'Mafundi' shows importance of TVET

A plumber, a carpenter and an electrician find themselves out of work in Nairobi after a construction site they are sent to by a dodgy contractor collapses together with whatever little earnings they had saved.

The three decide to open up a business in Kawangware, supported by the contractor and a young marketer, to help them make ends meet.

What starts out as a noble idea for survival sees them hiring a "kibanda" that turns out into a den of mixed fortunes for the three.

The new show which airs every Monday on NTV  is a hilarious comedy that looks at the everyday life of blue-collar workers in Nairobi, their clients and families as they try to make ends meet where no two days can ever be the same.

According to the producer of the show Faith Koli, “Mafundi” was inspired from her personal experience after she made an order for a baby cot.

The carpenter promised to deliver within a week only to resurface when her daughter was almost two years old.

“It made me wonder why "fundis" over-promise and under-deliver. I realised that the demand versus supply for handymen does not match. On researching further, I learnt that the reason is because most young people do not want to take up blue collar jobs,” said Koli.

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The show is popular with rural and peri-urban audiences, who watch to find out what Phapha (Godfrey Muraguri), the cheeky carpenter and proud father of seven boys, is up to. Pato (Marcus Original), a plumber, is the most disciplined of the "fundis".

His character carries an extra pair of slippers when visiting his clients and has the gift of the gab, even if no one understands half of what he says in sheng, and has dreams of being the biggest reggae musician in his hood.

Frank Mwenda stars as Matayo a.k.a. “The Tima” who wears his Malaysian degree on his sleeves, and left home to fend for himself — something that he is struggling with considering his cheese-boy upbringing and tendencies.

Then comes the socialite marketer Sue Vikali (Chantelle Naisola) who tries to connect them using her social media prowess and ability to overhaul any negative hashtag to her commercial advantage.

Koli said that she shared the idea with her co-producer Shalom Ndiku and they started developing it in 2016. “We wanted to speak to a millennial audience, especially those young men and women living in rural and peri-urban centres.”

NTV picked up the TV show as part of their new programming. She says it has already had an impact on the youth. “A crew member informed me that his friend had joined a Technical and Vocational Education and Training institution after watching “Mafundi”, realising he can earn a living and still be cool.”