I Used To Drive A Taxi In Mombasa, Musician Akothee Says
Akothee. | image source: facebook.com/akotheekenya |
Gidi and Ghost were Monday privileged to host a random guest, musician Akothee.
Akothee has made a name for herself in the Kenyan entertainment because of her wealth and stylish dressing.
Her latest song, Sweet Love, has just hit the airwaves and she was at Kiss 100 at 0830h to promote it.
Sweet Love has definitely enhanced her status in the East African music industry seeing that the song is a rare collaboration between a Kenyan musician and Tanzanian star Diamond Platnumz.
Sweet Love song video, Akothee ft Diamond.
Billed as the wealthiest musician in Kenya, her current status as an accomplishment businesswoman and musician may deceive one to believe that Akothee, real name Esther Okeyo, had an easy journey to attaining the fame and success she enjoys today.
Describing herself as mother and girl enjoying life, Akothee said that her journey to the top is one that had humble beginnings.
From what she shared, it comes out clearly that she did a lot of jobs to make ends meet before she finally got her breakthrough and established herself as the person she is today. A jack of all trades, as she described herself.
"I used to drive a taxi in Mombasa in 2007 and I also used to manufacture liquid soaps which I would sell to hotels," Akothee said.
She started her taxi business after bagging a windfall when she travelled to the Netherlands as a dancer of a band she was a fan of before being its member.
"I used to like dancing and because of that I found myself warming to Limpopo International. At times I used to ask to let me dance with their girls and after dancing for them on a few occasions, they appreciated my talent and one they took me to the Netherlands for a show. I was paid 300 000 shillings," Akothee narrated.
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Akothee poses for a selfie with Gidi and Ghost after her interview on Radio Jambo.
With money, Akothee started her taxi business by buying her first car.
"I always had a dream of owning a fleet of taxis branded with my name, Akothee. So with the money, I used 50 000 thousand to settle myself and with the remaining I bought a car with which I started a taxi business with. The car's registration plate was KAT 115F."
With the taxi, Akothee said that she was able to supplement the income she got from her soap business. Revenue from her taxi business used to cater for her rent and children's school fees whereas money from the soap business was used to buy food.
"During the day I used to supply soap and at night I would operate my taxi business. Whenever I was tired, I would let someone run the taxi business for me then in the morning he would give me the money he collected and from that I would pay him. The taxi paid for rent, water and school fees and the soap business took care of the food," Akothee explained.
On her song Sweet Love, Akothee said it is a Valentine gift to her fans.
She said that the song praises genuine and sincere love.
"Love is not about looks and physical features. True love comes from the heart. In the song video, you can see a man of great means falling in love with a blind girl. There are many girls blessed with sight but the man overlooked all of them for her," Akothee said on her song Sweet Love with Diamond.
While shedding light on what inspired her song, Akothee rubbished skin-bleaching and urged African ladies to be proud of their dark skin.
"Bleaching one's skin is acting like a confused person. Black is beauty," she raved.
On her collaboration with Diamond, Akothee said the following,"The experience was great. I learnt a lot of things working with Diamond. He is hard working and very dedicated. He is a person who takes music as profession."
To listen to Akothee's interview with Gidi and Ghost, click on the link below.