Monday, July 7, 2025
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Simon Kabu: From a tout in Roysambu to founding Bonfire Adventures

Bonfire Adventures boss Simon Kabu has shared how he struggled to earn an income before starting the tour company alongside his ex-wife, Sarah Kabu.

In a post on his Facebook page, Kabu shared an old photo from his days as a tout plying the Githurai 44 route. He revealed that he took the job to raise university fees, highlighting financial constraints in his family.

“#tbt when I was a makanga at route44 to get university fees instead of dropping out of school. What’s that one thing you did that makes you who you are now?” he wrote.

Co-Op post

In a past interview, he revealed that he went to Kagumo High School for his secondary education before proceeding to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Egerton University.

While in the third year, his parents could not afford college fees, forcing him to do menial jobs, including selling pirated movies, cooking at a local food kiosk, to make extra money.

Amid the hustles, Simon met Sarah through young professionals google chat group and one year she would later become his wife after a get together at Lukenya excursion.

Couple behind popular Tsavo Apartments who retired at 40

NCBA

The two were among the few members who volunteered to handle logistics for the group’s physical get-together at Lukenya.

As more events followed, Sarah and Simon would become the defacto logisticians for the group, a task that took a lot of their time and effort.

“Every time we organized an event, it would turn out so well. With time, we realized that the planning was taking up a lot of our time and energy, and we began charging a fee. Even then, the turn-up was still high, and one time over a bonfire at Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Sarah and I mulled over the idea of turning it into a business,” Kabu recalled.

The two later got a referral to organize a business trip for a company, marking the birth of Bonfire Adventures.

Kabu revealed that the corporate client insisted on dealing with a registered company that would be paid via a bank cheque, forcing them to quickly register their business.

“We quickly searched for availability of the business name and registered a company. The funny thing is we had to keep the cheque for over three months because we did not have a bank account! That’s how Bonfire Adventures was born,” he added.

Being an extroverted salesman, Kabu worked on onboarding more clients with a focus on international tourists and corporate clients.

On the other hand, Sarah, who has a background in business management, was instrumental in planning clients’ itineraries, coordinating tour drivers’ schedules, liaising with host hotels, booking air tickets, and organizing timely pick-ups and drop-offs.

A few years into the business, Bonfire Adventures had daily trips to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, with most domestic tourists using their services.

Today, the company has a turnover of over a billion Kenyan shillings and has created over 200 job opportunities.

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