Zetech journey that started from varsity hostels

When you enter Ken Mbiuki’s office what strikes you most is its size that drowns his family photo hanging on a neat mahogany cabinet.

As he sits in his boardroom overlooking the busy Thika Superhighway, nothing gives you a glimpse of his wealth except his journey from oblivion to success and the subsidiaries he operates that defy his youthful face of a millionaire who prefers a low profile.

Here is the man who walked into Barclays Bank and left with a Sh160 million loan to house his new Zetech University campus in Ruiru.

“Let’s not talk about how much I am worth or even our annual turnover because that is not important. Success should be the impact you make in people around you and making their efforts also reflect in their pockets,” said Mr Mbiuki, the founder Zetech University as he reclines on his seat, adjusting his suit.

Mr Mbiuki, who hails from Meru, is in his mid-30s and perhaps much more reserved. “I am like a woman and don’t want to state my age. But you can do the maths.”

When the institution he started was early this year converted into a university and awarded a Letter of Interim Authority, it was a culmination of  17 years of sheer resilience by a young entrepreneur who by then was aged 22 and studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nairobi.

Mr Mbiuki started small. His first clients were fellow students back in 1997 who wanted to acquire IT and computing skills and his self-taught skills and one computer favoured his childhood dream to become an established businessman.

“At that time, there were few players who were offering similar services and the advent of technology had not taken shape in Kenya. Everyone wanted to acquire the skills,” he says.

“The decision was inspired by the pressure from the students.”

The IT lessons would be conducted in the university hostel through intervals and as the number of students went up, he moved the business to the Students Centre within the university. This was in 1998.

“Initially I had two to three students but the number went up between end of 1997 to 1999, growing between 200 to 300 students,” said Mr Mbiuki.

This time he could make up to Sh200,000 a month and the earnings record sparked a need to expand.

He needed infrastructure as the student numbers went up, leading to registration as Zenith Technology.

In 1999, he rebranded from Zenith Technology to Zetech College to tap external students and relocated from university premises to Summit House, on the upper edge of Nairobi’s Moi Avenue. 

“At this time, the learners’ population had grown spontaneously given we had 500 students and we were controlling the market at that time. I remember we were paying a rent of Sh15,000 and mainly operated on reinvestment capital,” he recalls.

Buoyed by a zealous advertising breeze, the student’s number reached 1,500 between the year 2000 and 2004, pushing him to seek new premises at Church House, next to the Railways bus terminus.

In 2006, Zetech College opened its Westlands campus followed by a collaboration with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in 2007 that allowed its students to graduate with degrees from the Juja-based university.

“We diversified our programmes from Information Technology and computing packages to hospitality and business courses and eventually mass communication and community development to widen the scope of the programmes,” said Mr Mbiuki.

Mr Mbiuki has largely borrowed from his father who was a businessman.

“I grew up in a business family and this offered a strong background on what makes a successful business. I learnt more about the need for patience and the need to take time to understand what the business requires,” said the father of three.

“I went through a lot of his mentorship when I was young, including capital management and investing back in the company,” he adds.

Mr Mbiuki’s investment strategy is multifaceted. He wants to invest heavily in research, starting next year to understand more on market dynamics and expand the existing infrastructure.

“We want to build strong infrastructure in Ruiru adjacent to our main campus that will house most of our programmes and increase our population. Another area we are seeking to deepen is our existing e-learning both in areas we have operations and in new frontiers.”

The true element of entrepreneurship, he told Business Daily, is by making positive impact on other people and opening new avenues that can create employment. By this, he has established two subsidiaries Finken Holdings Limited and Suntech Power Limited.

Finken operates through different sub-divisions that include food processing, building and construction and agrochemicals while Suntech Power is in renewable energy.

Both companies are based in Industrial Area, Mombasa Road and they have netted sizeable corporate clients, among them mobile service provider Safaricom, Rural Electrification Authority (REA), and Sarova Hotels.

Fear and greed

As a man who has done business for over a decade, Mr Mbiuki cites fear and greed as the biggest enemy of both man and business.

“Real entrepreneurship is not about the billions a company makes and the lavish lifestyle that the proprietors live but a single instance that one can point out and say the difference, he made in someone’s life,” he says about questions on revenues and profit figures.

Zetech University has 7,000 students and 300 employees.

“Our strategy has been to build our base in Nairobi before expanding to other areas,” said the entrepreneur, referring to its recent construction of the complex in Ruiru.

“But this only happens when you offer what the market requires and stick to their preferences. Private sector  thrives on quality.”

Zetech is planning to introduce Engineering and programmes as short- and long-term goals.