When Rose Kimotho pumped an initial capital of Sh40 million in 2000 to start Kameme FM, her dream to own a vernacular radio station had come true.
The station would immediately win a massive audience in Central Kenya and as a result, advertisers would come on board meaning millions of shillings in advertising revenues.
However, Kameme FM's monopoly in the Kikuyu radio market would be cut short by the launch of Coro FM in the year 2001 and Inooro FM two years later.
The two stations are said to have offered Kameme FM advertisers irresistible deals in terms of discounts which dealt a huge blow to Rose Kimotho's station.
In an effort to minimize the over-reliance of radio advertising revenues, Kimotho would in the run-up to the 2007 General Elections launch K24 TV. However, this new project was the beginning of the end of Kimotho's media empire.
K24 which launched as a 24-hour news TV station with notable names like Jeff Koinange would become a major burden to the already struggling Kameme FM as it started eating on its revenues to remain afloat.
Kimotho who is reported to have sourced funding from a bank linked to President Uhuru Kenyatta to launch K24 would be forced to sell part of her ownership stake to TV Africa Holdings, a media company owned by the Kenyatta family.
Nevertheless, this move would not change things for the better forcing Kimotho to bow out of Regional Reach Limited which was the umbrella company that owned Kameme and K24 in 2009.
"What holds businesses in Africa back is a lack of venture capital. The only way we are going to grow Africa is through business, and business is having people who have faith in [you] putting money behind an idea," Rose Kimotho is quoted by Business Daily during an interview with the BusinessWeek Magazine in 2008.
Kimotho currently owns Kikuyu TV station, 3 Stones TV, and a media college by the same name.
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