The Kid Who Ran A Farm Like A CEO: Kevin Karuga S01 E01

We sit down with Kevin Karuga to trace how a childhood between Nairobi and Kirinyaga builds discipline, ambition, and a deep pull toward public service. Along the way, we connect personal history to the bigger questions of leadership, governance, and how African tech can scale without losing trust.
• Why we partner with Africa’s Talking and what developer infrastructure enables across Africa
• Kevin’s early years in Nairobi, Kangemi, and Kirinyaga and how family shapes formative habits
• First vivid memories of politics and why public figures can set a child’s direction
• Lessons from a small farming plot about targets, accountability, and earning
• How admiration for leadership turns into a serious interest in law and administration
• Why boarding school discipline becomes a turning point in character and focus

You can check us out on all social media platforms. You can also find us across all podcast channels. Simply search for Impact Masters. Then subscribe, follow, and share. impactmasters.io. 

Transcript

Welcome To Impact Masters

SPEAKER_06 0:00

Welcome to Impact Masters Podcast in collaboration with Africans Talking Retold Podcast, where every conversation sparks new insights. Join us as we delve into the stories of extraordinary individuals who are shaping our world, movers and shakers in tech, policymakers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and all those whose stories are worth telling. Get ready to be inspired, challenged, and transformed. Welcome, and let's embark on this journey of discovery together. Impact Masters Podcast. You can check us out on all social media platforms. You can also find us across all podcast channels. Simply search for Impact Masters. Then subscribe, follow, and share.impactmasters.io. Here's your host, Michael Kamathi.

SPEAKER_04 0:58

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. It's another beautiful day, a day of the Lord. I want to welcome you again to this amazing podcast with an amazing guest in another beautiful day that was made by the Lord. And without further ado, this is Impact Masters Podcast in collaboration with the podcast brought to you by Africa Stalking in collaboration with Impact Masters, showcasing Impact Masters and stories that are worth being retold.

Africa’s Talking And The Mission

SPEAKER_04 1:27

And today we have an amazing, amazing guest. But before that, Africa Stalking, you can find Africa Stalking products at africastalking.com. We provide and enable and empower developers to build scalable businesses using SMS API, voice API, USD API. And now we have WhatsApp and chat API and insights to prevent fraud and other unauthorized business, which powers fintech and banks. So check out www.africastaling.com. Today I'm your host, Michael Kemadi, one and only. You can call me MK Anytime, just uh building the ecosystem and also ensuring that you're telling African and tech authentic stories across the world. And uh today we have uh one uh amazing, amazing guest uh by the name of Kevin Karuga or Karuga as you call him. And uh this uh is not just another ordinary guest, it's a guest that a story is worth uh telling, which is which actually becomes uh quite interesting to see how tech evolves, how uh you know we have come uh a long way, uh especially when you talk you talk about policy, you talk about governance, you talk about the law of the land, you talk about scaling businesses across Africa. He's one uh chief you want to talk to uh to give uh you know his experiences. He has worked with the uh you know the banking ecosystem, he has worked with the now tech, and he has a wealth of experience uh from uh ensuring that uh you know the the compliance he has contributed immensely when it comes to uh legal matters and in relation to tech and uh even now with the data privacy. And we'll talk about all this, but before that, as uh we normally make our practice, we cannot tell an Africans man's story without knowing who yes, and without further ado, how are you, Karuga?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Aha, very well. Yes, I can hear myself. You can hear yourself, yes. Welcome, welcome, man. Thank you. Uh very happy to be here. Yes, it's uh been a long time coming, yes, yeah, and uh it's it's it's it's good to be on this hot seat.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

It's not it's not that hot, uh, by uh by the way. Um because anyway, at the end of the day, it's such stories like yours actually that we bring more, maybe 50, 60 Karugas who will support businesses at scale like Africa Stalking, yeah, uh, with the intention of uh building uh you know businesses that actually matter in terms of empowering uh different people, the unlikely characters that we don't meet every day. Yeah, because when you you think about Africa stalking is is more like the person who has not is not unbanked, the person who doesn't have 3G, the person who cannot access the internet, but they still need these services, maybe health, maybe they're into agriculture, maybe fintech. How do we ensure they they really get these services without breaking a bank, but also again without breaking any law, right? So when I uh and and we'll get there, but I'm sure anytime someone is asked when they're growing up, what do you want to be? It's either doctor, engineer, or lawyer. Right? Yes, yes. Uh but sometimes we don't know what you're saying. Is this because these terms have been thrown around to be the you know the like definition of success? Yeah, but they have never had a story of a lawyer and how it goes about. But we are lucky, I think, among us many podcasts that exist out there, but even more in tech, yeah, yeah, to be able to have this conversation. Uh so where where were you born, uh Karuga?

Early Life Between City And Village

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Ah, very interesting. Yes. I was born uh here in Nairobi. Yes. For money maternity. Aha. Those days uh in the actually, I was born in 1990. Uh and that was a time when uh Kenya was just moving into uh multi-party politics. Yes. Uh I was born on a Friday, so uh Fridays are good. Yes, I was also born on a Friday. At the beginning of the year, yes. I was born on a Friday, first week of the of the year in January. Uh yeah, so it's Nairobi. I was born in Nairobi as a small boy, of course, now.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Ah, very nice. Yeah, of course, I cannot ask you how was it because no one knows where they were born, how it was. Yeah, yes. Uh, but were you schooled in uh you know Eastlands? I I understand also, you know, people when they hear Pumuani, the first thing that can comes in their mind is Eastlands. But uh Eastlands actually, especially Buruburu, you know, they were it was a bit structured, it was actually the affluent. There was the side that was affluent, and for the you know, the who is who, there was a side that was struggling, even in Eastland. Yeah, but nowadays with the development and with the new structures and new uh you know uh progress, eastland is not considered as as progressive as back in the day.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

Uh so for you, did you grow up there or you guys moved or so uh I was born as I said in Pumwani.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Pumwani maternity was uh the hospital then. So uh but uh when I was born we lived in Kangemi.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

So uh when I was a small boy, basically Kangemi, but then uh my former TV years, uh I was brought up in Kirinyaga. Yes, so mostly with my mother and my grandmother. Yeah, uh my earliest memories are uh uh maybe around 92. Okay, okay. So basically, my setting was in Kirinyaga. Okay, because what happened is when my when I was uh when my mother gave birth to me, uh she had to go back to school. Okay, and uh so I was left with my grandmother who took care of me for most of my formative years. Okay. That was uh 1990, so around up to 1994.

unknown 7:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

So I remember uh joining uh nursery school at Mutira Primary School in Nikirinaga in Ikiriñaga, yes, in 1994. Yes. Uh I remember going to uh you know going to school with my uh elder cousins who are older than me. Yes, uh Michael and Kristin. Uh so Michael was older than us. Yes, and uh because we used to go early in the morning, it was it was very tedious for my grandmother. I remember so my grandmother used to prepare me to go to nursery school, and uh she fondly says that uh one of my feet was uh smaller than the other one, such that uh there's there was one shoe that never fit. Ah so as she always tried to put on you know to help me put out put on my shoe in the morning, but it it never fit a lot of times. So you know, ensuring that it fits. And uh to ensure that uh she did not struggle too much in the morning. Um my auntie now, the mother to Michael and uh Kristen uh told her, why don't uh you be just prepare him and then they can be going together with uh with these others. So, yeah, uh that's those are my earliest memories in uh yeah '94. That was but I I was in Mutita primary school very briefly. Yes. Because now in 1994, uh maybe I was there maybe for a term. I joined my mother in Nairobi, and I uh we were living at uh Kahwa Wendani at the time, and I was enrolled to uh a school called Torrens Academy. Uh so again, uh that's where I did my pre-unit uh school and uh it was uh those was uh yeah pre-unit and uh I think I may may have joined standard one. So between 1994 to 1995, I was at Torrence Academy. Yeah. Uh but then I was uh transferred to Kenyatta University Primary School. Ah uh in uh in 1996, okay, where where I joined uh Standard One, yeah, Kenyatta Primary School. Kenyata Primary School Kenyata University Primary School Primary School, yes, and at this at the same time, uh so we were still living at Kahawa Wendani. Yeah if you know where Kahawa Wendani is, at that time uh of course there was no super highway. Yes. So we used to go uh to go to school. I mean we were a group of uh boys and girls. Yes. So we used to uh go we had to cross the we had to cross the road from this other side of uh Kahawa, you know where they where they are now building. I've seen the I've seen the overpass. There are houses that are being built just opposite Kahawa, sorry, uh just opposite Keneto University. Okay, there's a new construction that has come up. Yes. It used to be a a big field, yeah, a big land. So we used to cut through that land, yes, and we had to cross the road uh to get into KU primary, to get into Kenyatta University itself. Yes, and uh it was very risky for because a lot of kids uh used to get accidents along that road. Knocked by cars or yes, knocked by cars, okay. And uh because of that, my mother had to move into Kenyatta University, and uh it was very uh difficult to get a place to get to live inside Kenyatta University because it people who lived in Kenyatta University were only staffed.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

That's what I'm curious about. Like what what connection is this?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

So my mother was not a staff, yeah, but somehow I can't quite remember what happened, yeah. But uh she she was able to get uh accommodation. Uh we were able to get a house. Yes. Uh where now just next to the school, yeah. In uh Kenyatta University, there is just next to Kenyatta University Primary School, there's uh a place called uh Soweto. Is it the one that now is KM or no not KM. KM is far the other side. The other side. Behind the the the university. Yes, but now this is you get into the university, the proximity of where the exactly where KU primary is. But when you're on the superhighway, you are able to see Kenyatta University Primary School as you pass the superhighway. Yeah, so right behind Kenyatta University Primary School, yes, that is where we used to have Soweto. And Soweto used to house a lot of uh uh I would say not very senior staff. Ah the support staff. Most of our subordinate staff uh were the ones who were housed there. So uh and then just neighboring uh is is is the barracks is the kawa barracks. So where we lived, we shared a fence with the on this side the military with the military, yes, and then on this side, of course, there was a school, uh, and then now we were basically in the confines of uh Kenyatta University.

Politics, Elections, And First Heroes

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yes. And now these are I think these are the years when I actually remember a lot because these are the years when I start uh being uh cognizant of uh what's around me, politics. I think that's the time I started you know hearing of President Moy properly. And President Moy used to, as President Moy used to pass Kenyatta University, we used to go and line up when he's passing by the road, and we would uh we would clap for him. Karibo singing, singing, mutufurais. And I remember one time when President Moy was passing, and we were told, Muzea and a pita. So we had to run. So uh we we had to wait on the sides of the road. Yes, and this time he came and stopped right outside the gate of Kijata University, and uh I was right at the forefront, and I kept pushing my way, pushing my way, pushing my way until I got to his limousine. And now, as he is speaking, I was almost I could I could practically see the president, and it was a very uh it was a surreal moment. I wanted to be him because this is a towering figure, and this time you are in class one. That time is I was in class one, that that could be 1997, yeah, thereabout. Yeah, and to take you back, I told you uh also a village boy. So during the school holidays, I would go to Kirinyaga for a week or two, uh, and then I would uh come back to Nairobi. So I used to shut up between uh you know between the two places.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

And uh in 1997, as I said, this is when I started being because that's when actually the election, the first multi proper multi-party election was held. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

I think the first multi-party election was in 1992. Yes, but then 1997 now was was very fired up, and I remember there was a teacher's strike in 1997 when I was uh in class one and we were out of school for a while. Remember those days there was a very fiery nut uh secretary general. I forget his name. So I used to go to Kirinyaga and the elections used to be held in December. So in 1997, December, uh I remember uh Mwaki Baki. Because in the village where I come from in Kirinyaga, it was DP. Those days the slogan of DP was Ukweli naha umoja or something like that. Yes, yes, and uh I could sense some political activity that was going on, yes. Posters being put up everywhere, everywhere, yeah, uh, and people saying Moi must go. Yes, and as children now, seven year olds, we were also now running in the same and saying Moi must go. Yeah, we want Kibaki during those days. Yes, and uh that was also the first time when I also heard of Mother Karua because uh Mother Karua, I think I'd had run uh in '92 and won the Geshogo elections as an MP. As an MP. Yeah. And then uh '97 as well. Subsequently, she also got uh another term. And I remember people talking about mother. As a small boy, when my uncle came with the newspaper and they were talking in the in the living room, I could hear them saying, Hey, you know, meaning, have you heard of uh Mother Karua? So Mother Karua was known as to be a very tough, tough woman. Yes, and uh now as a result, I know I couldn't hear she's a lawyer and she's very fiery and uh and for a woman that's uh an hard off for you know yeah in fact for the longest yeah yes in Kirinaga and we had not had a woman uh a woman member of parliament before. So I think Mother Karua basically broke the glass ceiling. Uh of course now we we've had um even governor we have more women who have who are getting much involved in uh in politics. Yeah. Then I just wanted to wanted to mention how you know my earliest memories growing up and politics uh and how I just also landed on uh you know the political environment. Yeah.

Farming, Money, And Early Leadership

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Then I also must say that whenever I went to Kirinaga, my grandmother gave me land at that age of uh like this is your land or farming chamber. Told me uh I want you to be farming on this land. So I used to plant uh maize and beans, and then uh because I had seen her when she because we have this big land, she used to plant maize and beans. Yes, and then there used to be a period where we used to say you know, is uh when the maize is people are coming and uh they are buying off the green ones, the green ones in uh in lorries. I could see my grandmother counting money, and I told my grandmother, I also want to count money like that. So my grandmother told me, Okay, what I will do, I will give you a piece of land, farm on that piece of land, yes, and then you're also going to corporate your my Indy. Yes, and count your money, and count your money, and that's what happened. In fact, how many acres did she give you? It's just a small piece, like uh 10 by 10. Uh I can't remember quite, but it was not a very big it was just a small place because I'm the one who used to go and lima. And it's a very interesting story because I I I mentioned earlier my cousins, uh Michael and their father, the the Lord rest his soul. Every time I was farming on the land, and they would call me to their house to go and have tea. Because I used to go and uh early in the morning, that was a very young one. Yeah, that was uh that's during the holidays. During the holidays, yes, and uh I would go and dig because I used to see how people are digging in the in the in the farm, and they would call me, ah, come and drink tea. And I would say, No, no, no, I have not yet finished. I have my targets, yes, and now in hindsight, now my aunties and my mother and my grandmother now tell me, you know, your uncle used to say this fellow is uh is going to uh is going to help himself.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

I'm trying to translate you a bit industrious for a young guy.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Yes, you say, you know, to say this guy is going to help himself. And now my grandmother also tells me because now in the village, having also grown in the village a lot, I had I have roots and had friends. So I used to call friends, other small boys as well.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

I know, yeah, where you could they could uh take you for work, and then next time next weekend you can also do take them for a community work and help me in my farm.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

And there was this one time uh we are still very good friends with my friend uh Robert. Now Robert is a teacher somewhere in Kutus. And uh they used to come and uh one time one of the pangas got lost. And I had to sit all of them down and I whipped them. And I said, Can you produce the punk? You cannot steal from me. You cannot where is a pang? So that is how serious I was with the farming, with the with farming and wanting ensuring that things that you know things that are done, I know. Yeah, and I and when I look back, I see a lot of me, what I have forming, forming, yeah. If I now actually talk those are the foundations, those were real foundations, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

Yeah, but at what point did you of course the politic side of our, but at this point, were you saying, okay, now for you to be a politician and mother is a lawyer, maybe this is the route

Choosing Law Through Public Service

SPEAKER_04 20:35

I want to take.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

If I think it's very interesting, yeah. In uh I have one of my uncles who was a senior government officer at PS level at that time. So uh, and uh during uh the days uh you know, Jamuhori days, uh we used to go to his house. Public holidays, public how public holidays here in Lavington. Yeah, uh they used to invite us from Buzi, uh and uh you know and him being a very senior government officer, uh I admired. I admired him very much so. And uh I always I always I think I had started feeling like I would want to be like him. And uh in in uh this is 1997 in 1998 I was transferred from Kenyata University Primary to Kirinyaga to a boarding school called Kiroga Municipality Boarding Primary School. Yes. And uh meanwhile, because now we had started interactions with my uncle, I used to write letters to my uncle at the age of eight. And now when I look back, I used to tell him that I wanted to be an engineer. Okay, I did not know what an engineer was, but I had had it sounded really. Good, it sounded very nice, but I had had him his quantity severe, but I had also had people talking very well of engineers. The guys who build the roads, you know, I didn't know exactly what engineers do. And in my letters to him, I used to write to him and tell him I want to become an engineer. That was the earliest uh memory. But then as I continued now in Kirawea primary, Kirawea Municipality Primary, I realized that I actually admired people in leadership. And now I started to remember that I had started started reading newspapers at this age of nine, ten. And in newspapers, and I used to listen to the radio, and uh a lot of times you would hear lawyers who are parliamentarians and making laws, making laws, making noise there, you know, and they're jokes, they are firebrands. And I particularly remember James Orengo, PLO Lumumba, who actually later became my professor. Oh uh, I I remember President Bill Clinton at the time, uh Margaret Thatcher, because when I was born, Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister. Prime Minister. Yeah, I could I I used to hear, because they used to have a radio and I used to hear one or two one or two things. That is how I decided that I was going to become a lawyer. The reason why I said I want to become a lawyer is because I wanted to do what these guys are doing. Yes, these guys who are very vocal. Yes, I want to be like them. Yes, they are making laws and they are basically coming to help people, you know, in society. And I remember uh one of our MPs at that time, uh I think God Kibicho has also been a lawyer. So I I thought maybe for you to be a parliamentarian, you have to you have to be a lawyer. So that is how I uh you know I took that trajectory.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

I took that trajectory. Interesting. So by this time now you know you want to be a lawyer. Yeah, did you research what it takes to be a lawyer?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Honestly, not uh in fact, uh, I don't know that I'll be jumping the gun, but uh I I was more certain when I went to high school, yeah. I was more certain that I was either going to be three things I was either going to be a lawyer, I was also going, I was either going to be a lawyer, a DC, you know, the provincial serious uh position.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Provincial administration or a teacher.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Yeah, and I remember uh all these were informed by my desire to change society because I am uh very passionate about uh changing people's lives, and during that time, provincial administration was extremely powerful, yes, it's like a governor now, if you think about it. In fact, it was more powerful than a governor because if you remember, we had uh eight provinces, yes, and uh for example a province like Central Province has uh several counties now, yeah, and it was only under one PC. Yes, yes, so the PC was very powerful. Yes, in fact, uh I remember recently, uh maybe uh about uh just when I joined a team, I booked an appointment to go and see David Musila. David Musila used to be the provincial commissioner uh of central province at one time. He had just written a very nice book called Seasons of Hope. So I had read it, I had really uh identified with uh what he wrote. And uh I went to see him just to tell him actually, I wanted to be you, I wanted to be a provincial commissioner. Just that. Yes, I wanted to be a provincial commissioner. Yes, uh, I wanted to be in the provincial administration. Uh but then this mostly came up when I was uh I was in high school. That's when I I actually crystallized and knew I would either do either of this, and I ended up well, I ended up being a lawyer, but as you we'll we'll discuss later, I also undertook public policy and the administration. Um because I also wanted to see yes, am I able to get into that line of administration?

SPEAKER_04 26:20

Yes, anyway, let's not jump

Boarding School And The Discipline Shift

SPEAKER_04 26:22

the game. So you do your primary school mostly in the Kirinyaga municipality, yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

I uh Kiruga municipality Kirugua, yes, yes, yes. So that was uh uh from 1998, and I think that is where I was shipped. Yes, Kirugua Municipality was an amazing, amazing experience, and it's in fact it was the best boarding school in Kirinyaga County at the time, yes, and the reason why I was taken to Kiryoga Municipality number one, my grandmother said I was already becoming bigger than my age. And I that is very interesting, yes, and I was already now fighting in in school. So my parents back in Kenyata University University, yes, yeah, I was I was being called, the parents were being called that you know I am fighting. And so my grandmother, she's a very wise woman. In fact, if my grandmother went to school, one of my aunties says she would be a Wangari Madai, because my grandmother is brilliant. She said uh this young man, if he continues his education in Nairobi, he's either going to refuse school, get into bad company, or he's going to be expelled because he's already starting to fight and get wasted. Or he's going to get wasted. So I went to Kerugua Municipality because it was known for discipline. In fact, the school motto of Kerua Municipality was good conduct and passing exams.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

It was that serious.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

That's serious. That is where I was shipped.

SPEAKER_04 27:59

But in this maybe first, second year there, were you always uh part of the people who get punished, or I was in problems.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Always I was in problems until you are uh the the manager and the proprietor, may the Lord less his soul in peace. Uh Mr. Munene. We used to call him Mane. So he's the manager, of course. Now short for him. We used to call him Mane. Okay. That gentleman, surprisingly, he used to be my mother's teacher in high school. Okay. So he started his own uh shop. So he started his own school. Yes, and it ended up being uh one of the best, one of the best schools. It still is a very good school currently. Yeah, and uh he was known, he was an education enthusiast and a strict disciplinarian. So he used to ensure that all of us are disciplined. We used to walk in straight lines. Whenever you're going to the washroom from class, you walk with the with your hands behind in a straight line. Whenever you're going to eat your gathering in the dining hall, you walk in a straight line. You know, you are not you could not start seeing papers all over. You know, he was that kind of that's that's why I say this is where I was this is where I was basically shaped because number one, at the age of eight, I was spending days and nights out away from home.