By the time South African based Ugandan socialite Zari Hassan was jetting out of the country Saturday morning after a three-day visit to Nairobi, she was said to be at least Sh2.5 million richer. Her stay was a mix of business and pleasure garnished with a diva mentality.
But if there is one thing that came out clearly from the trip, it is that the 41-year-old mother of five, known as The Boss Lady, alias the Ugandan sauce, isn’t easy to work with.
When she touched down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) last Wednesday morning, flanked by her new young lover, who is yet be identified for fear of being trolled, manager Galston Antony, a cameraman and a friend only identified as Sofia, there was a lot of excitement on Instagram, where Zari has over 10 million followers. It was fuelled by reports that she was in the country to shoot an episode of season 2 of the blockbuster ‘Young, Famous and African’ reality show that premiered in March.
Netflix is yet to officially put up the show for renewal or cancellation, as the video streaming platform takes several months before arriving at such a decision.
The presence of Zari’s baby daddy, bongo flava sensation Diamond Platnumz, who also jetted into the country a day after, might have added fuel to the Netflix report, as both appeared on the reality show.
This is despite the socialite announcing earlier via her Instagram her itinerary during the visit in Kenya, stating that she would be engaged in a marketing activity with Fine Urban Interiors, a Kenyan Interior and Consultancy firm, as well as host an all-white party which went down at the XS Millionaire night club on Thursday night.
However, the two former lovers who dated for four years siring two kids before parting ways in February 14, 2018, with Zari blasting Diamond for being a serial cheat, didn’t get a chance to link up while in Nairobi.
While Diamond checked in at the Movenpick Hotel located in Westlands, Zari stayed at the Radisson Blu, Arboretum.
Nation learnt that Diamond was in the country for a business meeting with Kenya’s betting firm OdiBet top honchos, which has partnered with Wasafi Bet, launched by the bejewelled singer in December last year.
Whereas Diamond made public his arrival in Nairobi, he jetted out quietly on Friday morning returning to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. On Thursday, Zari spent the better part of her day doing photos and video shoots to market the newly built multi-million shillings mansion in Runda Mumwe Estate by Fine Urban Interiors.
The day before, the construction firm which paid for her trip to the country, flew her to Namanga, for a reveal and review of another exquisite mansion under their portfolio.
In Runda, Nation journalists who got wind of her whereabouts waited for hours to interview her but this didn’t happen as the shoot ended at 9pm.
An exhausted Zari had to dash to her hotel room to freshen up before heading for the XS Millionaire club for the all-white party.
Let’s have this interview tomorrow at 12:30pm. We didn’t have it (the interviews) in our schedule now we have. You have my word 12:30pm tomorrow,” manager Antony told the journalists.
At XS Millionaire, the club was full to capacity, despite the gate entrance being Sh2,000. There were sets of reservation tables with ballers going for Sh200,000, VVIP Sh100,000 and VIP Sh50,000. All tables were taken.
For her appearance at the XS Millionaire, Zari was paid Sh800,000, a close source who took part in brokering the deal disclosed to Nation.
Friday noon, Zari was back at Runda Mumwe to continue with the shoots that dragged on until 3:30pm. She turned down journalists request for an interview, citing exhaustion and lack of trust in the Kenyan media.
“People don’t really know that I am very shy in person. Besides, I don’t trust media, they like to twist stories,” said Zari when she was requested to spare some minutes for the journalists.
Even intervention by the Fine Urban lead designer Cleophas Nyagaka didn’t bear fruit as the socialite stood her ground.
For her services to market the mansions, Zari was paid Sh1.7 million, a sum Fine Urban remained coy about.
“She was paid Sh1.7 million for her services to come have shoots and review the mansion and by the way, it wasn’t easy getting her here. Convincing her about this project really took a lot of effort,” disclosed a source to the Nation.
Despite collecting the staggering amount in those few days, Zari had to refund some Sh200,000 to Spoton Vacations Limited, a tours, travel and events company, having opted out of a deal last minute. Spoton had paid the sum to have Zari on a game drive tour and had hoped to use the experience to create content to market their firm. However, they were left counting losses especially after hiring game drive vans that were to ferry her to the park. Zari flew to her motherland, Uganda, and will start a five-day visit to Tanzania next week.
