How a Struggling Taxi Driver Made Over 100,000 Kshs in a Day (Photo)

Seated in his taxi at the Galito’s taxi bay along Moi Avenue, Nairobi, Meshack Ochieng’ was pondering on where he would get money to fulfil his bank commitment of repaying a loan he took to finance his taxi business.

As an independent taxi driver, these are tough times in the industry for Ochieng’. There is a proliferation of taxi hailing apps that have dealt a big blow to the traditional taxi operators. The customer numbers are dwindling and with that the daily earnings. The end of the month was fast approaching and he still had not made enough money to pay his monthly instalment.

 But on Sunday, September 25th, 2016, two hours before the start of the weekly Pambazuka Live Draw, he decided to purchase a Pambazuka National Lottery. He had been playing the lottery for a while though the much he had won was Ksh4,000.

Lady Luck was to nonetheless smile upon him on this day since, after the live draw was conducted, Ochieng’ was a lucky winner of Ksh109,982. He had correctly matched five out of the six lucky winning numbers.

“I cannot explain the feeling at that moment. Immediately I saw the message, I showed it to my brother who asked me to send him Ksh2,000 via M-pesa,” quips Ochieng’.

 Minutes later his joy was confirmed as he received a call from the Pambazuka National Lottery team informing him of his win.

 Ochieng’ straightaway knew what he would do with the cash. The heavy load of seeking means through which he would get his loan’s monthly installment had been lifted. “From the win, I will easily pay two months installment and still have some change to put into savings,” he says with a grin.

 Knowing that he was a whisker away from winning Ksh11 million mini-jackpot, he says he will continue playing as he aims to win not only the winning jackpot, but also the overall jackpot that currently stands at over Ksh100 million.