Editor's Review

  • Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has opened up on his journey to becoming a business owner, stating that at the beginning, he lacked capital and had to sell his German-made vehicle at Sh12,000.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has opened up on his journey to becoming a business owner, stating that at the beginning, he lacked capital and had to sell his German-made vehicle at Sh12,000.

In a video posted on his Twitter page on Thursday, Odinga noted that at the time, he was teaching at the University of Nairobi and earning a salary of Sh2,000 which was not enough to raise the capital needed to purchase machines.

He divulged that an Indian entrepreneur exiled from Ugandan was keen on disposing  his machinery, but needed Sh12,000 which he did not have. However, he was interested in the equipment, therefore he was forced to sell his Opel left-hand drive car to finance acquisition of the assets.

“I was teaching at the University of Nairobi when an Indian friend who was a technician told me that one of his friends had just been sent away from Uganda and had uprooted all his machines from Jinja to a yard at Parklands and was selling quickly to go to Great Britain.

“The entire machinery was being sold at Sh12,000 which I didn’t have, my salary was only Sh2000, so I sold my car to raise the cash and that is how I started East Africa Spectre Company,” Odinga divulged.

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After acquiring the machinery, he rented a go down in Industrial area and started producing steel-related products.

“I rented a go-down in Industrial Area on Kingston Road now called Kampala Road and started manufacturing casements, windows, steel doors and other items and we were up and running,” he divulged.

As the business progressed, it caught the attention of a businessman from Agip Oil Company who requested Odinga to venture into the production of gas cylinders, citing a deficiency in the market.

Being an engineer and having gained experience on manufacturing of gas cylinders in Germany, Odinga took up the challenge.

Later on, his company benefitted from a loan issued by a foreign company and propelled it to greater heights.

Currently, East Africa Spectre Company is one of the top manufacturers of gas cylinders in East and Central Africa.