He saw the need to convert the training workshop into a business of training management skills. This encouraged him to start an outreach programme through churches in which people would be trained to use computers. He says it was at this point that the dream of a university was planted, first by sub-letting a small classroom in Thika town, which transformed into Thika Institute of Technology (TIT) on a new location; and into a university later.
This dream, Gicharu says, was put on its wings by a Sh20,000 loan he borrowed from Equity Bank. Today, that college is Mount Kenya University (MKU), which has 16 campuses in and outside Kenya, over 50,000 students and 4,000 employees. The man who says he is no billionaire and that he only started the university and then handed over to a management committee to steer it has a dream to transform MKU into “an African role model in training, research and innovation in applied science and technology, the Havard of Africa.
“Every struggle I have gone through has been a lesson in the journey towards success,” says Dr Gicharu. The former student of Gathiru-ini Secondary School in Kiambu County learnt at an early age the benefits of making savings for a rainy day. Each week the father gave him Sh10 to use, instead, he spent less on lunches, and at times skipped meals. “Hard work, persistence, determination and focus can surmount even the greatest odds,” says Dr. Gicharu.
When asked about how he made it, he always responds: “Any successful entrepreneur will tell you, the odds are very many as you go up the rungs of success. How you deal with them makes the difference.”
