Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga narrated how he came to establish his multi-million East Africa Spectre, a gas cylinder manufacturer company from scratch.
“I was teaching at the University of Nairobi when an Indian who was a technician came and said to me that there was this Asian fellow who had been sent away from Uganda by Idi Amin. He told me that the Indian had uprooted all machinery from his workshop in Jinja and was now lying at a yard in Parklands. Apparently the man was trying to sell quickly so he could flee to Britain, and he felt I could use them,” Raila said.
Raila went on: “He took me to this Indian and I found these machines. He had rolling machines, welding machines, sheet metal machines. I felt that the machinery could be useful to me, I knew I could use them to start a business.
Ksh2,000 salary
“He was selling the machinery at Ksh12,000, but I did not have that money. My salary was Ksh2,000 at the university,” Raila said amid laughter from the audience.
“I had an Opel car, a left hand drive ride that I had brought with me from Germany. I sold it and bought all the machinery. I used the Machinery to start my business East Africa Spectre.
“I then went and rented a godown on Kingston Road, which is today known as Kampala Road. I put all the machinery in there and that’s how I started manufacturing casements; steel windows and doors,” Raila said.
African entrepreneurs
According to Raila, a Mzungu who had been working with the Agip oil company approached him with a proposal that he makes gas cylinders for him – and he would buy from him as they had a shortage in the country.
“I agreed and told him that I had worked at a gas company back in Germany. So, he brought some samples, and we were able to retool and start making gas cylinders,” Raila said.
Raila would later be approached with a German investor who was looking to train African entrepreneurs, but had been disappointed by the fact that all the African he got were either in the village or fresh from the village, but here was Raila who could do something already.
I am not very rich
“The German told me that my company could qualify for an industrial loan – and indeed he was financed to grow the business which has today grown to become a multi-billion venture said to be worth over Ksh2.5 billion.
Raila who once told Citizen in an interview that he is not very wealthy, owns multi-million homes in Nairobi’s leafy suburbs, land to international companies.
Raila is said to own homes in Karen Nairobi, Runda where houses go for as much as Ksh 100 million. He also is said to have a home in Mombasa. Then there is his home in Kisumu estimated at Ksh 1 billion.