If you call a safaricom phone number that is switched off you’ll get a voice notification saying , “mteja wa nambari uliyopiga hapatikani kwa sasa” or “sorry the mobile subscriber cannot be reached”.
Well, the lady behind this famous sound is Maggie Wazome who collaborated with Safaricom just after it was launched in Kenya in the early 2000s.
Maggie Wazome’s voice has been used for over a decade now but most of the Kenyans are not familiar with her face.
How Maggie Wazome voice has become influential in Kenya
More than merely an automated message, Maggie Wazome’s voice has developed into a national treasure.
Her contributions to Safaricom and the Kenyan mobile phone business are well known and will always be remembered in the world of telecoms.
Maggie’s voice is a representation of Kenyan identity and cultural heritage that is cited in parliamentary documents and court rulings.
She recorded several lines
During a past interview, Maggie Wazome revealed that during the recordings, she read a few lines not knowing how they were to be used by safaricom.
“I read a few lines that had varied content; and one of them was ‘mteja wa nambari uliyopiga’ . I had no idea what they were about. ”She said during a past interview.
When one of her friends informed her that a recognizable voice was on the other end of the telephone, she would later discover that Safaricom had paid for her voice.
