Nairobi News

It’s been ten years since content creator and comedian Timothy ‘Njugush’ Kimani burst into the limelight.
As he celebrates a decade in the entertainment industry, Njugush recalls the early struggles he faced before finally breaking through and making a comfortable living from his craft.

He recalls struggling with being famous but broke.
“It’s a bad thing to be famous and broke. It can go to your head and cause mental damage. I remember being invited for an interview on KTN, I was famous but I could barely afford the Sh50 bus fare and people did not understand how you could be famous and broke. One day someone found me buying paraffin and wondered why I was using kerosene,” says Njugush.

He recalls how he was unceremoniously fired from a TV show in which he was the lead actor for demanding a Sh2,000 salary increase.
Njugush also remembers his first big pay cheque, Sh5,000, which changed his brand and life for the better. He now charges hundreds of thousands, if not millions, depending on the nature of the project, when a client reaches out for his services.

Before venturing into online skits, Njugush was heavily featured on TV shows like Hapa Kule News and The Real Househelps of Kawangware, which catapulted him to fame. But he earned very little.
The Real Househelps of Kawangware, produced by Protel Studios and aired on KTN TV, became a huge hit, popularising the main casts, including him.
“The TV show was such a big hit in and outside the country that Kenyans in the diaspora always wanted to meet me when they were back home. I had become famous, but at that time I was still broke and could barely afford the bus fare to the city,” he says.

After 100 episodes of The RealHousehelps of Kawangware, Njugush demanded a pay rise from his then employer, Protel Studios.
“Towards the end of the 100 episodes in 2015, I called the entire crew to my house where I was living in Kinoo at the time and told them that it was obvious that the show had blown up and it would only be fair if we pushed for a salary increment. We agreed that for the 2016 contracts, it would be good to get a raise even if it was Sh2,000 each, we would be happy,” Njugush says.

In January 2016, Njugush noticed that the production of the TV show had resumed, but he hadn’t been invited for a role as he had expected.
“I noticed that the show had resumed production and I wasn’t part of it, but I was the lead actor. When I enquired from one of the cast members, I found out that they had been threatened with dismissal if they continued to push for a pay rise. That’s how I found out that I had been fired from the show for being the ringleader. I was never called back to the show and that’s how I left (The Real Househelps of Kawangware) for good”.

Njugush claims he never made any significant amount of money from the TV shows he appeared on.
In 2016, when he was fired from the TV Show, he turned to doing online skits and posting them on Instagram for fun while he contemplated his next move.
“When I got fired from the show, I didn’t have a plan. Then I started doing online skits. My wife became my cameraman, shooting my skits on my phone and I uploaded them to my social accounts. Then one day, someone approached us and offered to pay Sh5,000 for a skit promoting her brand. That’s when we realized that if someone could pay Sh5,000 for a skit and I only had 50,000 followers, we would make more if the following was one million or more. That was the turning point for me.”
To date, Njugush is one of the highest Content Creation earners raking in hundreds of thousands to millions of shillings in brand endorsements, placements, and partnership deals and hosting events.