Imagine building a business from the ground up, watching its value soar to nearly Sh1 billion, only to lose it within about two years.
This is the sad reality that hit Mwatha Njoroge, a financial consultant who now says the painful experience shaped his understanding of business, money and wealth creation.
Njoroge, reflecting on his experience as a young entrepreneur, said the business initially performed exceptionally well and created significant wealth.
However, the rapid growth was not matched by strong management systems, financial controls or a clear strategy for preserving the wealth generated.
Among the biggest lessons he said he learnt was the importance of hiring people based on competence rather than personal relationships.
Njoroge admitted that, at the time, he employed relatives because they were family, without adequately considering whether they possessed the skills required for the positions they were given.
The decision, he said, eventually created operational challenges and exposed the business to alleged misuse of resources and irregular staffing.
He recalled one instance in which he employed a first cousin at one of his shops, only to later discover that the relative was using a company card to fund personal spending at a club.
In another case, Njoroge said he appointed a different first cousin as a supervisor before discovering that the employee had 10 ghost workers under his watch.
The experiences forced him to rethink his approach to recruitment and the role of family in business.
“So if you’re employing someone, the first qualification should be the necessary skills required to manage that business. Not blood relation,” he said.
For Njoroge, however, poor recruitment was only part of the problem. How he handled the money generated by the business also contributed significantly to its eventual collapse.
As his income grew, he said he began spending heavily on personal possessions and lifestyle expenses rather than putting the money into investments capable of generating more income.
“I have made one million today; tomorrow I will buy a car. The day after, I will buy a house,” he recalled.
The cycle of spending, he said, continued until much of the wealth he had accumulated was depleted.
His experience reinforced a lesson he now considers central to financial management: earning large sums of money is not the same as building lasting wealth.
Njoroge said wealth must be protected through deliberate financial planning and productive deployment of money. Without systems to determine where income should go, he said, even substantial earnings can disappear quickly.
“I cannot allow a coin to come into my financial life without me commanding it where to go through a budget,” he said.
The consultant now advocates for intentional money management from the earliest stages of a person’s working life.
He urged young people not to wait until they are earning large salaries before developing financial discipline. Even small amounts, he said, should be assigned a purpose through budgeting and planning.
Njoroge also cautioned against treating savings as the final destination for money. While saving remains important, he argued that people should also consider how their money can be deployed productively to create additional income and build long-term wealth.
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