ENTREPRENEURS OF THE WEEK: THE OUT OF THE BOX CONTENT CREATOR
I have known
Santa Mukabanah
for two decades and was present on the day she was leaving her work for business. I looked at this little girl with big ambitions to start a big enterprise and knew that perhaps I had met the next legend in my real world.
It is much later that I am able to appreciate who she has been in my life and a mentor to many others who look up to her. 10 years straight without giving up and quitting is quite legendary, and as she says, 10 years of hustle for the one year of glory, couldn’t be further from the truth. That is how true leaders are made.
Santa is the founding director of Vinca Rosea Media, a dynamic & challenge-driven media company providing local companies with communication consultancy services, corporate videography and photography services as well as creating content for the global print, broadcast, internet, and film industry audiences.
She defines herself as complex, and yes indeed she is. She is certainly a nerd who loves film and TV and theatre and one woman you couldn’t catch off guard on conversations of film. I mean literally, she knows Korean actors by name. Perhaps why she became a film maker.
Santa enjoys the process of making audio and visual media that gets people thinking, excites them, and allows them to indulge in their imagination. She has no box, with numerous ideas that are out of this world.
She defines herself also as a challenge-driven and ambitious one who enjoys the ups and downs of creating this business entity that’s sort of growing and cutting its teeth and trying to make a name for itself.
Today, she is running 3 businesses. Vinca Rosea Media covers corporate work while Khanga Films covers the creation of fiction work like short films, documentaries etc. Then she has Khanga Theatre Group, which focuses on theatre productions
Her eventual vision is to provide content on a larger scale for the streaming market since that is where content creation is heading to while simultaneously growing my corporate client base
“There’s still a lot of growth and a lot of ground left to cover”. she says.
We celebrate her, and all women running enterprises this March, as the women's month, as we believe, women can do all.
Here are her 4 questions that will help you know her better
When did you start your first business and why did you start it?
At the beginning of my career I did take up employment. I worked as a Communication Officer for an NGO in Kibera and then worked for two other companies as a videographer. My job was to shoot, edit and deliver the content as was required
Eventually, after gathering the skills and doing lots of reading I decide to start my first business in 2011. To be quite honest I started it coz I wasn’t happy. I find 9 to 5 quite rigid and spirit-crushing and I just wanted to do the sort of work that made me happy and do it during the hours that I’m most productive
Also, I looked at the work that we were doing and thought I think I can do this too (Laughs) After all if you as the boss are out and things are getting done without your supervision then that means your team knows it’s game
What has been your greatest achievement whilst in business?
I think my greatest achievement has been securing funding for a documentary project that I am currently working. I think it’s one thing to think you have a great idea but it’s a totally different thing to share that idea with peers and have them say, ‘Wow, OK. You’ve really got something good going here’
I feel that by putting the project out there it moved me beyond just being a worker in the content creation space and actually being a filmmaker with things to say
What has been your lowest moment in business?
I think my lowest moments are linked to money (Laughs) You’ll always hear entrepreneurs talk about how their business is their baby and they really are. You are constantly sacrificing and putting in energy, money and effort into pushing this idea and growing it
As we all know funding is such a hard thing to come by in Kenya and no bank is going to give you money to just try this ‘ka-project’ of yours. So before your business really picks up and starts generating income or even a consistent client base you have some really harrowing times money-wise
And no one ever understands you. Family is on your neck to ‘get yourself together’. Friends are laughing at you wondering why you can’t do the things they are doing. And most times love partners don’t understand that you are busy (Laughs) I have things to do and they all fall on me to accomplish
So I wouldn’t say I have had one major hard time it’s like a series of hard times intermingled with good ones
Any advice to entrepreneurs?
I think the best advice I’d give is to look at what you are doing. If it’s viable hang in there and keep pushing. If it’s not there’s no shame in putting it down and starting something new. The journey is all about finding what works for you and allows you to make money off of it
Contact: info@vincaroseamedia.com
Website: www.vincaroseamedia.com
Social Media:
FB: Vinca Rosea Media
IG: vinca.rosea.media.ke
Comments
Post a Comment