A successful photographer and videographer, Salim Rashid (28), grew up in a well established family of 11 children in Kisauni area. His father was a business man while his mum is a house wife. His childhood dream was to be a soldier and he was able to study military science as well as mass communication and investigative journalism in Uganda. After completing his degree he worked for Kenya News Agency, Radio Rahma and Pwani Fm. However, he was having great difficulty since the system of journalism in Uganda and Kenya is not exactly the same. It is by this that he decided to be an entrepreneur.

Having passed very well in photojournalism and his interest in photography, he decided to start his own studio by the name of Amish Video Production. His friend informed him about KYBT and thus, he too, brought forward his business idea to the panel to get a loan to start the business. He was confident as he was focused and determined of what he wanted and by this; he was able to convince the panel into giving him the loan. He also got the support from his family apart from his elder sister who was worried he might not be able to sustain the business and pay back the loan. Nonetheless, he went on to get to his goal.

The first thing he did after acquiring the loan was buy a camera, tripod and light stands for his studio. A friend who had studied IT joined him and they went into a partnership in the business. They did research on other well known studios to find out the loop holes and thereafter ensured to make their business do best what the others were poor at. They started doing public relations for politicians like Bedzima, doing celebrity adverts and posters as well as involving themselves with political events. They also made their own marketing strategy by giving free pictures for every video that they produced. They would also give a free album and a printed cup with a photo of the bride and bridegroom. From their research they also found out that other videographers take a lot of time to do their work and from that, they decided to make their work very timely. Another marketing strategy that they use is social media which the other studios do not use.

His mentor is Michael Sandel who lectures in the faculty of justice in Havard University. He is a socialist and his works are really inspiring. Apart from him, his other mentor is Mr. Abdulalim; CEO of KYBT whom he believes gives great advice to young people; “Mr. Abdulalim gives real life examples and he guides you how to do business as well as help the society. He also helped me a lot in coming up with the marketing strategy.”

His hope for the future is to expand his business and own a TV station. He is also interested in helping the Kisauni community where many youth are indulging in drug abuse. As of now, they have been able to enroll 6 youth to participate in marketing during political events or rallies. The youth usually use skateboards to give out materials like brochures. There is also ‘team Bedzima car wash’ that they also took part in the idea creation and initiation where more youth are working in.

His advice to the youth is that they should come to KYBT for it is a place that has several inspirational people and personally, he has profited a lot from the place. His end remarks were: “You have to try in life. Never give up and be careful of your choices for they count.”