Alex Mwaura, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lebanon Technical Training College has narrated how he escaped hardships to become a CEO at only 25.
In a narration, Mwaura revealed that his hustling life began when he was only 15, after dropping out of school due to financial challenges.
“There was a time when my world was measured in buckets. One bucket of crushed ballast stones that earned me seven shillings per bucket. Ten buckets meant seventy. Seventy shillings meant dinner. That was my economy at fifteen,” he narrated.
Born in February 2000, Mwaura is the fourth child in a family of six raised by a single mother. Growing up, poverty was not a temporary setback but a constant presence that forced his family to move frequently shifting between primary schools in search of affordability and stability.
He attended various primary schools, including Kaharati Primary School, Wamahiga, Maragua, and Swani Primary School. Despite the instability, he excelled academically, often topping his class. Teachers believed in his potential and so did he.
But in 2011, while in Class Six, domestic violence and financial collapse destabilised the family. They relocated to Juja with no furniture, no household items and no reliable source of income. His mother was unemployed. His sister dropped out of school. Soon after, he followed.
For nearly two years, Mwaura was no longer a pupil. He describes himself then as a street boy wandering in search of food while watching his peers head to school.
“There is a quiet humiliation in watching children your age going to school while you wander in search of food. Survival became my curriculum. The year blurred into hunger, uncertainty, and frustration. I had always dreamt of academic excellence, but dreams do not survive long without opportunity,” he recalled.
In 2013, things started to fall in place and the family relocated to Kihiu Mwiri in Gatanga, renting a modest house for Sh300 per month. His mother found work on farms, earning between Sh200 and Sh300 a day.
One evening, she urged him to return to school and complete Class Eight. Her expectations were modest: perhaps, with a KCPE certificate, he could secure employment as a watchman at Del Monte Farm in Thika.
“My mother worked on farms earning about Sh200 to Sh300 a day. One evening she told me, gently but honestly, “Alex, I want you to go back to school. Finish Class Eight. Maybe with the KCPE leaving certificate one day, you can get work as a watchman in Delmonte Company. That advice reshaped my expectations of life.”
Mwaura returned to Swani Primary School, this time studying not for university dreams but for the possibility of basic employment. He sat his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in 2014, scoring 297 marks, way above his expectations.
Secondary education, however, remained financially unattainable, forcing him to seek menial jobs at a quarry to supplement his family’s income.
“I began working in the quarries, crushing stones for Sh7 per bucket. Ten buckets earned Sh70. That money bought dinner. Then came another setback. A rule banned anyone under 18 from quarry work. I was 15. Even hardship seemed to have age restrictions.”
It was during this time when he met his destiny helper Mr. Ken Stephen Muchoki, who helped him join secondary school at Swani Secondary School in Murang’a County.
“In my first exams, I ranked first. That moment taught me something I would only understand years later: your destiny is never tied to people who leave your life; it is tied to those who stay.”
Tragedy struck again in 2018 while he was in Form four when his mother passed away. The loss was devastating to Mwaura, who would then take the responsibility of parenting his younger siblings.
“Extended family distanced themselves. My siblings and I faced the reality of burial arrangements alone. The Kihiu Mwiri community stepped in and allowed us to bury my mother in their cemetery. I became a parent of my younger siblings before I became an adult,” he recalled.
That same year, he sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and scored a C+, earning a direct university entry.
Mwaura enrolled at the University of Embu to pursue a Bachelor of Education (Arts), specialising in Business Studies and Christian Religious Education.
University life brought fresh challenges: financial strain, the responsibility of supporting his younger sibling and uncertainty about the future. He volunteered in neighbouring schools for modest stipends, honing skills in teaching, leadership and mentorship.
On September 15, 2023, he graduated with Second Class Honours (Upper Division). Rather than solely seeking employment, Mwaura chose entrepreneurship.
At 25, he founded Lebanon Technical Training College in Kiritiri Town, Embu County. The institution is accredited by the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA/TRN/2799) and offers various courses in leadership, finance, and technology, among others.
Some of the courses it offers are professional and corporate training programmes in leadership, governance, project management, financial management, grant management, monitoring and evaluation (MEAL), data protection compliance, public speaking, disability mainstreaming and other continuous professional development courses.
The college serves organisations, NGOs, SACCOs, faith-based institutions and professionals seeking to enhance skills and institutional capacity.
“The same boy who once crushed stones now builds skills,” he says.
Throughout his life, Mwaura has learned many valuable lessons;
Dare to dream big.
Your background is not a place of residence it is a place of reference.
Never ignore an idea, not all of them return.
Always trust in God.
Never lose hope.
And your future is rarely decided by your worst season.
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