suffering among many people including my own family. But God still used my business to save many people and then bless me in turn,” says Wainaina.

The violence led to closure of all businesses in Eldoret town but in a strange turn of events, the government approached him not to shut down his Queen Chick restaurant so that he could supply food to security officers deployed to contain the violence in various parts of the region.

Police guarded the hotel round the clock throughout the chaos. Wainaina recalls being overwhelmed by hungry people who had money but could not find a place to eat.

“During that time I was not even interested in the money. I saw life come to an end and I prayed to God that all I wanted was peace,” he says.

He invested the money he had in buying food stuffs for security teams and although he got some money out of it, Wainaina says all he wanted was for the officers to eat and go out to help end the violence.

“I realized that you can have the money but without peace it is of no use,” he adds. During and after the violence, most of his friends and relatives  fled from Eldoret. However he remained behind with his entire family.

“At one point I thought of relocating but again all my family members including my parents live in Eldoret. It would have been difficult to move them and I opted to stay on,” he says.

After the violence ended, he sold off the Queen Chick restaurant, went for a loan to top-up his savings and used part of the money to develop the multi-million Queens Garden Hotel located near Eldoret Polytechnic along Kisumu Road.

The hotel is popular and frequented by top leaders in the country. President Uhuru Kenyatta has visited it once during a tour of Eldoret.

“Owning such a hotel was my dream even in the days I sold Mandazi but I never saw myself achieving this dream and all I can say is that God is great because when the door of education was shut for me, God opened another door for me in life,” says the businessman.

Through his business Wainaina has made friends with the high and mighty. “At times people think the president or politicians gave me money to invest but there is no such money. I struggled with determination and God uplifted me to where I am,” he says.

Sadly, he notes, the country has millions of educated youth who are jobless and there is need to inculcate the culture of hard work and determination in them so that they do not waste away expecting white colour jobs.

“With or without education, life is about determination and focus,” he says. He says government support programmes for youth like the Uwezo Fund can have more positive impact if youth are trained on how put the cash into good use.

Wainaina wants President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to create change and work hard in serving the country for future generations.

He has earned the reputation as a key figure in Eldoret, so much so that quite often he is consulted on important issues regarding communities in the region. Wainaina says leadership is not only by those who hold elective office.

“We can be leaders in our own way and at any place and I am happy that I help where I can,” he asserts.