David Kitonga is the owner of Kitonga Garden Resort, a multimillion hotel in Mbiuni, Machakos County.
In a recent sit-down interview, the former teacher detailed his entrepreneurial journey and how he managed to set up the hotel.
Kitonga also explained his decision to build the hotel in Mbiuni, a less developed area, compared to developed towns and cities where most entrepreneurs would have considered.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Born and raised in Machakos, Kitonga comes from a family of twelve children, and he has a twin sister.
Alongside his siblings, he was raised by his parents who traded livestock for a living.
After leading an adventurous life as a kid, Kitonga says he completed his primary and secondary school education and went on to train as a science teacher.
In his teaching career spanning over 26 years, he has taught several schools including Siani Girls Secondary School and Central Secondary School in Eldoret.
“I was also a senior examiner with Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) marking Biology Paper One,” Kitonga said in interview with Lynn Ngugi.
Relocating to the US
In 2007, while working in Eldoret, Kitonga won a Green Card, giving him an opportunity to relocate to the United States.
He went on to take an early retirement from his teaching career and moved to the US six months before relocating his entire family.
Following his arrival in the US, Kitonga worked as a shopkeeper to make ends meet.
“While I waited for my papers to get cleared, I worked in a local shop as an attendant for three months, and I learnt a lot in the course of interacting with the American community,” he said.
After his papers were cleared, Kitonga started looking for job opportunities which came not long after, enabling him to invite his family over.
With his entire family in the US, Kitonga and his wife worked while their four children – two boys and two girls – went to school.
Kitonga has worked different jobs including as a gas station attendant, heath care/nursing aid and construction worker among others.
His wife worked as a nursing aid. The couple’s two children who were 18 years old and above at the time also secured jobs.
Their hard work finally paid off and it was not long before Kitonga and his wife were able to buy a house and an office block.
One of their children was also able to set up a business.
“We all wanted to do business and whatever we’d make we would invest it all in businesses,” Kitonga said.
Entrepreneurship
The determination to make it big in the US saw the couple venture into various businesses including some in the real estate industry.
After many years in the US, the family turned their focus back home and built three homes – two in Syokimau and one in Machakos.
“We thought of getting our own house in Kenya because every time we were visiting we would stay in hotels and it became expensive at some point,” Kitonga said.
After building his houses, Kitonga purchased 100 acres of land in the vast Mbiuni Hill from his cousins and after consulting his family, they decided to set up a hotel.
“At the time we were still [living] in the US and we sought a good architect through my son and his wife… We began working with her and for a whole year we were working on the design,” he said.
The family and the architect finally came with a design and with the help of Kitonga’s sons and daughter who are electrical engineers and interior designer respectively, the hotel’s construction began.
“This is a very original idea. We did not copy it from anyone,” Kitonga asserted.
With all said and done, Kitonga says he is proud of how far he has come.
“Sometimes I look back and wonder whether all of this came from me and my family and it is amazing to see what has come up even in this kind of locality. It’s motivating just to think how far we can get.”
Community health facility
Other than setting up the hotel, Kitonga and his family also decided to set up a medical facility for the community following a medical emergency that affected their granddaughter.
The idea came about when Kitonga and his family were in Kenya and their granddaughter suddenly fell sick in the middle of the night.
According to Kitonga, it took them at least two hours to get medical attention.
This harrowing experience saw the family set up Lydia Memorial Key Medical Centre in Mbiuni.
The facility offers among other services, post-natal clinics, HTS services, accident and emergency services, ultrasound services and routine body check.
The facility also comes in handy in case of any accident or medical emergency at the hotel.
