INVERSK MAGAZINE
RISING STAR
Anne Mwai: Merging My Business With My Calling Ann says Bama Diaspora Realty was birthed from her desire to empower women. The idea was developed when she watched her mother doing business . BY INVERSK TEAM
A
nn Mwai’s journey of entrepreneurship is a testament that it always seems impossible until it's done. Ann Wairimu Mwai is the ow ner of Bama Diaspora Realty Limited, Access Enterprises Limited; a U.S based company, and a marketing manager and broadcaster at Diaspora Media Max (D Max), an online TV and Radio broadcast for the Kenyan Diaspora. She was born in Kanunga, Kiambu County, and grew up in different parts of Kenya since her father was a Civil Servant. It is through this experience that she attests that she can adapt to any new environment. Ann does identify herself as a village girl at heart despite her many life achievements. After she finished her form four examinations in Mary Leakey, she went to work for her uncle who had opened a computer bureau. At the age of 18years, she started working in the bureau printing documents, doing assignments for college students, doing small graphics among others. In fact, when she went to pick her KCSE results, she already had a stable pay check. In 2001, she started her computer bureau in Kiambu town, where she worked from home. Her customers were mainly her friends, and college students from the Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology (K IST). Despite no educational background with the skills she acquired, Ann Mwai says this was made possible due to her thirst for knowledge and was determined to get a better life than what she had. In two years, her business was booming and she was earning Ksh.50,000 a month. However, she got an opportunity to go to the U.S.A. She took the opportunity despite having a well-paying job and made the best out of the situation. Ann recalls that when she arrived it was a childlike beginning by relearning a language, having to know and follow a new system, and familiarizing yourself with new things. She worked day and night, to 28 I Inversk Magazine I September 2020
