From milk vendor to Owning MKU, TV 47; the inspiring story of billionaire Simon Gicharu

Simon Gicharu is a Kiambu billionaire behind Mt Kenya University.

Simon Gicharu was a milk vendor.

Gicharu’s story is one of grass to grace, having risen from a milk vendor to one of the country’s renowned billionaires.

The firstborn in a family of seven was born in1964 in Gathiruini village, Kiambu county, and he attributes his success to humility and focus.

“If a lion earmarks on a specific antelope, even if another antelope rubs on its body it will not be distracted from the original target,” he said in a past interview.

Gicharu was a secondary school teacher who later taught at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Thika Technical Training Institute.

Gicharu’s entrepreneurial journey started after he was fired from his job as a teacher by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

After his sacking, he started selling milk to support his family, considering his parents were peasants.

He bought and sold milk using an old pick-up, and despite ridicule from his friends, he didn’t give up.

“I did my rounds in an old Chevy pickup. Friends laughed at me, calling me a ‘failed graduate’. But this didn’t shake me. Self-belief is the key to success,” he tweeted.

He later sought a teaching job at the International School of Professional Studies, later renamed Inoorero University, but he was unlucky on several occasions.

In 1995, he secured a scholarship to study managing enterprise development at Cranfield University, Britain.

After completing his studies, he jetted back to Kenya and launched the Kenya Entrepreneurship Promotion Programme (KEPP).

With an initial seed capital of KSh 20,000, KEPP provided loans to SMEs.

KEPP was later renamed Thika School of Management Studies (TSMS).

It started enrolling students on management courses before changing its name to Thika Institute of Technology in 2003.

Thika Institute of Technology was, in 2008, allowed to operate as a private university under the name Mt Kenya University.

Three years later, the institution of higher learning was granted full charter status by the Commission of University Education.

The university has since expanded to over 15 campuses with a student population of more than 50,000.

Gicharu bought the Inoorero University building in Nairobi’s Parklands, where he was denied a job in his early career.

The building now serves as MKU School of Law.

“Ever been told by a potential employer, “don’t call us, we will call you”? I have, severally. At the School of Professional Studies, where I sought a teaching position, I walked away crestfallen.

“Several years later, I went back and bought their building,” he wrote on social media.

Gicharu is also the founder of Equip Africa Institute, a TVET accredited institution.

It was founded in 2016 and is domiciled in Mount Kenya University’s Thika main campus, along General Kago Road.

Equip has other campuses in Kisii, Mombasa, and Nakuru.