Located in the North Western part of Kenya, Kitale town continues to be a robust urban centre for investment. It also serves as an administrative and transport centre that links Kenya to Eastern Uganda. Because of being a cosmopolitan town, Kitale residents live in harmony, a matter which boosts its economy.
In this article, WoK writes on the high-flying entrepreneurs who were raised in Kitale town.
Barclay Okari
Okari rose from being a volunteer teacher to an entrepreneur par excellence. He is the brains behind Safi Pads which are basically reusable and affordable sanitary towels.
While working as a tutor in Narok, Okari realised that most girls were missing school because of lack of sanitary pads. With that, he came up with a product that uses absorbent patch and cotton.
Okari’s company, Impact Africa Industries Limited had an employee base of over 34 people in 2014 and his company hit annual revenue of an estimated Ksh 35 million.
Trushar Khetia
Within 2 years, he had expanded to 6 retailer supermarkets distributed in Central Kenya under the name Society Stores.
The 35 year old success is attributed to his desire in being an outstanding marketer. He has been previously featured on Forbes as one of Africa’s youngest promising entrepreneur.
Joel Mwale
Despite dropping out of school, Mwale remained resilient in sharpening his entrepreneurship nous. He rose from a school dropout to a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who sold his business for over Ksh 42 million.
Mwale founded Skydrop, a company that purified rain water then sold it as bottled water. But before this, he didn’t have funds to kickstart his business necessitating his family to sell a piece of land to finance his ambitions.
The company sold half a litre of water for ksh 17 and a litre for ksh 31 as its sales gradually began escalating to the tune of millions.
He went on to sell 60% of his company’s shareholding to a group of Israeli investors, thereby making over Ksh 40 million.
Senator Allan Chesang
Chesang is the current Trans-Nzoia County senator and is a close ally of President William Ruto.
For both primary and secondary education, he studied in schools located in at the heart of Kitale town.
He divulged in a past interview that he made his first million when he represented Kenya in a table tennis tournament held in Congo Brazzaville. A French club then sought his services and paid him a handsome salary.