“Maybe I have never thanked them enough.” Dr Simon Gicharu uses these words to acknowledge the roles of two women he terms as his rock — his mother and wife.
“My mother, Alice Wambui taught me the value of honesty and hard work. She also taught me to never give up until I had tried,” says the founder of Mount Kenya University (MKU), who was recently inducted into the World Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame. Dr. Gicharu who single-handedly started the first private university in Kenya, Mount Kenya University, was among the 65 people worldwide picked to attend World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015 meeting in Monaco, France.
The event, which is sponsored by Ernst & Young, recognizes the accomplishments of entrepreneurs. He represented East Africa alongside Wale Tinubu of Nigeria and Asher Bohbot of South Africa. He won the Ernst & Young Eastern Africa Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015 Award. The award is given on the basis of entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance, strategic direction, innovation, global impact, personal integrity, influence, and philanthropy.
“My wife Jane Gathoni egged me on whenever I felt like giving up. She always told me to walk on even when I hit a wall,” says Gicharu, who once lost his teaching job for going to study abroad before informing his employer. Gicharu had been awarded a one-year scholarship by the British Council to study about managing enterprise growth at Cransfiled University in the UK in 1996. Baroness Lynda Chalker, the then Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs and Overseas Development handed him the certificate.