Back in 1992, a little known ambitious politician, Kimani Rugendo, laid the groundwork for an empire that eventually caused ripples in the global soft drink market.
As fate would have it, Mr Rugendo - who was the Ford-Asili party Nairobi chairman at the time, was unsuccessful in his bid to clinch the Lang'ata parliamentary seat during the '92 general elections.
In a bid to bounce back from the defeat he suffered at the hands of Raila Odinga, the businessman shifted his focus to selling bottled water under the 'Mt Kenyan' brand.
His company - Kevian Kenya, under which the water was sold focused mainly on tourist hotels in Mombasa as well as a few supermarkets in Nairobi.
Speaking to a Daily Nation journalist, Rugendo's wife - Helen Kimani, revealed that they decided to try their hand in the fruit juice industry in a bid to try and differentiate themselves from their competitors.
“We looked at what we had and the raw material we had was water. This got the company thinking on how it would add value to the water. Kevian has since transformed itself into a whole fruit juice company with two plants, one on Ngong Road and the other in Thika, established in 2005," Rugendo's wife quipped.
Their big breakthrough came in 1995 when they finally got their hands on Ksh25 million from their savings as well as help from friends.
Rugendo used the money to diversify his products by venturing into the ready-to-drink juices industry.
The entrepreneur launched Pick 'N' Peel and Afia, brands that have since gone on to dominate not only the Kenyan market but the greater East and Central Africa region.
Both brands are sold in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Zambia.
As of November 2019, Afia was being produced at the rate of 40,000 bottles per hour.
Currently, the reclusive billionaire has moved into the production of eight carbonated variants of non-alcoholic malt drinks, including Plain Malt, Energy Malt, Lemon Malt, and Orange Malt.
On April 9, 2019, the tycoon secured a Ksh1.3 billion loan facility from Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), a Development Finance Institution owned by the German government.
Apart from Kevian Kenya, the billionaire and one of East Africa’s most prominent entrepreneurs is the founder of Sterling Craft Ltd, a company that manufactures industrial equipment and military regalia.
Sterling Craft supplies berets, medallions, ceremonial swords, medals and other symbols of office to the Kenya Police and Kenya Defence Forces among others.
