John Mafabi is half-Ugandan, half-Kenyan and Safaricom’s Regional Marketing lead for the Greater Western region.

As an experienced marketing manager with over a decade of experience in retail management and trade marketing, he likes to think of himself as open-minded and quite chill with a joyful approach to life.

He is a family man with two beautiful daughters, loves everything Christmas, and his love language is gifting.

In another life, he would have been a professional basketball player, perhaps occupying the same realm as LeBron James. Sixteen years ago, a robust guy elbowed him during a basketball game, and he broke his front teeth. He ended up with half incisors but wouldn’t change that experience for a thing. After all, he was doing what he loves.

What is your role as a Regional Marketing Lead?

I’m basically like a small chief marketing officer in Greater Western, which is quite vast.  I said small because I pretty much market for everything. When you walk into Greater Western, for example, I enable everything from the branding that you see within the region, the adverts, supporting the stakeholders, to the activations and sponsorships.

Did your passions lead you to this role?

Yes. I started humble. In my last year of studying marketing at the University of Nairobi, I started working at the call centre, answering calls on 100. “Thank you for calling Safaricom Customer Care. This is Mafabi speaking. How may I help you?” From there, I gradually moved through various roles such as a retail centre agent, a sales representative, data support, and regional marketing. All levels have, however, been fueled by my passion for technology and marketing.

What is your most memorable thing about working at the call centre?

My name caused quite a stir. Mafabi. It is not that common here, so I’d get lots of “Ma who? Ma what?” every time I answered calls. As much as I love that name, at some point, I started using my first name to ease the confusion.

Also, given that I was quite young, the beauty about the Call Center at the time was that I’d get in, put on my headset, answer calls, and when my shift ended, I’d put the headset down and leave with zero responsibilities till the next day. Such an easy life!

What lessons have you learnt over time working with people at Safaricom?

Transitioning from Customer Care to a leadership role in Marketing has profoundly shaped my professional outlook. I have found that stakeholder management is my biggest strength, and I also learnt the importance of having strong communication skills, especially in roles that have you interacting with many people.

To excel, you also have to love the job. It’s been exciting and rewarding to engage directly with communities and lead various marketing initiatives.

Speaking of initiatives, you were quite involved when Chapa Dimba came to your region.

Oh, my goodness. Chapa Dimba.

Chapa Dimba has been my best event in Greater Western, really, thus far. It was mainly about stakeholder management. If you ask me, we did everything we could. We engaged extensively with the public, from community to community, the markets. We engaged with the mama mbogas and with the boda guys. No one was left behind.

It was also a very easy conversation for us because Greater Western is the home of football. They love music and love to dance. The beauty, therefore, was that we would tell them their team was playing football in the finals and ask them to come and support their local teams, and they would come in big numbers.

This made the event colourful and quite interesting. Mambo Leo Stadium was completely full and spilling over. The highlight was also that it was not just from the men. Women, girls, and boys of all ages were present. Looking back, it was very emotive for me to see that in one stadium. The crowds also heaped praise on Safaricom for bringing them cheer. Eh, Chapa Dimba was special.

Would you say that is part of why you won a Hongera Award?

Well, yeah. Hongera Awards is an internal awards ceremony at Safaricom that recognizes achievements and celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to the company’s success. So, I got an award within my role as the Best Regional Marketing lead within the company. I got the award because of the work that I was doing and how I was executing it, which was quite visible, like managing Chapa Dimba successfully. That was a very good moment for me, and I don’t take it for granted. I feel like it came in at the right time.

What is the best thing someone ever did for you?

A memorable moment for me was when our then-CEO, Michael Joseph, called me to his office because his BlackBerry wasn’t working properly at the time, and he needed me to go fix it. This boosted my confidence and visibility within the company. Outside of the company, I’d also pay courtesy calls in some government offices to fix phones. Fixing President Mwai Kibaki’s phone comes high on the list as well. To date, some people still refer to me as ‘that BlackBerry guy.’ Pretty cool, huh? (smiles)

And did you manage to fix it?

Hahaha! Yes!

With Michael Joseph especially, haungebahatisha. The work had to get done. Plus, during my time working with terminals and sales, I was part of the first team that started doing data support, part of which was to repair mobile phones, in this case, BlackBerry support. It was a very interesting time, and I even went for training in Germany for about three weeks. When I came back, I was a BlackBerry guru.

What has been a life-changing experience?

When I finished high school, I’d spend my time with friends playing basketball. I was good at it! So good that one time, while on a tournament, some Americans came scouting and found me to be quite talented. After a few discussions, they gave me a scholarship to study and play at Maryland University. I repeat, Maryland University!

I was beaming with joy and took the forms to my dad, but (shrugs)….

But what?

That man said no! “You can’t go.” Can you imagine that?

He said he didn’t want me to go to America because American people were doing all those bad things. I didn’t talk to him for about two months, but now that I look back, I think maybe it was a good idea. I think I’m happy. I’m happy with what I have now and where I am. I love my job, and even at home with my family, I love it.

I know I would have probably been hanging out with Kim Kardashian, but you know what? Too bad.

What are the most valuable lessons you’ve learned in life and through your career?

Perseverance and adaptability are key. I have also learnt to look at people holistically without judging them by how they talk or look. Embracing change has always led to growth.

What keeps you up at night?

I’m not really a TV guy. I’m the guy that watches a series for over a year or two. I’ll watch an episode today, and then I will take it up again after a month. But what would keep me up are the NBA playoffs. I would wake up in the middle of the night to watch LeBron James, my GOAT, my greatest of all time, playing basketball. Yeah, and it’s natural. I don’t even set an alarm; I’ll wake up at three o’clock or at four o’clock to watch him.

You are quite literal, huh?

Oh, hahaha! You meant it like ….

Okay, I like helping people, and I don’t like seeing them suffer, especially people who are close to me, my friends, or my family. If someone is going through a hard time and I can’t play my way around it, it gets to me. I am also very selfless, and sometimes, I stress to ensure I give my family anything in any way I can.

What would you like your legacy to be?

I hope to be remembered as someone who positively impacted my company and the communities I serve. I also just love being with people. I love laughing. I love life. I eat life with a big spoon. And that is exactly how I would want to be remembered.

Who is Mafabi outside the office?

I am a ball of energy. Besides playing basketball, I like to have a good time. I go on holidays, and I like hanging out with friends, and we laugh a lot. I can be very silly at times. Let’s just say I’m very versatile. I also enjoy sharing a drink with my friends and listening to music.

What is your favourite drink?

Water. Sparkling.

Come on.

Are you going to write about this? Actually, you know what? I don’t mind. Just write it. Glenlivet, 15 years! Cool as that. Hahaha!

What is something many people don’t know about you?

I used to be quite artistic, and I still am, but I would draw a lot before I got into marketing. Art was my side hustle during campus. Do you remember those Christmas season paintings in CBD on those big windows? That was my thing. I used to draw for 200 bob per window. That was good money then. I loved it.

What is the last song you listened to?

Umm, that popular song by that band. Here Without You by Three Doors something….

I’m here without you baby…and I dream about you all the time (sings)

On a scale of 1-10, how good are you at basketball?

Now? I would say a 7.3. I mean, I could score over LeBron right now. I didn’t say I would win, but I would score over him. Ten years ago, however, I’d have scaled the charts. Easily.

Hey, can I change who my favourite artist is?

Why? The question was about the last song you listened to

Well. Fair enough. But I also want the world to know I love Chris Brown. CB to the world.