The story of one Slawek Muturi cannot go untold. The entrepreneur, who owns over 100 apartments in Poland, retired at 43 to follow his passion-travelling. Muturi has visited all the 195 United Nations countries. But how did a Kenyan-Polish born in Ngong get to this point?
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Background
Slawek Muturi was born in 1968 in the Ngong area to a Kenyan father and a Polish mother. His father was a lecturer at Warsaw University while his mother worked for a local firm. He attended the University of Warsaw in 1986 for his undergraduate before proceeding to London Business School where he graduated in 1999 with a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Career Journey
Muturi began his career in January 1991 working as a Logistics Expert for UNCTAD in Geneva, a position he held for 1 year and 8 months. He went on to join Arthur Andersen & Co. as a partner in August 1992, a position he held for 14 years and 5 months. In January 2007, he joined Deloitte as a partner serving in the position until May 2009 when he finally retired while aged 43 years old.
Investment
Through his savings, he invested in rental apartments in Poland. With time he had acquired a sizeable estate through sheer hardwork and foresight. His monthly passive income became more than his salary and that’s when he made the decision to retire early. In December 2009, he established Mzuri – a real estate company which is among the largest residential property managers in Poland.
He acquired the brand name from his late Uncle Muriuki Mukiria as reported by the Standard. Mzuri manages over 6,000 properties, has helped investors buy over 1,400 properties and has created over 10 special purpose vehicles for buying entire blocks of flats. Out of the 5,400 properties he manages, Muturi owns 100 apartments. During a past interview with the Standard, he explained that he started his real estate journey by saving a little bit of his salary.
“When I got my salary of Ksh 192 million from the Arthur Andersen International consulting firm, after deducting expenses, I converted the rest into dollars (USD 22,000) and opened a foreign account. After two years, I was able to buy a fully furnished studio apartment in the Warsaw city Centre. From then I never stopped buying. A group of friends, fans and readers of my books joined Mzuri adding their properties to the pool,” he explained.
Few years later, the real estate mogul bought a furnished studio for USD22,000 (approximately 2.3 million at current rates) in the Warsaw city centre. He went on to buy a flat from his savings and money he had made from the lease. This opened the door for even more acquisition over the years.
Travelling and living his best life
After retiring in 2009, Muturi embarked on a journey to fulfil his travel passion. He had always loved the idea of travelling far and freely since when he was a child.
“My first plane flight from Poland to Kenya came in 1969 when I was only four years old, and my first solo flight from Kenya to Germany was when I was only six. I often went on holiday to Kenya when I lived in Poland or to Poland when I lived in Kenya. One of the most intriguing travels was in 1989 when I drove a Land Rover together with my Polish University friends from Poland to Kenya. That was around 9,360.8 kilometers,” he told Alex Chamwada during the Daring Abroad show.
Muturi has visited all the 195 United Nations countries not once but twice. He learns a new language every year, he now speaks 12 fluent languages. Everywhere he goes he strives to empower and educate the locals on financial literacy and financial freedom. He has authored seven books on financial education and runs a blog.
