Here is why Raila Junior’s Surname is a ‘double-edged Sword’ for him

Image result for Raila junior

Raila Junior Odinga Junior, who is a film producer, recently opened up on the struggles he goes through in business due to his surname. He said people do not give him a job because he is the son of a well-known politician or comes from a famous family, but because of his high professionalism and work ethic.

Raila Junior, contrary to what many believe, is a serious businessman who owns a production house. He doesn’t coast on his father’s political prowess and influence.

Image result for Raila junior

“I am a businessman who manages his own business. I run a media production house and we mainly deal with the production of TV commercials.”

Raila Odinga Junior is currently enjoying his venture into entrepreneurship with his company, the Creative Hub limited. The outfit is a media firm that specializes in production, which he set up in 2012 with the help of his friend Tedd Josiah.

He started off with equipment that lay unused after the 2013 general elections which was previously used for profiling and giving coverage to his father, Raila Odinga’s campaigns for the presidency of the country.

In his five-year journey into the trade, Raila Odinga Junior has managed to work with companies like Airtel, Unilever and Nestlé.

Image result for Raila junior

He also confessed that his first salary as an accountant was Ksh 10,000. To him, that was a lot of cash. “My first job was working as an accountant for an aviation company. The job entailed bookkeeping, handling petty cash and just ensuring that things were running smoothy. For that, I was paid Ksh 10,000. That to me was a lot of cash back in the day.”

Raila Juniour says he was thrilled to be paid Ksh 10,000 on his first job as an accountant. Junior says the ‘Odinga’ name is a plus and a minus for him. “Being the son of a prominent personality is a double edge sword in that, yes, I can manage to meet a CEO of a company. But, no, because they don’t believe I can do that which I propose so I have to work three times harder,” Raila Junior says.

Related image

Junior goes on to say that having the Odinga surname has not made things easy for him given that his clients place too many expectations on him. “I cannot say business is easy because when people give me business they have expectations.”

Adding, “Going by my surname the expectations placed on me are much higher compared to expectations placed on other people doing the same job.”

Image result for Raila junior company

On whether he feels the pressure for being Raila Odinga’s son, Junior, says he is past that ‘stage’. “When I was 18-25 years old there was pressure because I had not fully understood my self as a man, but now I do. At 39, I now know who I am. I know what I can do and what I cannot do. I don’t feel pressure anymore.”

Despite the strides the Creative Hub Limited has made, Raila Odinga Junior talks of how he had to work hard; he enjoyed no advantage in being the son of a former Prime Minister and prominent figure in the Kenyan political scene.

He attributes his current success to proper execution and delivery on any engagements he has with clients and advises budding businesses to ensure client satisfaction.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *