This book profiles a dozen of Kenya’s most successful entrepreneurs across a variety of industries – manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, ICT, retail, media, and entertainment to name a few.
It is a collection that proves that when there is money to be made, you cannot beat a good entrepreneur no matter how deprived his or her background.
Be inspired by stories that illustrate the triumph of hope over means and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
Find out how they got to where they are, the pitfalls and challenges along the way and how they made and lost millions. Through their eyes you’ll get a fascinating glimpse into Kenya’s history and the events that shaped business in the colonial, pre and post independence period.
From the building of the Kenya-Uganda railway, state of emergency in 1952 and crackdown on Mau Mau fighters, the coffee boom and policy of Africanisation in the 70s, to the political corruption in the 80s and decline of the Kenyan economy in the 90s, in the first book of its kind, Kenyan entrepreneurs tell it all – the good, the bad and the ugly.
And best of all, a section on tips for aspiring entrepreneurs where they tell you how to achieve their level of success. This is a book you won’t want to put down.
Where to get it:
Text Book Centre: Has outlets countrywide. You can also order online from their website or Twitter handle and they deliver to your home/office.
Prestige Booksellers: Located on Mama Ngina Street, Nairobi. Also accepts online orders with home/office delivery.
Bookstop – Yaya Centre
Price: Ksh1,500
For people in the diaspora order it from Amazon or African Books Collective which prints on demand and ships worldwide within 2 days. Click here to order it.
Featured Entrepreneurs
A Profile of Kenyan Entrepreneurs features well known industry figures such as Dr Manu Chandaria of the Comcraft Group which grew from a small operation in Mombasa manufacturing pots and pans to a global entity with over 200 companies operating in 45 countries on five continents.
Also featured is the late Nelson Muguku Njoroge, often referred to as the “Poultry King” and who was at one time the single largest shareholder in Equity Bank with a nest egg valued at over Sh3 billion.
Another well known entrepreneur featured in the book is Ibrahim Omwenyi Ambwere who rose from a stone cutter, mason and carpenter to become a wealthy farmer, contractor, hotelier, oil magnate, real estate mogul and chain supermarket owner.
The book also samples business owners from emerging industries such as ICT and entertainment. These are Esther Muchemi, owner of Samchi Telecom which is Safaricom’s biggest dealership with over thirty-eight branches all over Kenya and Jonathan Somen of Access Kenya.
Myke Rabar founder of HomeBoyz Entertainment Limited has demonstrated that there is serious money to be made in the entertainment industry. Other than a DJ Academy and a radio station popular with the youth, HomeBoyz have made their mark on the international entertainment scene with the production of the 52-episode Tinga Tinga Tales, an animated series for children. This project was undertaken in partnership with Tiger Aspect, one of the UK’s most successful independent television production houses.
Other entrepreneurs featured in the book are Sunil Shah, United Millers, Kisumu, Dr Benard Onkundi Otundo and Dr Njoroge Keige, business partners in Omaera Pharmaceuticals Limited which is the third largest distributor for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the market leader in the pharmaceutical industry in Kenya.
Mogambi Mogaka, a leading retailer in Kisii and owner of Uhuru Superstores, Ouru Discount Centre and OuruPower Limited, Mary Okelo (Makini Group of Schools), Fred Rabongo (Impulse Promotions), Evelyn Mungai-Eldon who started out in fashion design (Evelyn College of Design) and diversified into real estate (Speedway Investments), and Dr S.K. Macharia, founder and chairman of Royal Media Services complete the list.
This is the first Kenyan book of its kind. Evans Majeni and I looked for stories that illustrate the triumph of hope over means and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
A Profile of Kenyan Entrepreneurs was inspired by the need to unearth home grown role models and motivate more young Kenyans to consider taking the path of entrepreneurship. Many young people think of business as a last resort after failing to secure white collar jobs. We hope this book will begin to change that thinking.
In addition, in most universities and colleges in Kenya business students learn about entrepreneurship and management using case studies of foreigners such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Richard Branson to name a few.
Although educative particularly from a global business perspective, there are certain conditions unique to doing business in Africa and therefore a need to generate local case studies illustrating the strategies home grown businesses have used to succeed in Kenya.
Selection Criteria
The first entry criteria for A Profile of Kenyan Entrepreneurs was stable companies with annual turnover of Sh100 million and above. After wide research through newspapers, the Internet, periodicals and consultations, we ended up with a list of over 80 entrepreneurs.
The next step was to shortlist the top 20 based on inspiration, innovation and integrity.
We wanted people who had built successful businesses from scratch, proven rags to riches stories or, individuals who had inherited a small business and taken it to the next level. The virtue of sacrifice and overcoming hardships needed to come out clearly.
We also wanted business ideas that have revolutionized an industry; changed the rules of engagement or spawned new types of industries.
Integrity was a key factor especially in a country where corruption is so deeply rooted. We will not pretend to be moral purists but we made every effort to weed out people who have been obviously tainted in financial scandals where the information was in the public domain.
Lastly, we wanted to embrace diversity in gender, age, type of industry and geographical regions.
Getting the chosen people to accept to be featured in the book proved to be a big challenge. Many business owners in Kenya hate being in the spotlight. Some declined to be featured for personal reasons and in some cases we did not get a response at all despite numerous letters, emails and telephone calls.
We are grateful to those who agreed to be featured in the book. They are motivators, teachers and torch bearers.
If there is one thing this writing journey has shown, it is that profiling successful Kenyan entrepreneurs will take several volumes; this book barely scratches the surface. Many worthy people were left out because of space and time constraints.
It has been a learning experience and we hope that more Kenyan entrepreneurs will tell their stories and inspire young Kenyans to embrace their dreams and reach their highest potential as business owners.
Reviews
With its strong focus on templates for wealth creation, A Profile of Kenyan Entrepreneurs does a better job of interrogating questions of inherited privilege and succession planning. It interrogates failure as much as it documents success. Each one of the 13 entrepreneurs profiled narrates a humbling debacle.
And they all provide useful lessons on innovation and self-actualisation.
–Dr Joyce Nyairo, a cultural analyst and academic, writing in the Daily Nation (click here to read the full article: Nation review)
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A Profile of Kenyan Entrepreneurs mercifully spares the reader stifling jargon and daunting statistics. In fact, the profiles are almost biographical. This style, coupled with the aptness of the advice and the many anecdotes that readers can identify with, are the book’s strongest points.
–The Standard (read the full review here)
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The plot and themes cited are appropriate and well developed. Characters are credible and also well developed. The Reader has adopted a creative style in its presentation.
–The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) which vets and approves the curricular and curriculum support materials for basic and tertiary education in Kenya.
Read an Excerpt
Read an Excerpt of A Profile of Kenyan Entrepreneurs here.