Riva Petroleum is the brainchild of Peter Njagi Njeru. The little-known engineering graduate & billionaire founded the enterprise in 1996, despite possessing limited expertise in the petroleum sector at the time.

Today, Riva Petroleum stands as an East African petroleum powerhouse worth billions. This highlights the tremendous growth the oil marketing company has had, with Peter Njagi at the helm.

The story begins with the Riva’s Managing Director joining the University of Nairobi in 1984 to pursue an undergraduate degree in Engineering.

After successful completion, he proceeded to do a Master of Business Administration (Finance) at Egerton University.

Equipped with engineering and financial acumen, Njagi decided to put his skills to the test. He kickstarted his career at the Ministry of Roads and Public Works.

At the ministry, he dedicated an impressive number of years as a Roads and Highway engineer. He started out as a Nyeri County Government Roads Engineer.

This role proved to be a stepping point as he moved to 8 other departments countrywide to oversee top projects.

Njagi established Riva Petroleum in the year 1996. The business is entirely family-owned.

Peter Njagi and Dorcas Waguthi (his wife) own 80,000 shares while their two daughters, Wangui and Wawira have a total of 40,000 shares between them.

Establishing Riva Petroleum

The inception of the petroleum marketing giant traces back to a seed capital of a Sh. 45,000 SACCO loan that Peter Njagi secured from Ufundi Cooperative.

With the money, Njagi set up a hardware business and he would supply tools to construction sites. In 3 years, the total finances he had accumulated, not only from the business, stood at Sh. 8 million.

Armed with newfound financial strength, Peter Njagi decided to venture into the petroleum industry. However, the capital at his disposal proved inadequate.

He approached various banks with hopes of securing a loan that could fuel his ambition, but his attempts were met with rejection choruses.

“I needed a bank guarantee of Sh. 6 million and I needed to buy stock and some vehicles. I didn’t have much security and had no previous experience in the venture,” he mentioned in a past interview with KCB Venture magazine.

However, Njagi met one KCB Manager who believed in his vision and facilitated the loan to finance his petroleum business.

Thayu Kabugi: Meet Murang’a businessman who established Astrol Petrol station

“I met this KCB Bank Manager who was based in Nakuru and he thought I had a good idea which the bank was willing to finance,” he explained on Riva’s birth and his cordial relationship with KCB Bank.

“I was required to have tankers and didn’t know how they are partitioned. I also started selling lubricants despite knowing much about them.”

“As the business grew, I needed to recruit customers. I didn’t know that I would even develop into a fully-fledged company.

Riva Petroleum experienced exponential growth in its fiscals. In the first year, the total turnover was Sh. 60 million, and in the second year, the total revenue was Sh. 800 million.

This subsequently laid the foundation for an enduring legacy of dealing with billions.

Riva Petroleum has its headquarters at Mayfair Suites, in Westlands Nairobi. Njagi’s wife, was a paediatrician but she gave up the medical world to study accounting. She now heads the Finance department at Riva.

One of his daughters is a lawyer. She works in the family business’ legal department.