Lilian Kaivilu, 32, is the founder and editor at ImpactHub Media. She talks to Euginia Gathoni about what it’s taken her to change the African narrative by covering positive news stories
“Media is not for the fainthearted and neither is it a flower girl industry. You have to be well-read. Bitange Ndemo who is my virtual mentor advised me to read widely and always ask the right questions. You should also master your field to thrive in it,” professes Lilian as I meet her in her office.
Lilian has won several accolades under her name including a recent Zuri award for the, ‘Best in Media Category.’
“I chose to go where the people are. That’s why my offices are in Olympic, Kibera,” she says. On her office walls, there are notes by the students written on manila paper. “This how we brainstorm and come up with ideas,” she dishes. Today, she is calmly seated on her desk as she offers me some tea.
Her career spans a decade. In 2010, she started at the People Daily as a business reporter and then transitioned to development topics.
“I was the pioneer Reporter for the Development Agenda pullout in People Daily (Now owned by Mediamax),” she says. In 2014, she joined Moi University to study a degree in Linguistics, Media, and Communication of which she graduated in 2019. In 2016, while still studying, she got a job at Global Press Journal, an International Media House. But she yearned for more. “I decided to take the leap of faith and concentrate fully on the initiative that I had set up called Impact Hub Media,” she says. In 2017, Lilian set up the online media platform that tells positive stories in society.
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It was a long road from a girl, who grew up in a large family of 13, in a remote village in Kitui. “We did not even own a TV set while growing up,” she says. Her eyes in the news reporting world were opened in 2006 when she enrolled for a diploma in journalism at Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC). She graduated in 2009.
After the stint in the media, Lilian wanted to create a tangible impact on her own. “I noticed that media houses seem to have the same agenda of negative stories and controversies. Our main agenda is to amplify the stories of people who are solving the problems in society especially in urban slums,” Lilian says.
Her job involves training high school leavers on how to tell positive stories in their neighbourhoods. “I also do partnerships with people who want us to profile their stories and publish it on our online platform,” she says.
Their first cohort was in 2018 where they trained five teenage mothers on newsgathering. The classes were free and lasted for three months.
“Success is when you impact the highest number of people. The students get to do interviews in different places and some have managed to attend state functions,” she prides.
In January this year, she trained her second cohort. She also expanded her management and got a co-founder. They train on five modules: Media Ethics, News Writing, Mobile Journalism, Photography, and Interviewing Skills.
ImpactHub stories are published online and their target audience is global. They particularly target the African market as they make most of their story sources.
To fund the social enterprise, they partner with donor organization who they approach digitally. At the moment though, they are self-funded. “I have to dig deep into my pockets for the most part,” she reveals.
To unwind, Lilian makes African clothes and bags as she invested in a sewing machine back home. She also runs a tailoring shop in Nairobi CBD.
HOW TO CLINCH IT IN BUSINESS
- Start where you are with the resources that you have.
- Aim to do something that makes an impact on other people’s lives.
- Strive to do something that is fulfilling to you.
- Always stay hungry, success comes to those who chase after their dreams fearlessly.
- If you are offering a solution to a certain target audience, set camp where they are.
Lilian Kaivilu
This story was first published on Saturday Magazine, Saturday Nation of 28th April 2020. Copyright @Nationmediagroup