time of year, and I was one of the many who came from all over the world to witness this great migration, thanks to being the director for our tourism programme, Destination Kenya. The plane was scheduled to leave JKIA at 1100hrs, and we were uneasy, the airline had just received a big hit, a crush in Somalia, where Ali, an old friend of mine was co pilot also perished. So when we were told we had been placed into another plane, there was a collective sigh of relief. 1300hrs, we board the plane at Wilson Airport, the captains smooth voice tells us Keekorok will be the first stop, and in my mind I play out my scanty filming schedule, an...