By Prudence Minayo
Muslim Ali, alias Presenter Ali, is among the new breed of independent journalists giving traditional media houses a run for their money. His command of the Swahili language and the ease with which he conducts interviews has made him one of the most followed content creators in Kenya.
Here is the story of Presenter Ali as told by WoK.
Background
He was born in Mombasa on 4th April 1997 and partly grew up in Nairobi. He is the third born in a family of three children. His mother, Fatuma Shaban, is a nursery school teacher.
He attended Kiambani Primary School in Makueni before proceeding to Ofafa Jericho High School in Makadara.
Career
He took a keen interest in journalism while he was still in school. He wanted to be a Swahili news reporter. This desire grew further when he met one of Citizen TV’s executive producers named David Mbatia.
Upon completing high school, he was advised to do a Bachelor’s of Urban and Regional Planning. He enrolled for the course at the University of Nairobi (UoN).
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In 2016, right outside the gates of UoN, he met a man who had a camera and a tripod. The two started a conversation and later exchanged numbers. The man called one day telling him of an opportunity at a local station. There, he learnt a lot about the media, including editing and shooting videos.
In 2017, he joined Y254 Channel as a news presenter, where he worked until August 2018. After leaving Y254, he joined Switch TV where he hosted the East Africa Base Show.
YouTube
Presenter Ali decided to become a content creator on YouTube in 2018. He has conducted interviews with various people including top celebrities and reformed criminals in the country. Ali currently has over 250k subscribers on his channel. His videos get up to hundreds of thousands of views. It helps that he at times focuses on trendy topics and uses catchy YouTube titles.
Brand Ambassador
Presenter Ali has been unveiled as a brand ambassador for a number of top brands. He is the digital marketer for Hodari Homes, a company that deals with the buying and selling of land.
He was unveiled as the brand ambassador for a multi million tech company called Numeral IOT. The company manufactures Kenyan technological products targeting the local market. They are wholly owned by Kenyans and seek to produce things that make life easier. They are also the number one supplier of speed limiters for the National Transport Safety Authority. The company employs people based on skill rather than academic papers. Their employees, aged between 20-30, don’t need to show off their papers as they employ anyone with the passion including those who did not go past primary school. Presenter Ali thanked God and his fans for the opportunity to be the ambassador for this tech company.
