Young TikTok stars hit the jackpot

When Isiah Omondi, popularly known as Vick Brandon, decided to put on hold joining university to pursue a career in the arts, his family thought that he had gone mad.

But his mind was made up and he knew that he would rather try and fail than not try at all. His passion is comedy and with no connections to a comedy show with an audience, he did the only thing that came to his mind – posting videos online.

But he had to be strategic about it.

“I did not want to post content on just any social media app. At the time, this challenge done by Azziad Nasenya on Tik Tok was really big, so I decided that that was the platform I would use for my content,” Omondi said.

Tik Tok, a video sharing social networking service, was gaining popularity among the youth, who were more active there compared to other apps.

“I started with dancing because I thought it was big at the time, but I realised that was not where my talent was. So I switched to comedy. The first video I posted received a lot of encouraging comments. People liked my content and I knew I had hit the jackpot,” explained the 21-year-old.

Since 2019 he has grown his brand, with a 2.4 million following on Tik Tok.

“I believe it is the content that attracted people to my account. I was doing comedy and I guess Kenyans wanted something to make them laugh, especially when Covid-19 first hit the country and everyone just panicked,” he remarked.

“I am so glad I decided to follow my passion because this has opened doors for me. I never imagined I would work with big companies like Safaricom and Co-operative Bank, among others. This is because advertisers have realised that this is where young people are.”

He derives his content from everyday occurrences like the daily childish fights between two brothers.

A few months ago he broke his hand while filming.

“I had an accident while I was shooting a scene. I wanted to show how someone can be slapped out of a room, of course, by exaggerating. So I jumped off the first floor balcony of a building. I realised my mistake and since then I have been using dummies,” he explained.

The stunts can be dangerous and he does not advise anyone to try them at all.

Idris Salim aka Mama Fatma

Mombasa-based comedian Idris Salim, popularly known as Mama Fatma to his more than 300,000 followers on Tik Tok is another online sensation.

He joined the Mombasa Academy of Arts to study acting and immediately after, auditioned at the Little Theatre Club and Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi. He was successful and featured in several plays.

But being at the mercy of film producers, not knowing when the phone would ring for his next gig made him think of other ways to make money.

“I did some plays at the Little Theatre Club in Mombasa and there was a time when not so many shows were being done at the club. So I decided for myself that as an artiste, I should stop depending on other people for employment. I opened a YouTube channel where I shared videos,” Salim said.

But his big break came when he created the character of Mama Fatma, a Swahili woman.

“I decided on Mama Fatma because women are interesting. She is the typical Swahili woman who is nosy, and straight forward when it comes to giving advice,” he said.

Although he is now living a comfortable life, paying his own bills, having the alter-ego of a woman has attracted some criticism.

“I come from a strong Muslim background and when I started acting as a woman, putting on makeup and wearing dresses, it rubbed a few individuals the wrong way. Some of their comments were harsh. I had to go to therapy because I would sometimes think about harming myself,” Salim said.

“But I do this as a career. Mama Fatma is a fiction that helps me make my daily bread. Therapy helped me to focus on the positive and that is how I have been able to be consistent and sustain my brand,” he went on.

And he has never regretted his decision to be a content creator.

Daniel Mboya aka Ice Tray

Daniel Mboya, popularly known as Ice Tray, is another content creator on Tik Tok who has been able to attract a huge number of fans due to his dance skits.

A professional dancer, he decided to move his business online when most activities were shut down in Kenya due to the pandemic.

Luckily for him, a wave of dance challenges had hit social media.

“I started by doing different dance challenges or I would look at what was trending online and making a video of it. Surprisingly a good number of my videos went viral. This was good for me, so I started creating my own challenges for people to try,” Mboya said.

All of sudden, with great reviews and more than 360,000 fans and counting, international music artistes started contacting him to promote their songs.

“Some would ask me to create a challenge and promote it for a week or more, depending on our agreement and they would pay me. It has also opened doors for me to work with corporates and I cannot complain, I am happy,” says the 23-year-old.

The Tik Tok stars agree that there are a lot of opportunities for young people to be self-employed, especially with the internet. However, it is important to have a plan if your aim is to make a living out of it, they say.