Maxwell Wahome is the CEO of Longhorn Publishers, a Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed company and the largest Education Publishing House in East and Central Africa.
In this article, WoK looks at his inspiring life journey.
Background
Wahome was born in 1982 in Nanyuki, where he grew up. He was raised by a single mother, who was also a primary school teacher. She instilled in him a passion for education that would serve him in great stead in his future career as Longhorn CEO.
Wahome attended his primary education in Nanyuki before proceeding to Nyeri for his high school education.
In 2001, he joined Nairobi University to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) Degree. Due to the harsh economic situation at home, he worked at a flower farm during holidays to get money for upkeep.
After graduating in 2005, Wahome worked in a butchery before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC) as an auditor, a role he held for 8 years. There, he gained useful experience in the manufacturing and financial services sectors.
He was then transferred to PWC’s Johannesburg office in South Africa, where he spent three years. His role there was to audit multinational mining companies that operated in South Africa. Within three years, he had risen to Senior manager, then returned to Kenya.
In 2016, he joined Longhorn Publishers – the only stock-listed publishing house in Africa – as Chief Finance Officer. His role was to oversee the company’s financial status and procurement functions.
In September 2018, he was appointed as Longhorn’s Chief Executive Officer, aged 36.
Greatest achievements.
Wahome considers his greatest achievement as leaving PWC, a multinational company, to join Longhorn, a medium-sized company. Also, his rise to CEO at 36 is impressive.
He considers his biggest achievement at Longhorn to be the rollout of digital learning channels and expanding the company into the East African market. Recently, he expanded the company’s market into the Francophone countries of Central Africa.
The CEO considers himself an inspiration to the young generation considering his rise from a humble background raised by a single mother to a CEO.
“Anyone can be great, as long as they take advantage of opportunities that come their way,” he says.
Challenges
As a CEO, Wahome considers his greatest challenge to be dealing with people.
“The technical part of a business is easy to run. However, managing people and getting the best out of them is not easy,” he told Business Daily.
The UON alumnus has learned to invest more time in understanding people, being patient, and being open to accommodating the views of others.
Being younger than his junior co-workers has also been a challenge. Initially, they doubted whether a young man like himself would be able to lead an NSE-listed company.
“But I’ve proved my doubters wrong,” he proudly remarks.
Finally, being CEO has landed him in the public limelight. He therefore has to watch his actions, lifestyle, and decisions, which are under the hawk-eyed watch of the company’s shareholders.
His definition of success is accomplishing his personal objectives and raising his family in a God-fearing way.
Out of work
Wahome’s favorite pastime is spending time with his family. A devout family man, he is the proud father of a 12-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. He spends his weekends with them.
“I make it a priority never to work on weekends. Over my 16-year-old career, I rarely work on Saturdays and Sundays. I spend the time with my family,” he told Business Daily.
He also loves watching soccer and cooking. However, he is allergic to eggs.
