23/10/2025
Prof. Simon Gicharu, a billionaire from Kiambu County, and the founder of Mount Kenya University (MKU) — one of East Africa’s largest private universities.
A man who lost his teaching job, resorted to hawking milk on the streets of Thika, yet rose to build an education empire from just Ksh 20,000 — and, in a poetic twist of fate, later bought the very institution that once rejected his job application.
Born in 1964 in Gathiruini village, Kiambu County, Simon was the eldest of seven children in a humble peasant family. Life was difficult, and every day was a lesson in endurance. He walked barefoot to school and picked coffee on commercial farms to help his parents make ends meet.
From Kiawairia Primary School to Murang’a High School, his brilliance in mathematics stood out. Even then, he believed education was his only ticket out of poverty — and he pursued it relentlessly.
After high school, Simon joined Kenyatta University, graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Education in Mathematics and Chemistry. His passion for teaching led him to work at various schools, and later as a lecturer at JKUAT and Thika Technical Training Institute.
He didn’t just teach — he created. Simon authored Applied Mathematics for Craft Engineering, the first post-secondary mathematics textbook written by a Kenyan. He was a man ahead of his time, driven by the desire to build, not just to earn.
But life is never a straight line.
In 1995, while studying enterprise development at Cranfield University in the UK under a British Council scholarship, Simon received devastating news: he had been laid off by the Teachers Service Commission.
He returned home jobless — no salary, no security, and no plan. To survive, he borrowed an old pickup and began hawking milk in Thika. The sight of a former lecturer selling milk shocked many. Some mocked him; others pitied him. But deep inside, Simon knew he was just in another classroom — life’s toughest one.
With only Ksh 20,000 loan, Simon started a small training centre — the Kenya Entrepreneurship Promotion Programme (KEPP). His goal was simple: to help young people learn how to start small businesses instead of waiting for jobs. From those humble beginnings, the institution grew, later becoming Thika School of Management Studies, then Thika Institute of Technology (TIT).
In 2003, TIT made history as the first private college in Kenya accredited to offer a Diploma in Pharmacy. Simon’s vision was now taking shape.
In 2008, TIT received a Letter of Interim Authority and officially became Mount Kenya University. Three years later, MKU earned a full university charter, making Simon the youngest Kenyan to establish a chartered university.
From a tiny rented room, Simon built one of the region’s largest private universities, now with over 50,000 students and campuses across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and beyond.
And here’s the poetic twist — One of the institutions, Inorero University, that rejected Simon’s job application years earlier was later acquired by MKU — proof that success can come full circle.
Simon’s success didn’t stop with MKU. He went on to establish Mount Kigali University in Rwanda, Equip Africa Institute, and Cape Media, which runs TV47 and Radio 47.
In 2014, he made headlines after purchasing Union Towers, a 14-storey building in Nairobi’s CBD, from the late President Mwai Kibaki for Ksh 800 million, expanding MKU’s Nairobi footprint.
His influence extends beyond education. He has served as Chairman of the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, Water Services Regulatory Board, and National Private Universities Owners Association of Kenya.
Among his many honors are:
— Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS)
Eastern Africa Entrepreneur of the Year (Ernst & Young, 2015)
— World Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame (Monaco, 2014)
— Honorary Professor, International University of Management (Namibia, 2016)
Prof. Simon Gicharu’s story is a reminder that rejection isn’t the end — it’s redirection.
He turned a Ksh 20,000 idea into a multi-billion-shilling education empire. He proved that failure can be fertilizer for success and that the best revenge is building something so great, even your doubters must respect it.
When the world says “no”, sometimes that’s just life whispering — “build your own.”
