Egide Ingabire Bibio is a news anchor and producer at Rwanda Television who has graced Television screens for over five years. She is also the president of the Association of Rwandese Female Journalists [ARFEM] that brings Rwandan female journalists to boost their voice and participation in the media industry. She had a chat with Sunday Magazine’s Sharon Kantengwa on how her career unfolded, state of female journalists and her tips to success. Why did you decide to join journalism? I had the passion since I was little. I loved journalism and while in secondary school I majored in literature as a gateway into University of Rwanda’s School of journalism. How can you describe your journey so far? The journey hasn’t been smooth but I still cannot cite any major challenges. While in my second year at University of Rwanda’s School of Journalism, I was already practicing journalism at Radio Salus until I graduated in 2012. I then joined Radio Inteko (parliamentary radio) after it was launched and ten months later I was appointed editor in chief until it was made part of Rwanda Broadcasting Agency(RBA). In 2014, I was appointed senior TV presenter and producer at Rwanda Television. I was later elected the chairperson of ARFEM in 2015. Who were/are the biggest inspirations in your career? I have had so many journalists that I look up to because journalists learn something new every day from different media channels, and I have learned from many TV presenters both local and international. In Rwanda however, my biggest inspiration has been Louise Mushikiwabo. She once visited the School of Journalism to celebrate International Press Freedom Day and she told us “you can achieve whatever you want to achieve if you believe in yourself,” and gave us examples from her personal experience. Her words of wisdom have stuck with me and still look up to her. What has been your personal key to success? I have always believed in myself and my philosophy is that whatever needs to be done, I can do better. What are some of the awards that you have received? How important are the awards to you, personally or to your career? I have a general fear for competition because I fear failure and due to my fears I never submit my stories during competitions. Last year however, I won best TV anchor at the Development Journalism Awards and it challenged me to improve my presentation and interact with my viewers. I’m also in different networks like the Gracia Machel Trust Women in Media Network, which chose me as the best female journalist. The network aims at encouraging reporting real African stories that the rest of the world needs to know. Why do you think we still have few women in journalism? We have many women in journalism classes but few end up in the newsrooms because they are afraid of exposure. Also, media managers do not believe in female journalists because they think that they are vulnerable and they make them think that they are not capable. The salaries for journalists are also not enticing and unlike our male counterparts who mostly survive on doing other jobs, few female journalists can get out of their way to find employment elsewhere. What do you do to unwind after a stressful day at work? I love to sing and in my free time I like to go to places with talented singers, like church or live bands and listen to good music. I also love to go to the sauna and relax my body. Journalists are some of the people who work long hours year round, which holiday destination would you want to go to for a holiday? I have so many dream holiday destinations but if I want to relax, I would do so with my kids. I would definitely go to a place of their choice because if they are happy, so am I.
