8 Kenyan Entrepreneurs Listed in Forbes Top 30 Under 30

The young African entrepreneurs, disruptor and innovators

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Capital Campus @all Rights Reserved  

 

Eight young Kenyans under the age of 30 years have made it to the elite list of Forbes top 30 under 30. The seven gentlemen and one lady have been feted for their exceptional performance and exemplary service in different industries.

“The young African entrepreneurs, disruptors and innovators featured on this list are impatient to change Africa and together represent the entrepreneurial, innovative and intellectual best of their generation,” said Mr. Mfonobong Nsehe a writer at www.forbes.com.

An outside panel of 12 judges from across Africa was picked to help identify the group of outstanding entrepreneurs and innovators under the age of 30, in November last year according to Nsehe.  In each of 15 categories, ranging from technology, real estate to social entrepreneurs, Forbes editors and reporters together with judges choose the field’s brightest stars who are individually most surprising, engaging, and hard working.

The eight Kenyans include:
Evans Wadongo

Chairman, SDFA Kenya

“Wadongo, a 26 year-old Kenyan engineer designed a solar-powered LED lantern called MwangaBora (Swahili for “Good Light”), an invention which is fast replacing smoky kerosene lamps and firelight in rural Kenya. Wadongo has been distributing thousands of these lanterns throughout rural Kenya where there is little or no electricity. His organization, Sustainable Development For All (SDFA) sponsors an empowerment initiative that teaches poor Kenyans how to reproduce these solar lanterns and sell for profit.” Forbes
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Cosmas Ochieng, Founder, Ecofuels Kenya
Cosmas Ochieng, a 26 year-old Kenyan entrepreneur runs Ecofuels Kenya, an East Africa firm which produces environmentally friendly, green biofuels and organic fertilizers from renewable indigenous sources such as the croton nut.
Two Kenyan youths in the real estate sector have been named among the top 30 African entrepreneurs under the age of 30 who are making the most dramatic impact across Africa in the prestigious Forbes annual listing of the 30 under 30 innovators and entrepreneurs.

Erick Muthomi, Founder, Stawi Foods & Fruits
The 26 year-old Kenyan entrepreneur is the founder of Stawi Foods and Fruits, an innovative start-up which procures bananas from smallholder farmers in rural Kenya and processes them into banana flour.

Joel Mwale, Founder, Skydrop Enterprises

Mwale, Founder Skydrop Enterprises

Mwale who is 20 years old runs SkyDrop Enterprises, a rainwater filtration and bottling company which produces low-cost purified drinking water, milk and other dairy products in Kenya. Mwale founded Skydrop in December 2009 and the company now employs over 20 people.
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Lorna Rutto, Founder, EcoPost

Lorna, Ecopost

Lorna Rutto, 28 is the founder of EcoPost, a profitable social enterprise which manufactures aesthetic, durable and environmentally friendly fencing posts using plastic waste, a more environmentally friendly alternative to timber. EcoPost collects this plastic waste (such as polypropylene and polyethylene) and manufactures fencing posts from it. Rutto has earned international acclaim for her efforts in providing an alternative waste management solution to Kenya’s plastic menace.
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Mark Kaigwa, Partner, Afrinnovator

Mark Kaigwa, Partner Afrinnovator

Mark Kaigwa, 25 is a multi-talented creative director, filmmaker, digital marketer and entrepreneur. Kaigwa is a co-founder and partner at Afrinnovator, a venture which aims to put Africa on the map by publishing exploits across African innovation, technology and start-ups. He is also Partner at African Digital Art – the web’s leading resource for creative inspiration in animation, illustration, photography and design from Africa – Forbes

Ian Kahara and Kimiti Wanjara, Founders, Serene Housing developers
The two, both 29, made headlines as a breed of young vanguard entrepreneurs who beat all financial odds to bet their fortunes on the lucrative real estate sector, creating a 350 million development, Sigona Valley, an exclusive gated community in West Nairobi.

“The listing came as a complete surprise to us, when we started we had a dream of getting into real estate we never realised the impact it would have on young people also interested in getting into the industry in Kenya,” said Ian Kahara Director, Serene Valley Properties Limited, the developer of Sigona Valley.
“Being listed in the 30 under 30 innovators and entrepreneurs is a humbling experience that reinforces the need for perseverance, dedication, a clear goal, divine intervention and is a challenge to do more,” said an elated Mr. Kimiti Wanjaria, Director, Serene Valley Properties Limited.
Some of those who have featured in the Forbes list include Kenya’s business magnate Chris Kirubi, Uhuru Kenyatta and Sameer Group proprietor Naushad Merali in the top 40 wealthiest Africans list.
Kimiti and Ian both ICT graduates together with 28-year-old quantity surveyor Thomas Koigi, and 37-year-old biochemist Johnson Waweru, proprietors of Serene Valley Properties Limited launched Sigona Valley in March 2012, having raised secure non-bank, development finance from Shelter Afrique to fund their project.

Kenyan Born UK Entrepreneur Julius Kamau achieves a worthwhile Property Investment. A Childhood Dream into KSh2 billion Rainbow Resort.

The newly opened Rainbow Resort along the Nairobi-Thika super highway.
Website: http://rainbowruiruresort.com/#!/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RainbowRuiruResort

Publisher: www.businessdailyafrica ©All Rights Reserved.
Photo/Salaton Njau ©All Rights Reserved.

By SIMON CIURI

Posted  Thursday, March 21  2013 at  21:25

In 1982, Julius Kamau, then a college student, dreamt of standing on top of his own beautiful hotel with water fountains and flowers sipping coffee. For the young man from a poor family, the prospects of realising that dream then appeared remote.

‘‘I then laughed at myself... I was as broke as a desert rat,” Mr Kamau says.

Thirty one years later, his daughter Pauline Kamau sits at the Rainbow Ruiru Resort’s reception attending to a client— a hotel that her father has built.

Mr Kamau started the journey to fulfil his childhood dream in 1998 while living in East London. While shopping for vegetables in the foreign land he recalled the dream. He took the first step.

“In January 1998, I asked a Nigerian friend to put this dream into a real picture. He did it and I hanged the picture on the wall. Every morning, I would look at it and say, ‘thank you Lord for giving me a wonderful five-star hotel,’’ he says.

In May the same year, he took the next step. He mortgaged his house and asked his brother to look for one acre piece of land in Ruiru. His brother got him a piece of land but he was disappointed as the land was an abandoned quarry that Ruiru Town Council had earmarked as a dumping site. Little did he know that it is at this quarry where his dream was to be turned into reality.

Today, he has the Rainbow Ruiru Resort in Kiambu County to show for his hardwork, managing to set up an investment in a remote area; a resort many of his friends thought was a waste of money and time because of its location.

It is the serenity and the ambience that draws visitors to the over Sh2 billion resort. Its interior design resembles a royal yacht. The hotel that took Mr Kamau 15 years to build has a helipad, 130 rooms, 12 fully furnished apartments with Internet, a pent house, a cocktail bar, jacuzzi, gym and a business centre.

It has a 300 bed capacity. Accommodation charges range from Sh4,400 to Sh9,900 per night. At the hotel’s 11 floor which houses the helipad, one can see Kilima Mbogo at a distance and the illusion of the mountain moves closer as one watches it from the rooftop.

Constructing the resort was not an easy task. Mr Kamau who runs a security firm, Rainbow Guarding in the UK says the Ruiru investment was funded by savings.

Rainbow Guarding was founded in 1994 and offers security solutions to Berkley Homes, Laing Partnership Housing, Salvation Army and London Property Plc among other companies in UK.

‘‘The owner believes his entire life could not be confined in London,’’ said Mathias Mukundi, the general manager of Rainbow Ruiru Resort.

Ms Kamau has been taking care of her father’s investment; a project she says is a well calculated decision of how Kenyans are sending some of their earnings back home instead of investing all their money in a foreign country.

Mr Kamau came from a humble background and the desire to rise from poverty inspired him to seek a different life. Now 59, he can stand among Kenya’s millionaires, but according to his workers, a humble millionaire.

‘‘The founder is one of those people who despite having immense wealth, he does not use his position to gain prominence, he does not believe in fame but on humane values that can give birth to development-oriented ideas,’’ said Mr Mukundi.

Mr Kamau who still lives in the UK connects tourists visiting Kenya to his hotel. The hotel management also works with local tourism agents to market Rainbow Ruiru Resort. The team is working on ways to make own bookings directly in coming years.

‘‘We want to create a clear contact where tourists visiting Kenya will be flown from the Kenyan airport by our own choppers direct to our hotel, landing at our modern helipad,’’ said Mr Mukundi.

Mr Kamau has entrusted Mr Mukundi who has been in the hospitality industry for 25 years, having worked with major hotel chains in Kenya among them the Sarova Hotels to run his hotel.

Though not a hotelier, Mr Kamau has built the hotel to take advantage of an increasing number of tourists and business travellers coming to Kenya and local visitors seeking adventure in places out of town.

‘‘For years there has never been a hotel in Kiambu County that could accommodate large number of clients and offer services that we are offering now,’’ Mr Mukundi says.

‘‘We are optimistic that this investment will successfully run for decades, we are ready to add values that blend with my father’s aspirations when he was setting up this hotel,’’ said Ms Kamau, who also acts as the hotel’s deputy manager.

East African Breweries is one of their main clients and Mr Mukundi is optimistic that with the new devolved system of government, Rainbow Ruiru Resort’s conference facilities will lure more visitors.

‘‘Thika Superhighway has come as a blessing, with the hotel being a few meters from the main road, the demand for decent yet affordable accommodation is inevitable. We are doing well compared to previous years when Thika road was rough,’’ he said.

Mr Mukundi said there Kenyans in the diaspora should be encouraged to invest back home. He said it is worrying that only a small number of Kenyans are remitting their earnings and investing here.

sciuri@ke.nationmedia.com