What is in a name? For Professor Miriam Kinyua, it was the only collateral she used to secure seed capital to launch a school.

Many lenders dismissed her. “Professor, raise about Sh5 million and we shall offer you a loan,” she recalls. It was as if all banks were reading from the same script.

That, however, did not dampen her spirit and as she was contemplating her final plan. She shared her idea with Family Bank, Nakuru. And to her surprise, the bank agreed to finance her.

The Sh1.5 million loan she took saw her buy three-and-half-acres on which she has built Kagaki Primary School. The school is a multi-million enterprise today, she happily says.

“We had no capital but a good name and that is what made us secure the loan that saw us start a school in Kiamunyi, Nakuru,” she notes.

Professor Kinyua, an unassuming scholar, has demonstrated her determination to prosper. The school is attracting pupils from across the country and from the pioneer class of three pupils, the school has a population of over 800 children today.

Kagaki Primary School teaches both pre–primary and primary pupils. It was started in 2005 as a joint venture with her husband Shadrack Kinyua M’Inoti.

It produced the top candidate, Eddy Bogonko who attained 434 marks out of 500 in 2014 Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination, in Nakuru County.

“My husband played a big role. He made sure the opportunity did not slip away as he accompanied me every time I went to seek a loan. Her moral support is one of the crucial pillars of the school,” says the first woman to lead the National Biosafety Authority.

The professor, who is an author on plant breeding and genetics is a great admirer of Nelson Mandela and Makini Schools founder Mary Okello.

“I have received wonderful advice from Mary Okello and it is from her advice that I have transformed Kagaki School. Nelson Mandela has inspired me not to spend my energies thinking of people who want to pull me down,” says the former International Atomic Energy Agency consultant.

An alumnus of Alliance Girls High School, Prof Kinyua says drilling pupils in order to just pass exams is bad.

“Kagaki is a public school in a private environment and we hire teachers who are registered with Teachers Service Commission who teach within the syllabus and this is one of the secrets that has seen us produce all-round pupils,” Prof Kinyua says

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Its pioneer class of five pupils sat for KCPE in 2009. The first batch of students joined national schools and scored As in Form Four. They are currently pursuing courses in engineering, medicine, information technology and survey at different universities.

“My joy is that our pupils have proved that ‘yes they can’ and indeed as a school, we are happy to be associated with future pillars of Vision 2030,” says the professor, who is a mother of three.

Although she has not broken even as she is still putting up more infrastructure, she says with a population of 800 pupils, she doesn’t wait for parents to pay fees in order to settle her bills.

She has employed 60 people, 38 graduate teachers on permanent terms and 22 non-teaching staff. She has also invested over Sh3 million in a modern computer laboratory and other infrastructure.

She says her growth plan is to construct more classrooms to admit more pupils. This is in order to satisfy the needs of an increasing number of parents who are making inquiries at the school whose name translates to ‘small but solid’ in Meru dialect.

Determination and passion

She says hard work, dedication, determination and passion have kept her going.

“The parents, teachers and pupils are all shareholders and any decision we make is collective,” she points out.

Like any other venture, however, it has not been a walk in the park.

“Without a master plan and understanding of the education system, some of the employees and pupils may take advantage and pull you down by sabotaging your efforts and end up frustrating parents who have bestowed a lot of confidence in you,” she said.