Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua credited the late tycoon, Stanley Munga Githunguri, with his business success.
While consoling Githunguri's family on Thursday, December 8, Gachagua revealed that the deceased provided him with seed capital that enabled him to venture into entrepreneurship.
Githunguri also linked him to other business partners who invested in and supported his empire.
Nonetheless, Gachagua did not reveal the amount of money the deceased and owner of Lilian Towers in Nairobi offered him. Githunguri (77) passed away on December 1.
"I met the late Stanley in 1993 as a young District Officer in Kiambu District when he came to the constituency with an interest to serve the public. We developed a good rapport to the extent that he advised me to get interested in Business and Entrepreneurship," Gachagua stated.
"He mentored me, held my hand and saw me grow from a young civil servant to a budding entrepreneur," Gachagua added.
Githunguri started out as a coffee picker surviving on a Ksh3 pay per day before amassing wealth.
"I used to accompany my mother to pick coffee. We were paid 50 cents a tin, and I would fetch Ksh3 on a good day.
"My mother, who was at the time employed at Kalimoni and Gwa Kihoro estates, would be paid ksh20 a month," Githunguri stated in a past interview.
Despite his humble background, the former Kiambaa MP received support from well-wishers who funded his education.
After he was appointed the executive chairman of the state-owned National Bank of Kenya by President Jomo Kenyatta, riches and wealth followed in quick succession.
In a past interview, the late businessman revealed that he built the famous Lilian Towers along Nairobi’s University Way and Kiambu Road’s Ridgeways Mall in honour of his mother.
“My father passed on when I was 14. My mother, Lilian Nyagaki, raised my two younger sisters and me single-handedly. She struggled to feed and educate us.
"I was born in poverty, raised in poverty and gone through it. So when I came out of poverty, I had to honour my mother. That is why I named the building Lilian," he explained.
