DR RONNIE ‘MICH’ EGWANG has cut himself as the smooth-talking and witty Tusker Project Fame co-host with a gentleman’s mien. Mich is also an ace businessman, veterinary doctor and a doting father. He spoke to PETER MUIRURI
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| DR RONNIE ‘MICH’ EGWANG |
He is the eccentric but easygoing co-host of Tusker Project Fame, a job he has held for the last three seasons. He has the gentleman’s mien and a romantic flair, making him a darling of many. His intermittent ‘friendly fire’ with judge Ian Mbugua always acts as a show-stopper.
Meet Dr Ronnie ‘Mich’s Egwang, the man who wanted to be a practising gynaecologist had life’s path not taken him to a different field.
“I had the feeling that being a gynaecologist was a flashy and stylish career. However, I opted to pursue veterinary medicine at Makerere University, being inspired by my father who is a scientist,” says Mich when I catch up with him at a Nairobi hotel.
His confidence on air and broader viewpoint on issues can only be attributed to a rich exposure from his father’s assignments abroad. Mich spent the first three years of elementary schooling in Canada where his father was doing a Masters degree.
He would later on study in Ohio and California in the US between 1983 to 1987. His father would thereafter be transferred to Gabon, West Africa, giving Mich an opportunity to polish his French.
Back in Uganda, Mich was enrolled in Namilyango Secondary School, the highest rated and oldest school in Uganda, for Senior One to Six where he became a proficient rugby player.
“We had the best rugby team in Uganda. Our school was nicknamed ‘the graveyard’ due to the many sports’ careers of rival teams that would be extinguished in our school,” he recalls humourously.
Mich, a man with a nose for smelling a business opportunity from afar started showbiz life as a first year student at Makerere University.
His first video shop set up in 1996 in Makerere’s Lumumba Hall was a big hit with the student fraternity, raking in at least 200 dollars (approximately Sh16,000) a week.
“All I did was to see a need for entertainment that existed within the campus and went ahead to fulfill it. I am a real African who believes in doing something for himself rather than become a bother to others,” says Mich.
By the second year, the business had grown to include three video libraries with hired staff running the show on his behalf. Sadly, the business venture had a bad ending when the dean decided to close it in 1997. Undeterred, Mich went on to open a food delivery business in the same campus a year later.
