Montezuma Monalisa Funeral Home is arguably one of the most luxurious funeral homes, having handled several prominent persons, including the beloved Papa Shirandula actor Charles Bukeko.
Before it became what it is today, however, Montezuma was just a side hustle for billionaire Benjamin Kibiku, who was then a marketer for an insurance company in Nairobi.
Even though the initial dream was always to run a state-of-the-art modern morgue for the rich and the privileged, Kibiku could not afford the starting capital, and banks were sceptical of loaning him the funds to start the business.
Possibly due to the morbid nature of the business model or the sheer lack of similar businesses in the country, he initially struggled to bring any of the investors he pitched the idea to.
Therefore, he continued saving money from his day job, hoping to come up with just enough to start. Luckily, in late 1988, he scored a SACCO loan of Ksh70,000 and was able to purchase his first hearse.
However, this was not a brand new vehicle, as his loan and savings would only afford him a second-hand pick-up truck that had been involved in an accident, which he then had to repair and eventually convert to a hearse.
His troubles were far from over, as acquiring a driver, a parking space, and even clients was an uphill battle. He advertised in local dailies to no avail until he came up with a better idea.
Among the tactics he used to build clientele was attending burial meetings pretending to know the deceased, then offering his hearse for free as long as the driver carried fliers advertising the business.
The strategy worked, and he would soon book enough jobs to buy a second-hand van, which he also converted into another hearse. As business grew, he started selling coffins to supplement his funeral transportation business.
In 1992, he finally quit his marketing job to concentrate on the funeral services business, starting with constructing a few structures to store the bodies.
Construction of the modern funeral home began in 2004 after Kibiku acquired land along Mbagathi Way (now Raila Odinga Way). The construction ended in 2007.
Today, the facility is a one-stop shop for funeral services and among the most prestigious in the country, offering several services, including selling coffins and even a chapel for prayers before taking the body for burial.
Other services it offers include repatriation of deceased persons to and from Kenya, and exhumation services, both single and mass exhumation services nationwide, working alongside churches, local authorities or as a sub-contractor.
The exhumed remains can then be reinterred, preserved or repatriated to another country.
Far from the second-hand vans converted to hearses, the funeral home now offers rides on luxury vehicles and even offers an assurance scheme to cover the costs.
It can hold up to 100 bodies at a time and has three branches, one along Thika Road in Nairobi and the third one in Machakos.
