Nominated Member of Parliament David Ole Sankok, is a man famed for his patriotic outfits, his advocacy for People With Disabilities (PWD), and his vocal support for Deputy President William Ruto.
However, little is known about his private, more so, entrepreneurial life.
The Jubilee MP is the owner and brains behind the trendsetting Organization for the Survival of Indigenous Maasai (OSIM) country lodge in Naboisho, on Maasai Mara Road.
The most fascinating thing about the lodge, is perhaps how the legislator came to establish the resort.
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Ole Sankok is known for his advocacy for self-employment, and in a past interview with a local daily, he revealed that he made the decision to invest, immediately after concluding his university studies.
"When I graduated, I decided I would not work in the government or any other firm due to my disability. I knew I would age faster than everyone because all my body weight is supported by one leg, so I wanted to take care of myself better by writing my own rules," Sankok narrated.
After finishing his school, he sublet a house with a shopkeeper, who would sell during the day, and he would sleep in during the night and act as a watchman, as he forged a way forward.
Sankok, later on, found his hustle in carpentry and later on buying sickly animals treating, them, feeding them, and selling them after they had fattened.
"We had a store that was full of maize germ and ground cobs, so we started buying cows that could not even stand on their feet at Ksh500, fatten them, and then sell them later at close to Ksh20,000. The rainy season would make work with livestock easier due to the abundance of communal land in his Maasai community," he narrated
He later combined his earnings from his carpentry business and those from his carpentry work and bought a 50 by 100 feet plot, with the view of establishing a restaurant.
However, the plot was not enough to accommodate the establishment he had in mind, so he devised a plot to have his neighbours sell him their land.
"The need to expand came, and I faced one problem. The place where the restaurant stood was full of plots of the same size, so I convinced the residents that I was set on building a mortuary and they left in a huff. I then bought 28 pieces of land at a very cheap cost and built a two-roomed structure and started off with roast meat," he cheekily revealed.
OSIM charges residents Ksh5,000 per night with breakfast included while foreigners part with upwards of Ksh50,000 to spend a night in the almost-always booked facility.
At the restaurant, there is no refrigerator and no chemicals are used in the preparation of food since his original intention was to construct a restaurant that people would come to detoxify.
"When we bring in sheep for the slaughter, we keep them in a shed for three straight months to ensure that there are no chemicals left in the animal's body. We do not use pesticides for our farms. We have planted pyrethrum around to help in pest control instead," Sankok revealed.
