Waihiga Mwaura: I Was Tricked Into Working at a Bank

Citizen TV news anchor Waihiga Mwaura moderating a World Bank forum in 2019
Citizen TV news anchor Waihiga Mwaura moderating a World Bank forum in 2019
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Citizen TV news anchor Waihiga Mwaura's journey to media and becoming one of the best at it is comical as it is impressive.

During a past interview with W TV on YouTube, the 2018 BBC Komla Dumor Award winner revealed how he was enticed into working at a local bank by his parents. 

His first job was working at a call centre for a US internet service provider based along Mombasa Road, Nairobi. 

File image of Citizen TV anchor Waihiga Mwaura
File image of Citizen TV anchor Waihiga Mwaura
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“Americans called that number thinking they are speaking to an American about their internet. What they didn’t know is that they were actually speaking to us,” he described his role. 

“Maybe that is where I honed my media skills because I would speak for long hours on the phone with Americans so my accent changed as I tried to convince them to buy internet packages,” he added. 

After a 9-month stint at the Mombasa Road-based call centre, the ICT graduate shifted careers to finance. His parents had helped him secure a job at a local bank, “You know how your parents help you hustle a ka-job somewhere.”

“I worked in customer service, I was a cashier, I was a salesman a helper of sorts. They called it a very dignified name, management trainee. I thought it was a high-level job but it was just an errand boy,” he narrated amid bouts of laughter. 

His stint at the bank helped propel him into media by exposing him to some of the celebrities who were clients at his branch. 

“I remember artists and supermodels like Miss Kenya would come to the branch and I would see the kind of cheques they were withdrawing…

"I would even do some transactions for some media houses and I would see these guys coming in all flamboyant. I thought to myself, what does it take to be in that sector?” he recalled.

While working late one evening, the news bulletin started as they were concluding the business of the day and Waihiga and his colleagues tuned it. 

“I remember one day I told my supervisor one day 'I am going to work there',” he recounted. His boss would laugh him off imagining the miracle it would have to take. 

He worked for about a year at the bank before his patience ran out.

He would soon venture into the media world and years later would become the first male winner of the prestigious BBC World News 2018 Komla Dumor award as well as the 2015 winner of the Mo Amin Africa Award and 2012 winner of the CNN Multichoice Africa award among other accolades.

He was also awarded the 2019 UBA award by the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum for his contribution to the media. He is also a 3-time Media Council of Kenya awards nominee (2015-2017) and was recognized in the top 10 of the Top 100 Kenyan Journalists 2019 by Kenyans.co.ke.

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