 Welcome back to Why in the Morning and if it's Tuesday, it's entrepreneurship Tuesday at Y254 channel so you can find us across all our social media handles at Michelle Ashira so you can find me across all my social. So in this next interview we're looking into our topic is the entrepreneurship journey and my guest today is none other than Immaculate Murugge aka Ashley. Hi Ashley. How are you doing? I know this place most people will be looking at you be like this place is so familiar. Why did I see you Ashley? Introduce yourself and be able to know how I am. Okay so my real name is Immaculate Murugge but most people don't know me as Immaculate they call me Ashley because I used to act in Tidy High for nine years so that name really stuck so I took it as my brand name so I call myself Ashley Murugge so everywhere I go is like Ashley are you so what do I do? I work for government I work for Embo County government as the deputy director of the governor's press and public communication. I also do productions so I'm a film producer I've done like two films produced like two short films in Embo also PR and communication consultants so that's basically what I do. Okay it's been a journey from being an actress to now being behind the scene a producer and now you're working for the county government so let's take us through what you're doing you have your own company actually so how did it all start for you to get into like you know business? So this is how it started I started working when I was 19 years I actually started hooking in Embo I used to hook spoons and I used to earn like 15 shillings per dozen of spoons so I was really good at my craft just smiling at what took a shamba and I'm like hey ma'am then we came forward for a training in Nairobi and when I came to Nairobi I called one of my aunties and they told her hey I'm not going back to Embo just get me any job I was 19 I will do it she told me okay so let's talk she got me a job in a certain hospital as a receptionist to work there for like a month then my mom hooked me up with her friend who gave me a job in a certain studio I was still 19 my results had not yet come out so this is at the studio is when I actually learned that my passion for photography videography and customer service you know I was dealing with the CEOs I was dealing with both directors I was dealing with everyone from all walks of life and I was like wow and everyone who used to come at the studio was like I want to be uh whatever by Murugi they used to call me Murugi at that particular time to be served by Murugi so I really really really worked hard and I really loved what I used to do and by the time my results are coming out I knew exactly what I wanted to do I wanted to be in the media space and that's how I went and did mass communication for my diploma level rise up uh got my gig at IDI high when I was 20 21 years old the advertised for a new class I applied got the job nine years down the line I used to do IDI high of the weekend or when a Ruby Academy Fungal school still worked at the studio I was still in class just before even go ahead uh now you're in IDI high allow me to take you back so at 19 you already you know uh okay spoons you and working working in a studio why were you so determined what kept you pushing like that this is what happened we went into a downgrade their family so my mom used to have a very good job she used to work with the united nations so we I used to be in Kilimani primary like our life was literally really really kids cool kids we were cool kids my friend cool kids so when when I was like in class seven something happened like my mom got back together with my dad that was a very toxic relationship right there it really affected my mom and me and my brother and by the time he was passing on we had to go back to shugs because it really affected even how my mom because she was there she was the one who used to do everything for our space school fees for everything literally everything so she was stressed so we had to go back to shugs we went to live in embo and we was in school in embo now tell me a kid from a cool kid to now we should go home we had to learn that and in most cases it could be uh in that scenario most people will shy away especially uh like because you're you know you're used to a certain lifestyle nothing's another same so people shy shy away so what made you so um you know uh very brave to just decide that i'm going to do abc dnd i'm going to do for a job i'm going to work in a studio so why all through my class seven to form four i never used to think about anything else i just wanted out my aim was just to work hard really hard and even after my high school level levels i make my mom comfortable that was my drive i wanted my mom to go back to where she was she used to be very pretty you know she was a she used to be the secretary one of the secretaries of kofi anan so i want to i wanted to make her be there again so that was my drive and that's why i started working when i was 19 all through like that like that and um i can see it's been good so one day when i was at the studio i was i was the main photographer for the md of kenyeri because the studio was downstairs and when i went to take a photo the corporate affairs manager was like ashley uh that chap that you're wearing this is what we've been looking for for our staff i asked her how many she told me 500 pieces are like what is this the dream this is the this is how i'm going to go back to uni but because i really wanted to go to daystar because the best uh university in in terms of pr and communication but because i had really learned that craft of dealing with people and working in the studio working the studio production i was an actress behind the camera and in front of the camera and now pr so i got the job it was really vigorous is okay so here you are uh someone has approached you they've seen a shot uh that they they actually liked and you were like yo i can actually you know produce the 500 you guys want um at this particular point well how come you're thinking real quick like this what was inside you're like did you have a plan did you have like a company registered already did you know someone who could actually make this happen i actually had a company that had registered on os 22 that that solutions media productions which i used to do gigs like photography and videography of the weekend like um shoot weddings kiddo go kiddo go birthday parties and all that never serious it was just like so you can do this because that that time my ex used to tell me hey i knew it'd been a wait when malisa shule we are looking for a job but we can't get why not create our own jobs okay for most young people when they get probably their money through their hustle they think about partying that uh for the next weekend you know so what made you decide that you know i'm going to you know uh open up my own company because of the experience that i had um and because we used to look for a job with my my ex boyfriend at that particular time and we never used to get a job we used to really look for a decent job like in a bank you know you know and and he we just sat down one day and we were like hey why can't we create our own job we are good at what we do you have your experience in it i have my experience in um photography videography and whatnot let's start a company at that particular time registering a company was 800 bop at sharia house that's what we did okay and after that a client will come hey actually so can you do this for me i was like hey i can do this for you so i was like 80,000 coming here yeah i used to earn i think 20,000 in the in the studio that was an maybe like a 40,000 extra that will keep me going you know dress up nicely go for meetings go to class you know also the pressure of your half friends who are being paid to school fees by their parents you your pay i started paying for my own school fees was all when i was 20 in college high school and not high school my degree all through day study university for four and a half years i've paid for my own school fees because of my company like i wasn't employed so after the kenya re gig i got a pretend of 1.35 million and that's how i actually went back to school and through that i actually learned oh i got good suppliers i was good at my craft in terms of peer and comms and and yeah i was like wow i can actually do this i don't have to be employed yeah okay actually so you actually started a business yeah uh i was about to see passion and then i remember when she could see dali about uh it's all about putting yourself out there and suffering and all that but uh here you are studying a company uh studying in a lane of no business which you have not gone to school for but you know out of out of love and out of experience you are so determined to do this so how did you build your you know uh business skills when handling your client at this particular time um trust because it's that easy because you're young and you're talking on phone like a grown-up and everything like oh you i've been referred to you by a certain client you're the one who did that like hey so when i go to meet this client the client looks at me like are you sure you're the one because i was so young i was like 24 25 and this is a maybe a deal of 1 million or 800 000 i was like madame i am the one and i'm going to deliver so i used to face a lot of because you're young you can't handle this so the question the credibility yeah your credibility but now through time i had to prove myself i really had to really work hard do many samples do a lot of meetings with them and show them that i can actually do it yeah okay wow at that particular age and you know you're negotiating millions so take me through uh how did you position yourself like in brand positioning how did you position yourself in a state whereby you can you can actually negotiate for this particular kind of a deals and actually be able to deliver yeah as a brand yeah so i came to realize oh so i was actually just doing this just for fun or something like that just to make money so that i can go to school and all that so i had to look for an expert i needed a logo i need a logo logo logo origination i needed a website i needed social media handles for my company for myself i knew exactly what i wanted to do anything that even if i'm patting i wouldn't post photos because the internet never forgets so i'm really keen in what i post i just don't post anything because there's a way i want people to to to to perceive because that is actually me many people out here they really fake it but how do you want people to perceive you how do you want people to know you right so i used to post a lot of what i'm doing at that particular time and someone who's actually in box me and tell me oh i'm looking for someone who can do it and also that i the high thing really assisted me because everyone was like oh actually hey i know you took on a mama you're on tv imagine this is actually and then i tell take advantage but then this is what i do they used to give me a lot of business because of that familiarity so most most of my clients is to like working with me because of the familiarity and also the professionalism that i'll actually bring on the table all right i perform referral so the marketing strategy studios i used to do a lot of workings that time um social media wasn't all that you know hyped like now because of covet everyone is taking their business online i used to do a lot of workings i could actually me and my business partner we could work with her like we would look at a building that is empty and we would just walk into each and every office from top floor down telling them so you don't have a signage yeah you don't have wall branding we can do this for you how much do you cost we just be mind tell them so that's how we used to do it and just making a lot of calls and most of my clients actually started coming after referrals after i used to do a lot of trainings i went for centonomy i did centonomy entrepreneur i learned that i actually need to focus on my strength what is centonomy but she can do it she's the owner of centonomy entrepreneur all about financial management financial management and also the entrepreneurship side of it okay yeah i just started positioning myself with people like minded people and also getting mentors who are either in the same field or people who i know i can ask what do i need to do so that i can continue doing it okay yeah let me tell you listen to your story it sounds so perfect like you know things are just aligning themselves for your sake so what a couple of challenges that you faced along the way before we get into you working for the county government and actually now whatever it's there so that like i got my county job when immediately after i cleared campo which was i was 28 years old and um this is the thing i look at opportunities and i walk in i walking and come and ask you hey so this is what i actually think i can do right let me go back let me go back to the the kind of deals that i used to get the tenders and all that okay the youth usually say that the government usually don't assist them to be honest me i'll say i've really been assisted by gava by the way from the time i was 24 years old my lpo finances financing i used to get them from youth funds and this is because i used to watch the news and all the marketing and pr whatever they used to do and i used to i used to like walk into the office and ask them so this is what i actually saw in the tv is it actually true are you guys giving lpo financing so i have a tender from kenya really kenya insurance plaza and it's for this amount of money my bank bank statement doesn't look but bank statement wasn't looking good at all and i was like can you give me they're like hey and i'm like what within two weeks they could you know transfer the money again they they got they have another product called talent a product so they used to sit me down and i remember that time especially that time kathrina muye who died was the ceo at that particular time that lady really sat me down like because she used to see a lot of passion in me and actually really wanted to do what i had to do because i could see an opportunity that time uhuru like the president had just said that the youth need to take advantage of the 30 percent okay so i take took advantage of that the apple that time you couldn't even apply only disability yes the youth women and persons with disability i had that certificate and actually that is actually really assisted me to get to school because i used to work with parastatals kemsa kenya re whatnot you get because of that i just used to walk in and ask what what is lacking with our youth nowadays because they just there's a lot of backlash oh the government is not helping me oh nini nini but it's up to you to walk in go and ask for these opportunities and be very consistent and resilient right so for someone who is watching this conversation and they've been part of the the kaguru whereby they believe that you know these opportunities that they say it's for the youth they're just saying it for the for the display but it's not actually happening yeah what would be your advice my advice is just continue just go in go and ask but again it's true that what you're asking because sometimes the time when Catherine passed on there's a nurse is ucu then and and i was trying to process some money there and they were becoming very difficult and i told them i've actually done this before what is different right now and you're making a lot of noise out here in universities telling them you don't need to be employed they'll just take advantage of youth fund you're going to give you this money and i i actually told asked the former chairman and asked him why are you telling the youth this and to be honest i was just in your office the other time and was talking to your credit manager and he was telling me there's no money you get so i could see a lot of youth come to me and tell me baby actually you're right you're right this is what has been happening the youth they they have the skills they have their companies but they just need that support from the old folks old folks they just need that support from the old folks i work for county government a lot of challenges that i'm i'm actually even facing right now it's because of being young because that adopting they don't want to adopt what is happening right now and i think that is actually the problem but we just have to do what we have to do my friends we gotta do what we gotta do so how can we cap that challenge whereby uh even i'm i'm so sure we have a couple of also uh other young entrepreneurs who into who are working with the government and they feel like you know like they always have to do an extra mile just to prove themselves and yet they are credible yeah so what's your take on that my take um just maybe these people who are here at the middle because the boss is actually really good you know your the bosses the top notch but the president the whatnot they are really good they know exactly what they want the governors they know exactly what they want and when they put you in that position they expect you to deliver but now if you're in a situation where you can't deliver because of some people or because of maybe finances or because of that that just that um what that's what my youth want to take a push kill you at home corner and they will actually let them be like your peers they actually show you the way because they're the ones who are fresh from school they're the ones who have been taught the new curriculum as in we need to change even as a country and that's why we're not going forward because because this old folks some of them they just want the systems to remain the way they have been i remember when i joined the county government someone actually came to me and told me on my face now you have joined the county government don't even try change the system yes because yeah there's nothing that is going to happen here and it's actually true yeah because you fight you fight you want to do the best you have the best good will at heart to do what you have to do but some of them just think you're just there to come and take their jobs whereas it's not how do you deal with that it's because i'm in a space where you feel like i can change a couple of things here i can be creative in a certain way to improve in one way the other yeah but i'm here suppressed because you know it's the system and i have to comply so how do you deal with that it requires a point you just have to walk walk aside walk out and deal with your mental uh whatever's and do you yeah when the time they realize that actually this that nothing has happened because of what is happening okay so as we wind up looking back what what made you so determined and patient because i'm so sure uh for probably even uh a deal to go through you know it's it's a long bureaucracy so what made you so determined and patient uh one because of the situation that uh that we had back at home back at home going back to shugs and now we're in Nairobi and all that that was one two because i wanted because i you know my mom used to really work hard so i used to look at this lady when i was young and used to be like i want to be like her i want to be like i mean i have my mind i have my hands i have my legs let me do what i can do to also assist other people yeah all right and how can people find their course all the social media handle actually more really that simple as that okay i use my brand name actually more really sour sour thank you very much actually for creating time to be with us yeah so uh we'll keep this conversation go if you want to keep this conversation going make sure you follow actually uh murugi across all our social media handles she's a peer and communication consultant so make sure you stay tuned we have so much coming your way uh we are coming back with ram to just sample some of your comments parlay on our social media handles remember the the pages are at y244 channel across all our social media handles the hashtag to use this hashtag why in the morning at michela she raised her you can find me across all my social media back