For Dr Sebastian Ndege, only the sky is the limit. PHOTO I COURTESY
By Salome Gregory, The Citizen, Email: sgregory@tz.nationmedia.com
IN SUMMARY
Dr Sebastian Ndege, or Seba as he is fondly called by peers was the founder and first presenter of the programme which attracts millions of listeners throughout the country.
In case you a
He earned his fame from the famous Clouds FM radio programme Njia Panda (at cross roads) which is aired at 2.pm on Sundays.
Dr Sebastian Ndege, or Seba as he is fondly called by peers was the founder and first presenter of the programme which attracts millions of listeners throughout the country.
In case you are wondering why a radio presenter is called a doctor, the truth is that Seba is a professional medical doctor. Not only that. He is a succesful entrepreneur, a good motivational speaker and the president of the Tanzania Insurance Brokers Association.
Dr Seba is also the founder and director of Tanzania House of Talent (THT). He is who he is today thanks to his spirit of volunteerism.
“I grew up dreaming of success in life. It is through hard work, the spirit to volunteer and the thirst to acquire new knowledge that made me who I am today,” says Dr Seba confidently.
Sharing his life experience with Success, Dr Seba thanks his parents for shaping him to become the successful man that he is today. Despite his late father’s wealth, he raised him to work hard so he could become independent.
“My father never allowed me to take advantage of his wealth. He never gave me fish but taught me how to fish.” Seba says when his father would send him to get something with a family car, he always wanted his keys back as soon as Seba got home.
The ambitious young man recalls a visit by a renowned environmentalist, Jane Goodall, at Azania Secondary School where he was studying in 1991 which later proved beneficial to him.
Goodall’s visit saw Seba and other students form a Roots and Shoots environment club at the school. Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park on the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika.
“During her visit, she preached about environmental conservation and I was among the students who formed the environment club at the school. As club members, we used to plant trees in different areas in the city as well as doing beach clean ups,” says Seba.
Since he was an active and founding member of the environment club, Seba earned himself a job with Roots and Shoots, an environmental awareness programme and a leader in various community and health programmes when he completed his A-level studies in 1997.
“I got a job as a Programme Coordinator. My duties included organising different environment events.”
Among the successful events Seba organised was the national sports for people with disabilities way back in 1998. The event which was attended by about 10,000 participants took place at the national stadium.
“It was the first and last event involving people with disabilities in the country. I was so moved when I visited the Salvation Army and saw how people with disabilities are able to do different things independently,” says Seba.
When the A-level examnation results came out, Seba who had passed with flying colours was selected to join the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) for his first degree in Medicine.
Work and study
Seba continued to work while studying. “Working as the progamme coordinator for Roots and Shoots shaped my understanding of different issues. I had a mentor who taught me about office management, how to present myself, writing proposals and so forth. He taught me the general skills on how to handle an office,” says Seba.
With the salary he earned, Seba was able to pay his school fees and buy books in the first year at college. He even managed to pay rent and buy some furniture for his room since he was living off campus.
“After a year with Roots and Shoots, I was promoted to be the Country Director of the organisation. This translated to salary increment as well as a house,” says Seba.
According to him, he had seen the promotion coming given the fact that he was a hard worker and that he was in university.
Since most of his work was community related, Seba developed an interest in the media. I was a good follower of many radio programmes and realised something was missing.
“It was 13 years ago when I realised there was a need to bring about change in the radio programmes as I could feel a gap somewhere. I thought there was a need to bring together the voices of experts and victims of different social circumstances on the radio.”
And this is how Njia Panda was born. Since Seba had enough knowledge on HIV/Aids, he decided to make it the entry point of his programme.
By then stigma was so high that some people were afraid to shake hands with people living with HIV/Aids. That time, it was very rare to find people who were ready to talk openly about their HIV status.
“Deep inside my heart I wanted to change the mindset of my countrymen regarding HIV. It was only by getting real people with HIV/Aids and experts to talk about the disease that this was going to happen,” he says.
His first assignment was to look for people living with HIV/Aids who could open up and share their stories on the radio by just introducing themselves and saying they lived with HIV/Aids.
This was not an easy thing to do as to begin with, it was not easy to get airtime at Clouds FM. However, Seba sent his proposal to the management which later gave him a go ahead.
He had to prepare programmes for three months in advance just to be sure the programme would run every Sunday.
Having no experience with radio, the task proved a bit difficult but with the help of experienced colleagues, Seba managed and Njia Panda was soon on air.
The programme won many hearts due to its uniqueness. People would eagerly wait by their radios on Sundays afternoon. Slowly, Dr Seba became a household name.
Being busy with school and work at Roots and Shoots, Seba had to make the hard decision of quiting his job with the organisation.
“I wanted to expand my Njia Panda programme and in 2004, I formed a non-governmental organisation called Life at Crossroads Trust. The organisation aimed at helping adolescents in HIV/Aids matters through outreach programmes.”
He received funding from different donors to run the project for three years. The funds helped the organisation to conduct different out reach programmes for the youth.
Rescuing family business
While things were moving smoothly for Seba, matters were not too well on the other side of his family. In 2005 he learnt that his late father’s company, Ndege Insurance had become insolvent.
“It was a family investment. After the death of my father, my step mother had to take over the business. The investment was about to collapse. I decided to stand for it no matter what,” says Seba.
He decided to put other things aside and focus on his father’s business.
Assuring clients of Ndege Insurance that things would be alright was Seba’s first assignment in office.
“I also went to the companies that we owed to assure them that everything would be okay and that the company would not be sold. I asked them to give me six months to rescue it.”
Seba also paid a visit to the Commissioner of Insurance to assure him that he would regain the company’s lost glory. He assured him he would pay all the debts that amounted to more than Sh 100 million.
“I went through a lot of work to make sure I regained the trust of our clients, staff, shareholders and other people who worked closely with the company. It was not easy for some of the shareholders to let me run the company as they never thought I would manage,” he says.
To cut a long story short, Seba managed to put things in order in just six months. He paid all the debts, renovated the office, as well as shaping the attitude of some staff who were lazy and irresponsible.
“The ability to work hard to achieve what I desire pushed me to mantain my father’s respect. As I speak, the company is still in my hands,” says Seba beaming with pride. Seba learned to pray hard during the trying time and God really listened and answered his prayers.
To sharpen his skills in running his father’s company, Seba enrolled for a post graduate diploma in Insurance and Risk Management at the Institute of Finance Management and graduated in 2010.
“Many people think I switched careers but the truth is I combined careers. It helps me a lot. The medicine and business knowledge combined together help me to be successful in life. ”
Dr Seba is a recipient of the Jane Goodall’s International Recognition Award, for outstanding performance in youth and environmental awareness in Tanzania.
He has worked with various organisations including UNFPA’s AYA Project, the International Youth Foundation, Policy Initiative and the Mkapa HIV Foundatiom to mention but a few.
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