Rising Woman: A woman’s drive in media impacting people’s lives

Dar es Salaam. In this current era, some people are trying to push away a lot of traditional means of communication - or, rather: find a modern-day substitute. Email for letters, digital platforms for TV and podcasts for radio... But, unlike an email that has really taken over letter writing, a Podcast cannot take over the radio in such a situation.

At just 18 years old, Ms Jacqueline co-founded Highlands FM for the purpose of linking the Southern residents with development. At 29, she has successfully been a part of the transformation in Mbeya and the entire Southern region

Ms Jacqueline Mwakyambiki-Mboki holds a degree in Business Administration [International Business], and a Diploma in Journalism Studies from Pune, India. She says: “ My educational journey was quite different - in the sense that most young people knew exactly what they wanted to be from childhood: be it a doctor, a pilots, etc. - and they achieved their goals, on the other hand I kept changing as I grew up, and especially when I got into the university where I decided not to be just “something’ instead I wanted to also be a “cause of something” and this is where I made a decision that my journey will start with journalism and business, and to push me through I constantly though in my head, “if I ever fail in business, maybe I could try giving people a voice.”

Ms Jacqueline’s parents are both entrepreneurs by spirit with her father being an engineer by profession while her mother is a businesswoman, her childhood as a daughter to two entrepreneurs was quite interesting, she spent more of her days in the corridors of her parents offices than in playgrounds and by the age of 14 she was helping her father proofread the books he was writing as well as performing small construction tasks at home for a fee, she also was helping her mother design logos for her printing business with a pay. As Jacqueline says, “decisions had to be made, money had to switch hands”.

After College, landed her first job at Highlands FM where she worked on the station ground up, the station was set up by Mbeya based entrepreneurs and herself, as a Director/CEO. “When I returned from university, I was hungry to see equal development, in my eyes the region where I was from had not changed much, people still persevered money at home, trade was still informal, Banks were not a norm and publics services were still very much in shambles, it was my dream that the region became connected to the cities through trade, through communication and at the time the best way was via radio”. Jacqueline says.

She recalls that When they started the radio station, they did not just want to be a normal commercial radio, they wanted to be a radio that could provide and share the community’s information in hopes that it would lift them from the current situations, there plan was to be the link the southern region to Development by providing the community with information that could lift them from any situation that poses a threat to their societal development. Jacqueline says, “As we began, we created all sorts of programmes.Programmes that educated the masses on the use of financial institutions. Programmes on healthcare, nutrition, agriculture as well as programmes like live debates that enabled local communities to have platform to discuss government budgets, strategies with their local governments, these programmes made our radio quite popular as it had never been done before in the region, the live debate platforms invited Regional commissioners, district commissioners and District executive directors, spiralling accountability and transparency across Southern Tanzania and enabling the local Tanzanian to participate in decision making alongside their leaders. As we saw how beneficial programs of the sort were, we continued designing similar programs in different sectors so as to challenge common community setbacks, till now we have visited more than 30 districts in Southern Tanzania and ran more than 50 Live programs in Southern Tanzania alone”.

Ms Jacqueline and company have been through a lot of challenges as a business the top being them learning that most of their listeners were in rural part of the South, and sadly as much as they were trying to sell goods on our airwaves, they learned that one cannot sell goods to a man who cannot afford it leading them to a new turning point as a business. “The first we had to ensure our listeners had an income and economic activity they aligned with, we had to perform a series of programs that dealt with all matters affecting income earners in the region, and as we carried out the research four years later, we learned that our listeners now had a reasonable income.” This eased the relationship highland FM had with its listeners and eventually they were more informed on income generating activities and were more active than before, they also recognize the financial institutions and government efforts in the region which they worked alongside with to ensure their listeners were well aware of opportunities instore for them.

Ms Jacqueline adds that, after the success above, they have now started looking more on the bigger picture: regional development and how they can get there with media. “Currently, we design programs that educate communities on nutrition, healthcare, financial literacy, women and youth empowerment, agriculture, technology, law, sports. Our aim is to take our module countrywide and uplift communities in different parts of Tanzania. I see myself as global solution for underdeveloped communities using the power of the media,” she said.

Ms Jacqueline credits her being a strong woman in the radio industry to her parents, she says: “Watching both their entrepreneurial journeys made me feel that I can be anything I want. They started from humble beginnings and made me understand that we live for others. Their businesses transformed communities - and this was exactly what I wanted to do, not to just BE something but to CAUSE something!”

Jacqueline believes that both men and women equally have a divine purpose to fulfil, and no one - most especially, women - should downplay their abilities and capabilities.