Simon Chelugui is the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Cooperative and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development. He was the only cabinet secretary to be picked by president William Ruto to remain in the cabinet.
The CS has more than two decades worth of experience in corporate governance, policy formulation, monitoring, reviewing, implementation and technical policies in finance, strategic management water engineering and investment.
Education
The 51-year-old was born in Baringo and pursued a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Management Science at the University of Nairobi.
Business investments and career
In a past interview, he said that upon his graduation in 1996 World Bank and IMF-led structural adjustment meant jobs were very few. Therefore, he partnered with Eliud Kiptanui to buy a coffee machinery factory in Bamburi road in Nairobi.
The partners serviced and sold coffee production machines for /to factories and cooperatives around various regions, such as, Western, Central and Eastern Kenya. When the coffee market began to take a nose-dive, they sold the business.
The Cabinet secretary then invested in a dairy production plant, land and residential properties in Nairobi further growing his wealth.
In 2007, he was appointed to chair the board of the National Government Central Development Fund (NG-CDF). He later resigned and vied for the Baringo gubernatorial seat in the March 2013 race but lost.
He was then appointed as the director of the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB). Once again, he resigned to contest for the Baringo gubernatorial seat without success.
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him to the cabinet as the CS in charge of water and Sanitation in 2017. During the vetting session by MPs in 2018, he said his net worth was Sh796 million.
During a mini-reshuffle in January 2022, he was transferred to the Ministry of Labour.
Reports say that in 2022, he was urged by His Excellency William Ruto not to contest in the elections.
After the win of Kenya Kwanza, he was nominated and subsequently appointed the Cabinet Secretary for the Cooperative and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMES). In October 2023, he disclosed his net worth was Ksh993 million. He said his wealth grew by Sh197 million because of appreciation on value of his assets.
