Follow Your Heart, says Alice Makaya

Standard Style
Many a times, life has an interesting way of taking us on a journey to where we must go.

Many a times, life has an interesting way of taking us on a journey to where we must go.

Patricia Mabviko Musanhu

It’s not always easy or apparent where one is going to end up in life. However, there are those who believe that if you take time to listen and follow your heart, you will soon find the way. Conway Twitty simply said, “Listen to advice, but follow your heart”.

Alice Makaya, founder and TV talk show host of the “Alice Makaya Show” is one of those individuals who has always been drawn to the public space. Growing up as a young girl, she took an interest in fashion and beauty contests and her name always stood out in the public sphere. After completing A’ Level, she left for England to study journalism and even whilst there, her name soon became known by people in the surrounding area.

“I love talking to people and connecting with people. It seems to come naturally to me,” she said.

In 1993, this natural gift to build rapport with people opened a door for her in South Africa. She was offered a job with an airline and spent eight years travelling around the world, meeting different people. This opportunity helped to strengthen her confidence as well as develop new skills in communicating with people from different cultures. It was no surprise therefore that when she returned to Zimbabwe in 2009 her first port of call was the national broadcaster where she was offered an opportunity to read the news. Two years later she felt a heavy burden to do more to make a positive impact in people’s lives. “I was also inspired by the talk show guru Oprah Winfrey. I felt that there was no platform for people in Zimbabwe to showcase their talents as well as their successes in business and the arts. This is how I came up with the “Alice Makaya Show”. Since launching the show Alice has had an overwhelming response locally as well as from the region. In 2012, she received the Victors Awards for upcoming talk show host. Through interviews with different experts and personalities, the “Alice Makaya Show” has helped to give advice and solutions to some of the challenges that people face on a day to day basis. Inspite of the prevailing economic hardships, Alice remains determined to continue using the show to build people lives and to make a difference in the community. However, she admitted that this has not been an easy task. “One of my biggest challenges has been lack of capital to inject into my production company to enable the production of the show to flow smoothly. However, by God’s grace I have always managed to keep the show afloat even when I have not been able to secure sponsorship,” she said. One thing which has helped Alice to keep the show going is her attitude towards business. She believes that it is important to build and nurture relationships with clients and or business partners. It is out of relationships that businesses grow to become successful. It is also important to have foresight and not to try and maximize making profits on one project or one product.

“I believe people should look beyond projects to nurturing long term business relationships that will bring more business it the future. The temptation sometimes is to put money ahead of relationships. By putting unnecessary emphasis on money, I believe that we miss out on things that have more value,” she said.

Alice said that she is driven more by passion rather than the need to make money from the Show.

In addition to interacting with different people on her talk show Alice also anchors news on Good Morning Zimbabwe and is a financial advisor to an insurance company.

Patricia Mabviko Musanhu is a Company Director/Producer at Black and White Media Productions. She can be contacted at [email protected]

Related Topics