Whichever way you look at it, Prezzo is a winner!

(By Eunice Chege) Prezzo won! Yes he did. I’m not talking about the top prize of $ 300, 000 (Sh. 24 Million) that eluded him by a whisker. He was given a big-boy scooter, a PVR decoder and best of all, chosen as the ONE campaign brand ambassador. The lucky rapper lad will in addition get a fully paid trip to attend a Jay Z concert, one of his favorite rappers, in the USA. That is not the winning I’m talking about. You see, if you are a strategist or street smart person, you will know that Prezzo is actually the big winner than South African Keagan. “Sherioushly!” Pun intended by the way.

Prezzo or Jackson Ngechu has achieved what no other Kenyan has in the history of Big Brother Africa. The man with nine lives like that of a cat escaped eviction four times and turned out to be the first runners up. Frankly speaking, I thought Lady May was his strongest opponent and when her name was called out right before Keagan, I was certain Kenya was bagging the money.

It was shocking to hear Prezzo’s name called out as first runners up. Kenyans had come together to vote and unfortunately individual votes were not considered. Only country votes mattered hence if a million voted then it was considered as one vote. We had a lot of support from Tanzania with music artiste AY and Ruben Ndege a Clouds FM presenter coming out strongly to campaign for Tanzania votes on social media. Prime Minister, Raila Odinga was not left behind as he urged Kenyans to vote for Prezzo.  Prezzo garnered two country votes while Keagan had seven!

Prezzo used this fame to blow! To borrow a line from Eminem, “this opportunity comes once in a lifetime…” The new brand ambassador for ONE Campaign will be working with the likes of Bono, Mary J Blige and traversing the World in the campaign to fight poverty. According to ONE’s website, its mission is to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease in the poorest places on the planet, particularly in Africa, where the challenges are the greatest.

How can he use this opportunity? Make a name for himself in a positive way. He will have the chance to interact and network with music artistes around the World, Government leaders and different audiences. He has a chance to redeem himself from the initial bad boy whose music career had taken a nose dive. Not winning the money is a blessing in disguise as he has an opportunity to make even more than that only if he uses his newly found fame the right way. Prezzo needs to hire competent and professional managers and his public relations manager should make use of the publicity.

Kenyans also found new love for him. They got to see who he is as a ‘normal’ person away from all the hullabaloo of being a celebrity. The 91 days inside the Big Brother house earned him more fans and those who had not supported him initially ended up on #TeamPrezzo. The social media scene was going gaga over him. He brought patriotism and most Kenyans united to campaign for him. This is a win.

Music shows will come in plenty. He will get endorsements and invites to do collabos with big artistes from all over Africa.  Being an election year, some politicians will want to be associated with him but I would advise him to steer away from politics. Prezzo remain level headed. You have the chance to redeem yourself and got support from lots of fans.  He can make $300,000 faster than any of the housemates. Keagan had his 15 minutes of fame; Prezzo got a lifetime of it.

It is up to Prezzo to either make it or break it.

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