He Fixed KWS. Why Couldn’t Uchumi Be Saved? | Dr Julius Kipngetich

2006, we bought shares worth a million shillings.

That one million, the market price today-

Mm

... is around 90 million.

Dr. Julius Kipng'etich is a distinguished business leader, an innovator, and a strategic thinker.

He currently serves as a group CEO of Jubilee Holdings Limited, with previous roles at KWS Equity, Uchumi, Investment Promotion Center, now KenInvest, and he has served on too many boards to mention in this promo.

He tells us about where he grew up.

I grew up in a rural area.

Elgeyo Marakwet is actually the athletics headquarters of the world.

I'm not a runner, though.

It's one of those things I do.

I never understood why I never came-

[laughs]

... one.

Um-

And how he ended up a lecturer.

Sorting out student welfare at the Nairobi University is a critical point in his career.

The biggest challenge was staff productivity.

I used to go around all the halls of residence daily, and I used to begin with the toilets.

By the time we reached the year 2000, we had painted all the halls of residence.

I told the people in procurement, "Let's use common sense.

What would you do in your house?"

We speak about getting his nickname and getting bigger problems to fix.

The government wanted somebody to fix another institution, and that institution was called the Investment Promotion Center.

Today it's called KenInvest.

The government comes to university, "Who is good in fixing things?" That time I, I had acquired the name Mr.

Fix It.

Mm-hmm.

I was recommended.

Mm-hmm.

I was appointed.

I became the MD.

How he used Isaac Students to fix a competence problem.

It didn't have many qualified people at the time.

I took a lot of, uh, students on internships.

They worked as interns, improved the people who were inside.

Within a period of two years, the organization was up and running.

He goes into great detail on how exactly he turns KWS around.

Their governance structures were very weak.

The people agenda was very weak.

A large part of their revenue was being stolen.

They had an image problem and then systems problem.

And we speak about the pressures of working for government.

I wish you work for government.

[laughs]

The politics of wildlife itself is very intense.

Mm.

It's like a, a fight daily.

We talk about equity's growth and the game-changing product they gave churches.

Churches were given a product.

On Sunday, you take your money to a security company, and it reflects directly on your account.

That means the priest-

I am sure I have my money

... yeah-

Yeah

... can begin transacting and paying bills.

That was very attractive.

And why it was impossible for him to turn Uchumi around.

We did a forensic audit.

The question was, if your accounts look good, how come you have no cash? It was found that it was undercapitalized by around 5 billion shillings, and then some of the assets, they could not fully authenticate that it belongs to them.

Those who can do, do.

Those who can't, teach.

Dr. Julius Kipng'etich does both.

This is his money story.