When he sat his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in 2006, Dickens Omanga didn’t expect that he would be the top student in the republic.
It was an achievement that took sheer hard work and dedication. The Friends School Kamusinga alumnus would then get featured on the cover pages of leading newspapers.
“It was a surprise, I didn’t expect to be the best but I knew that I would do well because I was very well prepared,” says Omanga.
Perhaps to serve as a souvenir for the defining moment, Omanga has maintained the newspaper copies in his house. The funny part is that he told journalists that he wanted to be the country’s president.
According to him, he received a lot of pressure from various quarters who wanted him to join an Ivy League institution. But as fate would have it, Omanga joined University of Nairobi to study medicine and surgery.
Here is the story as told by WoK:
Becoming a medical officer
After KCSE, Omanga was employed at a regional bank prior to joining UoN. He completed his undergraduate studies within 5 years and had a one year internship programme at Kitale County Referral Hospital.
Between 2015 and 2017, Omanga worked as a medical officer in the same facility. He then decided to specialise and followed his interest in surgery because he was more interested in something that was hands-on.
Orthopaedic Surgeon
Omanga applied for both neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery. Joining a specialised field required that candidates sit for written and oral examinations. He missed out of neurosurgery because of turning up late for the exams.
But all was not lost as Omanga received admission letters to join both UoN and Moi University for a Master’s in Orthopaedic Surgery. He chose the latter because it took less time to complete the studies. Additionally, Omanga says the programme at Moi University was more ‘reputable.’
Specialising took him 4 years from 2017 and 2021. According to his LinkedIn profile, he currently works at Kitale County Referral Hospital.
Private Life
Omanga is simply a smart man who eschews the comfort zone. He is also a Youtuber who currently has over 11k subscribers and over 326000 views. He mainly posts content that is centred on technology and health. His wife, Mercyline helps in shooting and editing the videos.
Asked why ‘A’ students may be employed by ‘C’ students, Omanga said that the latter get into investing earlier. He also opines that the world has immense opportunities regardless of one’s grades.
“The world is not only for ‘A’ students. Find out where your unique abilities are,” he said in a Citizen TV interview.
“The problem is a lot of A students like ourselves just get into school and books for several years and you don’t really sit down to think about things like business,” he added.
