Nimrod Taabu: From Being Rejected Thrice by Utalii College to Kenya's Leading Swahili Journalist

Nimrod Taabu is arguably one of the best Swahili journalists and news anchor in the country. His deep command of the language has made him a role model for many in the industry. 

Watching him, one would easily get the impression that journalism was his first love, but that is not the case, as his dream was to venture into the hospitality industry. 

Utalii College Rejection and Joining KIMC

In a past interview, Nimrod divulged that after completing high school, he applied to join Utalii College, a renowned hospitality college in the country, but was unsuccessful thrice. 

He also tried playing soccer, but that also did not yield fruit. He retreated to the village, where a relative advised him to send an application to the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC).

"My first choice was the hotel industry and I applied for admission at Utalii Collage three times unsuccessfully. I went back to the farm and spent more than a year there farming with my father before a relative advised me to apply for admission to a Mass Communication school, which I did, and the rest you can see now," he narrated.

Nimrod's Media Career

After leaving KIMC, Nimrod landed a job at KTN as an assistant reporter. He delivered under the role and was promoted to a Swahili news anchor. 

Explaining why he decided to become a Swahili journalist, Nimrod noted that he's more comfortable with Swahili than English.

"All through school I scored A's in Swahili. Moreover, I'm more comfortable speaking Kiswahili than English. I had to learn English after I was told that if I was to get a job and survive in Nairobi I had to be able to speak it well," he said.

He then moved from the Mombasa Road-based media house to NTV. At NTV, his career blossomed, as he became the face of 7 p.m. news.

He also teamed up with Jane Ngoiri and formed a dynamic duo that became the darling of many.

In 2018, Nimrod moved from NTV and joined Citizen, where he's currently one of the Swahili news anchors.

Addressing young people that look up to him, Nimrod noted that they should endeavour to be better than him and move the profession to new heights.