When TV programmes are aired in Kenya, very few know the people behind them except in cases where they are actors in their shows.
In Kenya, Swahili programmes have commanded a huge audience for a long time since the days when the national broadcaster KBC was he only option. Back then, ratings did not matter but the message was delivered countrywide, uniformly and on the dot.
News times were like one long choreography where it was all about Mtukufu Rais Daniel Arap Moi, leo katika ikulu ya Nairobi…If it wasn’t at ikulu that the president was making news, then on Sundays it was either “President Daniel Arap Moi today attended Sunday service at Moi High school Kabarak where he urged Kenyans….
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And then, there came KTN and the airwaves started liberalizing.
But even with liberalization, Kenyans were still glued to their TVs watching mostly foreign programmes since very few shows were being produced locally. In addition, the challenges of producing shows were many and very few people could manage to do shows like Tausi, Kisulisuli and many others which were prominent on KBC TV.
But someone who has been in the game for a while and who seems to still have a lot more “where that came from” is Naomi Kamau.
Naomi has been screenwriting, producing and acting some of the most memorable programmes on Kenyan TV. With most of her shows airing on one of Kenya’s biggest TV station, she must be raking in some good cash in the millions.
She has undoubtedly cut a niche for herself as one of Kenya’s trailblazer in television production and scriptwriting.
Under her belt, Naomi has many programmes on TV that we have watched and loved or that we are still watching.
Generation Y has largely grown up on programmes produced by Naomi whose story have been captivating. These include written family, high school, intrigue and children dramas.
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The most noteworthy for this generation is Mother in Law, Machachari and Tahidi High among others.
She says that her goal is to share experiences while entertaining her diverse audiences.
To show her diversity, she was also a presenter of the Shamba Shape up magazine show which airs on Citizen TV like most of her other programmes. The show was featured on CNN for being unique and outstanding on the continent.
Naomi’s resume boasts of productions like Reflections. This family drama aired on KBC Television. It is among others like Heart and Soul which was produced for the United Nations, Makutano Junction which was an intriguing drama with a bias on community education.
She is also behind Heartbeat FM which was a drama produced for Kenya Breweries, high school drama Tahidi High and Mother-In-Law which focuses on a middle class around a no non-sense mother-in-law who can be meddlesome.
There is also Machachari which is a childrens’ drama seeking to solve community problems and breaking class barriers.
Naomi is the ‘iron lady’ of Kenya’s entertainment industry and a force to reckon with bearing in mind that she has several projects in the works.
Speaking to She Leads Africa, Naomi said that Africans need to create content that is commensurate with the lives they live for this is what will entice and draw the audience into appreciating their own.
And to achieve greatness, “I have great mentors myself like Wachira Waruru, Latifah Ngunjiri, Catherine Wamuyu and David Campbell. Successful people, most of the time, have to have mentors who are older and younger than they are”, she adds.
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