Ronnie Mayanja was born in Eldoret, Kenya in the 1970’s. The fourth child in a family of six siblings. He was born to Aida Namukwaya and the late Gideon Kasolo Mayanja of Nansana Kyadondo, who lived in Kenya and served in the now-defunct East African Community (EAC). It was in Eldoret, Kenya that he spent his early childhood till the age of five when his family relocated to Uganda after the collapse of the then East Africa community (an economically integrated region shared by the three East African countries Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania) following Amin’s brutal rule.

Upon returning to Uganda he attended kindergarten at Tower Nursery School, in Kampala, before joining Shimon Demonstration School for his primary school education. His academic excellence was to later earn him a place at the prestigious King’s College Budo where he obtained his O & A level secondary education (the equivalent of college education in the US system). He enjoyed debating politics and participated in student government, campaigning for the position of mess/dining hall prefect with roles that included supervising students on discipline and time-keeping during meal times and major school events. After completing his advanced level (A level) education, he proceeded on to Makerere University, one of Africa’s leading universities, where he got involved in student politics and was once again elected organizing/discipline secretary of Livingstone Hall. He graduated from the University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education specializing in History.

Growing up, Ronnie drew inspiration from BBC radio and particularly recalls his father tuning into Focus on Africa, a news show that was hosted by Chris Pilkington. He also used to attend World News Tonight telecasts at the United States Information Center that featured Peter Jennings. He watched the Iran-Iraq war during these broadcasts via satellite. This crystallized his ambition to be on television one day.

Ronnie's first foray into the media was through radio. Following the liberalization of the Ugandan media in 1994, while on campus during his first year, he obtained a job at Capital FM, an urban radio station in downtown Kampala. Over a period of four years, he was able to build a loyal audience through his Sunday morning “Capital Gospel” show.

The success he enjoyed through his radio program opened doors for more opportunities and soon Ronnie was approached by two local pastors who at the time were scouting for ideas on what it took to set up a Christian FM station. These men solicited Ronnie’s help regarding the start-up costs of Christian radio. In 1999, his dream of opening a Christian station became reality with the launch of Impact FM. Ronnie was delighted to have served as Impact FM’s first station manager, helping to shape the station's programming, as well as being involved with recruiting and training of the new staff.

After offering a full year of his expertise at Impact FM and once the station was fully airborne, Ronnie felt ready to venture into the world of television. When Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) from the USA opened up a television station in Uganda, he began searching for an opportunity to get on air. He applied for the position as a talk show host and later submitted his proposal and was invited to the team where he pioneered “Spotlight,” a current affairs program that aired weekly on Lighthouse Television during prime time.

A year later, Ronnie made the move from Christian to secular media with the move to WBS Television. This exposed him to a bigger cross section of people. He was rapidly promoted due to his hard work and creative skills from Producer to the Head of Features and finally to Assistant Station Manager. He also doubled as a talk show host of his own program “Credentials” before switching to “Issues at Hand,” a weekly current affairs program on WBS-TV that was known to discuss incisive political issues and is still running to date. He hosted the show for two years until he left the station in 2001.

Ronnie remembers having been a part of the great news events that have helped shape his career in Journalism and allowed him to live up his dreams.

In 1999, he was part of the WBS-TV crew that covered the Kabaka’s royal wedding, one of the biggest events covered by foreign media in Uganda. While in May 2001 he led the crew that covered the live broadcast and also provided the live commentary during President Museveni’s inauguration at Kololo airstrip in Kampala. The event was attended by African leading statesmen from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Libya, and South Africa.

As a talk show host Ronnie hosted several prominent politicians in his native homeland of Uganda before traveling to the United States in pursuit of further education. He has attended training courses in news gathering, courtesy of the United States Telecommunications Institute (USTTI), Fox News, Black entertainment television (BET), and CNN. In June 2005 he was invited to attend the “25 Years of CNN” at the CNN corporate headquarters an experience that showed him how far CNN has come in its quest to be the world’s leading news group.

Socially, he has played host and helped promote some great musicians through his Myers Inc. Promotions company, artists like Ron Kenoly and Limit X (a group that radicalized secular beats in gospel music and took both the UK and the US by storm with a fusion of African and western beats). He has also worked closely with several local artists that have included *Ken and the Black Sisters* and *First Love Ministries* - the latter group currently on tour in the USA. He was co- founder of the United Artists Ministers (UAM), an umbrella group that united all Gospel musicians in Uganda.

A man with many talents Ronnie is responsible for starting the first ever "gospel nite," a concept where young Christian adults go for alternative entertainment in family-oriented environments free from smoke and liquor. The revolution he helped pioneer was to cause ripples among Christians in Kampala on whether Christians ought to go to entertainment centers. This vision suffered a set back when he traveled to the USA, but he hopes to fulfill his dream for a Solid Rock Entertainment complex one day - an entertainment center where friendships and lifetime relationships are nurtured.

This past summer (2006), Ronnie partnered with UNAA President Abdul Kimbugwe to established the first ever UNAA Times publication that he plans to produce quarterly. (UNAA is a Ugandan North American association umbrella group for Ugandans living in the Diaspora.)

Ronnie is currently matriculated at Boston University, where he is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism and hopes to find a career in Journalism and International Relations before fulfilling his dreams of making a difference on the African continent.

His admiration is for people who have overcome life’s challenges against all odds: His mother will always be a source of inspiration for all the sacrifices she made single-handedly raising six children after the loss of Ronnie's father in 1987. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is another inspiration whose dream that people of color would one day soar in this great nation is now reality. Oprah Winfrey is another who defied the expectations of those who said she would never make it in the TV industry; today she owns her own media company, Harpo Productions, worth over a billion dollars (making her the wealthiest woman in America). Others include Barrack Obama, the US Senator representing the State of Illinois and who comes from Kenya; Joel Osteen, the leading tele-evangelist; T.D. Jakes, a preacher from the Carolina’s with great diction skills and charisma; Myles Monroe, a great motivational speaker; and the apostle Paul, the great biblical figure on whose teachings the early church built its foundation through his testimonies and letters to the churches.

His vision is for a network that will broadcast news through the eyes of the African people. He dreams of a network that will counter the continued poor coverage of the continent by western media, and plans to use his media experience and training to become a voice for the voiceless and to help underprivileged African society.

“We need to make our politicians, pastors, leaders and business leaders accountable at all levels and stay true to the conviction that all people, especially Africans, can break free from the shackles of corruption and poverty that for so long have engulfed our continent." - Ronnie Mayanja