At the age of 22, most people have just finished college/university studies and figuring out what to do in life. At this age, most people are just about to stop living under the wings of their parents/guardians and start a life of their own.
Earning a million for such people is just a dream, but not for radio presenter Maina Kageni who made his first Ksh1 million at the age of 22.
Speaking to Kiss TV’s Kamene Goro, Maina Kageni revealed that he made his first million when he joined Kiss FM.
“When I was on Kiss FM, the salary was really good. So I went away for two weeks and I got a couple of gigs and before I knew it, I had banked a million,” he said.
“I was a baby when we started, so early 21, 22. We were such children. It’s love, the way you love your job, you’ve got to love what you do and do it well,” he said.
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Maina has been on radio for more than two decades, although he got on radio by chance.
“There is a friend of mine called Trevor Kanja and DJ Pinye. We had brought in some DJs from the UK, and I had gone to book airtime on Capital. So I paid for the airtime, then they said we need Ksh40,000 for the voiceover.”
Maina at the time did not know what a voiceover was. He enquired and felt disappointed because he did not have the budget for it.
“They asked me if I can voice the ad if I did not have the money. So I did the voiceover and they asked me, have you ever been on radio? I said no. Then they asked me if I want to try it.”
“Basically, if I had Ksh40,000 on that day, I would never be on radio,” he said.
Maina who has made himself a name in the media industry also does public relations jobs for top politicians.
“I also work with state organisations. Then I also do my own personal stuff, like Tujenge Kenya, where we have all these partnerships with Isuzu, Sarova, Safaricom, and I work with the Kenya Tourism Federation,” he said.
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Maina advises Kenyans and young people to have more than one source of revenue to help them survive hard times.
“The day you only have one revenue stream, you are finished. Totally finished.”
Despite having made himself a name and money, Maina says he can go month without money so long as he can fuel his car and eat.
“This is my policy. If there is a place I can go and eat, guaranteed, and have a drink, and I’ve got fuel in my car, I’m okay. I can go without a bob for a month.”
He said his success on radio has to do with ‘understanding the role of your co-presenter’.
“In media, it’s the quality of the minutes, not the number of the hours,” he said.
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