Leah Wanjiku is the owner of the multi-billion Waterfront Mall located in Karen, Nairobi County.
Wanjiku established the mall together with her late husband Nelson Muguku. Though among the wealthiest people in the country, the story of the couple's rise to riches best describes the grass to grace adage.
In this segment, Nairobileo.co.ke takes a look at the couple's rise from poultry farming to build a multibillion empire.
Wanjiku was a teacher at the Kagaa Primary School in Githunguri, Kiambu County when she met Muguku, who worked at a nearby college.
Muguku was not content with his role at the college and decided to quit, a decision that left many around him shocked.
He set out on a path in poultry farming. With Ksh2,000, Muguku bought 2 hens and 1 cock and began his journey as a poultry farmer. At the time, he was in his mid20s and it is about the same time that he married Wanjiku.
The couple has since had seven children.
In 1963, Wanjiku quit her job as a teacher and went to help her husband in poultry farming. Two years later, they had saved up enough money to buy 2 acres of land.
It is on the piece of land that they set up their farm and named it Star Ltd. They started a hatchery with a 9,000-egg incubator.
The farm grew to supply day-old chicks and eggs to various customers. Some of their high profile clients at the time included the last Governor of the colonial era, Sir Malcolm MacDonald, and Kenya’s first Prime Minister, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
By the time Muguku passed on in October 2010, he had acquired a 6.08 per cent stake in a local bank before it was listed. He became the bank's largest individual shareholder for years.
In a 2018 report by Knight Frank, Wanjiku was listed as one of the 23 women billionaires in the country.
Further reports indicate that Wanjiku owns a 0.92 stake in a local bank valued at Ksh1.2 billion.
Wanjiku was at one point ranked second on the list of highly trading women on the Nairobi Stock Exchange market. She was trading Ksh306.9 million at the time.
She owns the multibillion Waterfront Mall in Karen. The mall sits on a 50-acre piece of land and has a man-made lake that sits on five acres.
