Njugush Recalls Taking KSh 400k Loan With 30% Weekly Interest: "Ilinikula Sana"

• Renowned comedian and content creator Blessed Njugush had his first live show in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country
• The show attracted a huge crowd of over 2500, a massive increase from the 300 the content creator had initially planned to host
• Njugush upgraded the show's location but was forced to turn to shylocks with outrageous terms to secure funds for the show

Popular comedian Blessed Njugush has disclosed how he struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on the Mic Cheque podcast, Njugush stated that 2020 was his most challenging year.

What happened to Njugush in 2020?

The comic who recently glowingly celebrated his wife Celestine Ndinda, aka Wakavinye, was coming off his first Through Thick and Thin (TTNT) show, which received a massive turnout.

However, because it was his first live show and he hadn't considered everything during the planning phase, he suffered a huge loss despite the performance having attracted over 2500 people.

He explained that he had about a KSh 4 million deficit by the show's end, which he needed to pay back his creditors.

At the time, Njugush thought he could pay back the money by doing several more shows in different parts of the country. However, the pandemic derailed his plans.

He said that he could not organise another event with the government having banned any public interaction.

His creditors started knocking at his doors. One such creditor had lent him KSh 400,000.

While the money was not a lot, he explained that this loan was his biggest problem after the pandemic hit because its terms were quite unfavourable.

The loan had a 30 per cent interest rate, meaning he had to pay KSh 120,000 weekly interest.

"We went to a shylock, haikuwa doo mob...it was about Ksh 400,000....so we got that but hiyo ndo ilinikula sana than anyone else because interest yake ilikuwa at 30 percent...not per month, per week," Njugush said.

Njugush revealed that he struggled to repay the loan, especially after the lockdown. The only money he made was a few coins from YouTube, all of which went to the loan's interest.

Eventually, the shylock seeing how challenging the situation was for Njugush, wrote off the interest and asked the comedian to pay back the principal amount, which he did once he came up with a strategy to monetize his content.

Njugush, Wakavinye amazed by TTNT 4's success

Meanwhile, Njugush and his wife Wakavinye sold out their TTNT show in Australia to their disbelief.

The content creators shared a video of a packed hall of attendees sitting and listening keenly to what Njugush was sharing while on stage.

In some parts of the video, some Kenyans tagged wazungus to the comedy show and could be seen translating Njugush's jokes to them.

At some point, they switched off the lights, and everyone took out their phones and switched on their torch lights while waving in the air.

Njugush and his wife then led them into a song of worship before turning their backs on them to take a photo with the crowd in the background.

"Thank you Perth. Unbelievable!!!!!!!" he captioned on his Instagram page.