Stephen Mutai M’Imanyara was a prominent businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded Co-operative Bank of Kenya, a leading commercial bank in Kenya.

He was also known as the richest man in Meru County, a region located in the Eastern part of Kenya. M’Imanyara had a vast business empire that spanned across various sectors of the economy, including agriculture, real estate, and finance.

James Mwangi gets Sh. 71 million salary increase. See his monthly salary

M’Imanyara was born in Meru County in 1940 and grew up in a humble background. He worked hard and excelled in his studies, earning a scholarship to study in the United States.

He obtained a degree in Economics from Howard University and later pursued a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Upon his return to Kenya in the early 1970s, M’Imanyara embarked on a mission to transform the country’s cooperative movement. He co-founded the Co-operative Bank of Kenya in 1965, which was initially known as the Co-operative and Rural Development Bank.

The bank was established to provide affordable credit to small-scale farmers and rural cooperatives, who were often overlooked by mainstream banks.

Under M’Imanyara’s leadership, Co-operative Bank of Kenya grew rapidly, expanding its network of branches and increasing its asset base. The bank played a crucial role in supporting the development of the cooperative movement in Kenya, which has become one of the most successful in the world.

Today, Co-operative Bank of Kenya is one of the largest and most profitable banks in the country, with an asset base of around Sh. 537 billion.

Aside from his involvement in the banking sector, M’Imanyara was also a prominent player in the agriculture sector. He owned over 1,000 acres of tea plantation in the Central and Rift Valley provinces of Kenya under the names Majani Gardens Limited and Giciaro Farm limited.

He was also the chair of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and the Imenti Tea Factory, where he was credited with transforming the companies from government institutions to successful private companies.

M’Imanyara was also involved in real estate development, owning a fleet of apartments and estates in Nairobi, Mombasa, Ngong, Isiolo, and his hometown of Meru.

He owned Centreline Limited – a tea brokerage firm in Mombasa as well as being associated with Yetu Sacco and Nexas Sacco. He was also the chair of Meru African Coffee Union (MACCU).

Despite his success in business, M’Imanyara’s legacy was marred by family feuds over his vast estate after his untimely death in January 2018, aged 78. His wife Honesty Kanyua Manyara was appointed the sole administrator of the husband’s vast estate, which did not sit well with some of his family members.

One of his alleged sons, Engineer Lee Kimathi Njue, went to court to demand being appointed as either the administrator or joint administrator of the estate. Kimathi claimed that Honesty and her children locked him and his mother out of the burial plans and share of inheritance.

However, his application was fiercely opposed by M’Imanyara’s eldest daughter Dr. Bertha Kaimenyi and her brother Kiogora Mutai, who disowned him.