Francis Mugane: Inside Managerial Career Of Natalie Tewa's New Fiance

29-year-old influencer and content creator Natalie Tewa Wanjiru's engagement to Francis Mbugua Mugane, her longtime boyfriend, has been the subject of widespread conversation across the country.

Before the engagement announcement on Sunday, February 12, Tewa has always been private about her personal life and has explained in the past that she’s learned to be more cautious about what she shares online.

She revealed that she’s learned the hard way about the consequences of oversharing and now carefully curates her online presence to avoid harsh criticism.

The series of photos of her engagement in an intimate ceremony in Nyali, Mombasa, therefore, marks the first time photos of the two have been released on the internet, given that they don't have pictures of each other on their respective feeds, possibly to avoid gossip as well.

Mbugua and Tewa were reported to have gone out on a date when the surprise proposal emerged thanks to Mbugua proposing to her with a glittering diamond ring, which she flaunted on her IG while sharing a series of clips of the couple cuddled together.

“In the spirit of love, I’ve got some news. I said yes. I was caught very unaware! He hid this from me very well. 

"VVS diamonds look very good on me and you know my style very well, love it. May God bless our union,” she stated.

She followed it with an obscure elevator selfie of the two showing Tewa leaning on the man’s shoulder and attached American singer India.Arie Simpson’s Steady Love Song’s lyrics:

“He puts every other man I’ve ever known to shame (known to shame)/ I just wanna be with him, talk to him, sleep near him, walk with him/ Be with him (every day)/ I wanna be lovers and friends and mother his children/ Make breakfast on Sunday and fight and then makeup again/ ‘Cause if life’s gonna be crazy anyway/ I wanna do it with him.”

Viral Tea takes a look at the profile of Mbugua, who is a travel, fashion, food and live events influencer who also has a penchant for deejaying and living the dream lifestyle with travels across the world.

Profile

He currently works as the director of strategy and operations for payments at Booking.com, a subsidiary of Booking Holdings and headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is one of the largest online travel agencies in the world.

Having joined the company in October 2018, Mbugua is globally responsible for payments, commercial strategy, third-party relationships and commercial program management. 

He started as a relationship manager in investment services at a multinational bank in 2007 before moving to the Kenya Methodist University (KeMU) as a lecturer and business development manager.

In 2010, he moved to a local bank as a manager in agency banking before a stint at Kopo Kopo Inc. in multiple capacities, then as a director of merchant sales and solutions at American multinational financial services corporation Visa Inc. between August 2015 and August 2017.

Mbugua has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance and Management from Bond University in Australia but was based on its campus in Johannesburg, South Africa (SA).

Hobbies

From his IG profile, he has travelled to a series of popular spots across the world including the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Spain, and France among others.

He has been a speaker at multiple events, and a gym goer who enjoys watching sports ranging from Formula One to basketball to football, and he is an Arsenal fan.

Mbugua is based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, one of the places Tewa visited and spent a vacation without giving so much as a hint that it was him she had gone to visit.

Aside from her content creation career, Natalie is also a passionate farmer, having picked up the skill from her mother who exports herbs and runs an avocado farm. The determined entrepreneur has put her savings into starting her own avocado farm and is happy with the progress so far.

The lifestyle influencer says that her love language is quality time and values thoughtful and kind partners. She’s also not afraid to set boundaries, as she’s previously shared her dislike of men who are too intrusive, which is why she’s happy to have found someone who respects her space.

Back in August 2022, she dismissed reports that she was engaged after photos on social media had captured her wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring, which further stoked curiosity amongst her followers especially after she stopped wearing the ring for a while.