Andrew Wambua Mboya, better known as Tom Daktari, has become one of the country’s trending funnymen on social media platforms. Mwalimu Tom’s journey to the top has been filled with many adversities.
During the global 2020 pandemic, Kenya had many sprouting comedians as people sought new opportunities to sustain themselves. This was when Tom Daktari came to the spotlight, with his skits alongside Sammy Kioko on YouTube.
In this article, we take a look at Mwalimu Tom’s background which has shaped him into the comedian he is today.
Background
Tom Daktari hails from a humble family of 9 children; 5 boys and 4 girls in Zaikoni Area, Kathiani. Despite his family’s financial constraints, Tom’s dream was to become a Kenyan filmmaker.
He began his education journey at Kombu Primary School in Ukambani and later continued to St. Martin Kithunguini High School. Tom Daktari revealed that at one point, his family had to sell some of their livestock to fund his education.
During a past interview with Churchill, Mwalimu Tom recalled that while some students arrived at school with heavy shopping and large amounts of pocket money, his mother only gave him Sh. 50 to survive.
Selling Eggs
Following his high school graduation, Mwalimu Tom relocated to the city and stayed with his older brother. His brother provided support as Tom ventured into his first business, a Mayai Pasua (boiled eggs) stand.
Tom would serve boiled eggs mixed with onions, tomatoes and a dash of salt. He remembered hawking the eggs inside a transparent bucket for only a day, an experience that felt like an eternity to him.
He was only able to sell 10 eggs out of the 30 he had, and Tom attributed his business failure to a lack of understanding about how the market operated.
Some customers were dissatisfied because he didn’t know how to properly crack the eggshell, while others complained that he hadn’t prepared the salad well.
“The egg business should have eggs, onions and tomatoes. I just went with eggs and tomato, and customers would ask me why doesn’t this one have onions and they’d decline to eat,” he spoke in an interview with Dr. King’ori.
He returned home with his 20 eggs and ate 10 that night and the remainder the following morning. He suffered from a skin reaction from consuming all those eggs, with his face breaking out with pimples all over.
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After the setback in his first business, Tom decided to try his luck in selling oranges. This venture also met with failure as customers were not interested in buying his oranges, which he had set up by the roadside.
The oranges started to deteriorate and Tom decided to lower the prices in an attempt to mitigate his losses. Customers still refrained from purchasing, cautious that Tom was selling spoiled products.
He even tried giving them away for free, but people continued to pass by without taking any.
Acting Career
After failing twice in opening his own service business, Tom’s elder brother took him to Kayole Social Hall for set book auditions. He successfully got a role in presenting oral literature. This was how his acting career started.
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The job was well-paying, but still couldn’t finance his dream of higher education. His brother took out a loan to enrol Tom Daktari at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, where he studied film and graduated in 2020.
Tom decided to audition for the Churchill show. On his first try, nobody was laughing at his jokes. He persevered and made a few more attempts, but success continued to elude him.
He then joined Ultimate Top Comic Competitions and made it to the semi-finals. It was here that Mwalimu Tom crossed paths with Sammy Kioko. Together, they would meet at Kioko’s house to practice pick-up lines. Despite efforts, he was eliminated from the competition.
In 2020, Mwalimu Tom teamed up with Sammy Kioko to create content centred around school situations that frequently got people into trouble. This content became immensely popular and relatable, garnering their YouTube channel millions of views.
Tom Daktari would act as the teacher and Sammy and other characters as students. The show picked on well, and his channel now has over 319,000 YouTube subscribers.
Going Viral on Tiktok
Currently, Tom is undeniably among the personalities who have topped the influencing charts on TikTok.
His strong command of Kiswahili, with a pinch of Kamba accent, combined with a witty and humourous nature has propelled him to be one of the most sought-after influencers in the country.
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He has over 730,000 followers on TikTok and over 10 million likes on his page. He gained widespread recognition for his clips that tackle various topical issues.
“Ukipewa lift, kazi ni kutulia na kufurahisha dereva.”
