Born Broke. Built Loud.

The true story of a boy who was smuggled into the world and had to talk his way through it.

Seven parts. Forty-five chapters. One boy carried from Kisumu to Lugari to a national newsroom by a mouth his teachers called a problem and his bank account now calls a strategy. It is funny because it is true, and it is true because he kept the receipts.

“We were not poor quietly. Even our poverty had a sound system.”

— Part One · The Kerosene Years

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seven parts, one climb

Chapter by chapter.

Chapter I1990s

Christmas Eve, Kisumu

Born December 24th, promptly upstaged by the following morning for every birthday thereafter. Named after his grandfather, Rev. Micah Ob’bayi — a preacher whose whisper carried three villages. The volume, it turns out, is hereditary.

The family has never once celebrated his birthday on time. He has forgiven approximately none of this.

Chapter IIThe Lamp Years

Lugari, Kakamega

A childhood on a mud floor where a kerosene lamp did a streetlight’s job and homework was rationed by wick. School fees arrived late; ambition arrived early and refused to leave. Teachers filed the mouth under "problem." The mouth was taking notes.

Full financial breakdown available in the memoir, Part One: The Kerosene Years.

Chapter IIIThe Road

Kisumu → Lugari → Lumakanda → Murgusi → Thika → Nairobi

Six addresses, one direction. Each move traded something familiar for something possible. By Thika the plan had a shape; by Nairobi it had a wardrobe. The accent collected souvenirs from every stop and still uses all of them on air.

The route is mapped in the book, with commentary the towns did not request.

Chapter IVThe Internships

Citizen TV — carrying cables, taking notes

Television education from the floor up: cables, call sheets, the sacred fury of a control room at 6:59 PM. He watched anchors the way other interns watched the clock. Then PPP TV took a chance on the loud one, and the loud one did not waste it.

To every intern currently coiling a cable: that is the syllabus. Coil it well.

Chapter V2022 —

Urban News, with Lucy Ogunde

A youth news desk with a radical format: two people telling the truth at conversational speed, twice a week, live. No script, no retake. Kenya tuned in and stayed. Lucy fact-checks him in real time, which he describes as "a blessing, legally speaking."

The desk chemistry is unscripted. The preparation behind it is anything but.

Chapter VI2024

Valedictorian, TIBS College

Finished first in his class, years after the aunties had filed him under "still in school?" The graduation gown was slightly too short. The moment was not. Full account — including his mother’s legendary panoramic stare — lives in the Journal.

Read "Valedictorian, eventually" in the Journal for the director’s cut.

Chapter VII2025 —

Roylandz Media & the Urban Gang Tour

Founded Roylandz Media; co-founded the Urban Gang Tour with Lucy. A school a week, a stage, mentorship pods, a runway, a national broadcast. Then wrote the whole climb down — seven parts, forty-five chapters — and titled it honestly: Born Broke. Built Loud.

Current chapter. Under loud construction.

the photo plates