Of all the local tech entrepreneurs, no one comes close to Michael’s success.
Beginning of the entrepreneurial journey
He first started as an accounting intern at Comtech Systems (a former IT company owned by the Aga Khan Development Network). Eventually held the role of Finance Manager sitting at the Board and later as Sales Manager where he was responsible for the company’s 80% sales revenue.
At 25, he quit his job and formed Seven Seas Technologies (SST) with only a team of five. That was 14 years ago, a lot has changed since then. In 2012 Forbes magazine estimated Seven Seas’ annual sales at $50 million (ksh4.5billion)
Getting financial support then for a firm with no assets or no income statements was almost an impossibility. Macharia says that the first bank to support the young firm was the Banque Commerciale du Rwanda (Commercial Bank of Rwanda). Rwanda, alongside Kenya, was also the first market for the upcoming software services firm.
Seven Seas Technology Group now consists of five firms: Bring, a business applications and consulting firm; Hakken, which does IT and service management; Intelligent Infrastructure which focuses on ICT infrastructure; the Knowledge Transfer Center focused on executive ICT and business corporate training; and Twenty Third Century Systems which does SAP implementations and consulting and was was acquired in Zimbabwe for a majority stake.
Shareholders include founders Macharia and Rob, Abraaj Group and the estate of the late James Gachui.
From 5 to over 150 employees
In its 14 years of existence, Seven Seas has expanded the firm’s presence to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Burundi in addition to Kenya and Rwanda. With significant business coming in from West Africa.
IPO set for 2017
Seven Seas aims to generate 50 percent of annual revenue from Kenya by the time it goes public, compared to 80 percent at present, and the rest from other African markets.
To achieve that, it plans to diversify beyond offering information technology hardware, software and consulting services to telecom operators to serve banks, insurance firms and government as well.
Seven Seas headquarters at Riverside