At one point in his life, Fred Waswa was so broke that he could not afford charcoal or paraffin to prepare a meal.
Today, he is the proud founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Octagon Africa, a financial services company that manages over KSh 85 billion in assets.
However, his journey was anything but straightforward.
This is his journey as told by WoK:
Humble background
Waswa, who grew up in Bungoma, is the firstborn in a family of eight children.
His father passed away when he was 14, leaving Waswa with the responsibility of helping his mother take care of his younger siblings.
After sitting for his A-levels, Waswa secured a teaching job, where he was paid ksh 1,500 per month.
Since the salary was too small, Waswa began buying and making bar soap, which his mother sold to neighbours for extra income.
“That started making me think, ‘Oh, I can make money,'” he recalled.
His ambition to pursue a career in pharmacy hit a brick wall when he failed biology, prompting him to study mathematics, statistics and computer science at the University of Nairobi.
After university, he landed an opportunity to pursue a master’s program that was offering a KSh 4,800 monthly stipend.
However, he abandoned the program when he landed a job at Pioneer Insurance, which was paying a KSh 4,500 salary.
That was in 1991.
From KSh 4,500 to KSh 75,000
While working at Pioneer, Waswa started a business that sold fish, stationery, and other products.
He later landed another job at Fidelity Shield Insurance before joining Minet, where his computer skills helped modernise the company’s pension administration.
However, despite this progress in his career, his salary did not align with his expectations.
In 1994, he took a KSh 15,000 loan from his boss to open a small hotel in Kawangware. The business failed spectacularly, and the debt eventually grew to KSh 26,000.
Minet named him Best Employee of the Year in 1994, but Waswa almost resigned in early 1995 to access his pension savings and repay the debt.
However, his senior manager came through and wrote him a KSh 26,000 cheque, which he used to repay the loan.
In 1997, Waswa secured a pension administration manager position at Standard Chartered Bank.
He had hoped for a KSh 35,000 salary, but the bank offered him a starting salary of KSh 67,000 before increasing it to KSh 75,000.
“I got a culture shock,” he recalled.
Starting a Garage Business
Despite earning a good salary at Standard Chartered, Waswa wanted to run his own business.
In May 2001, he resigned from his job, a move that many of his colleagues and friends considered reckless and stupid.
With his savings and limited resources, he bought a desk, two chairs, basic office equipment, and rented an office space. He then opened a consultancy business.
The business initially struggled to attract clients, which was expected.
However, Waswa kept going and soon began landing various assignments, including some from his former employer, Standard Chartered.
One of his biggest breakthroughs came when he was approached to resolve a financial reconciliation problem that had caused an accountant sleepless nights for six months.
Waswa quoted KSh 800,000, but the client offered him KSh 2.8 million if he solved the problem faster than expected.
Never one to waste time, he examined the financial records overnight and solved the problem by the next morning.
After presenting his findings, he was instructed to invoice KSh 2.8 million, which he used to buy land and build a house for his family.
Building Octagon Africa
With time, Waswa expanded his business and adopted the name Octagon Pension Services Ltd, which evolved to become the Octagon Africa brand.
The name Octagon represented the eight children in his family.
By the time of his appearance on Financially Incorrect, the business had expanded into insurance brokerage and established operations in Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania.
Additionally, Octagon currently manages more than KSh 85 billion in assets and has employed over 140 people.
According to Waswa, his success stems from his financial approach to treating money as something that should generate additional income rather than just spending.
“For me, I look at money as a seed. I’m not using the seed. I’m using the harvest,” he said.