James Waithaka, The Star
James Waithaka is Property & Supplements Editor at The Star. In his current job he specialises in reports on trends and opportunities in the paper’s Property section, while he also manages and coordinates the editorial aspect of the Supplements section. He joined from Business Daily in July 2010.

A Communication and Media Technology graduate from Maseno University, James had a brief spell at Business Daily prior to joining The Star. Here he was able to learn and benefit from the expertise of section editor Michael Omondi, who he considers his role model within business journalism. He calls Omondi “smart, insightful and assertive”, and feels he learnt a lot from his example while at Business Daily. Prior to moving into newspapers he worked at Industrialisation Ministry Communications.

James believes that the niche of business journalism, through monitoring and surveillance, has great potential to influence the country’s economic and industrial policies. He also believes it plays a crucial role in boosting financial literacy among readers. He does think, however, that there is significant room for improvement. A lack of journalism institutions dedicated to training financial and business journalists means the majority have to use their acumen to learn on the job.

James thinks that Kenyan business journalism requires deliberate efforts to retain a crop of fine business reporters if business is to be any more than an afterthought in shaping readers’ minds. For this to happen, root training institutions need to give it the seriousness it deserves, with more emphasis on practice than theory. Having said this, he thinks his profession is getting more exciting as business reporting gains the recognition it is due.