When people talk about Kenya’s wealthiest investors, the name Nelson Muguku often surfaces — and for good reason. By the time he passed away, he held the largest individual stake in Equity Bank. Yet his beginnings were so modest that his most prized asset in the 1950s wasn’t land, machinery, or savings — it was a single bicycle.
Born in 1932 in Kanyariri Village, nestled in today’s Kikuyu area of Kiambu County, Muguku learned the basics of enterprise by watching his father, Njoroge, run small ventures. Those early lessons planted the seeds of ambition long before anyone imagined he’d become a titan of agribusiness and finance.
His transformation began in his twenties, when he made a bold — and unpopular — decision. Muguku quit his job as a college tutor with just Ksh 2,000 to his name and a tiny starter flock: two hens and a rooster. His parents disapproved, and his European employer reportedly scoffed at his plan, but Muguku was determined to carve out his own future.
With help from his father, he spent his first six months learning the rhythms of poultry rearing. During this period, he married Leah Wanjiku, a teacher at Kagaa Primary School in Githunguri, who would soon become not just his partner in life but also in business. By 1963, Wanjiku had resigned from her teaching job to join him fully in the growing enterprise.
The breakthrough came in 1965. With growing profits, Muguku purchased a 22-acre property known as Star Ltd from a white veterinary doctor for Ksh 100,000 — a massive sum at the time. He transformed the farm into the now-famous Muguku Poultry Farm, installing a 9,000-egg incubator and expanding into large-scale chick production.
As demand for high-quality chicks increased, Muguku’s name spread far beyond Kiambu. It was said he supplied day-old chicks and eggs to top colonial officials, including the last British Governor, Sir Malcolm MacDonald, and even to Kenya’s first Prime Minister, Jomo Kenyatta.
According to his younger brother, Professor Kihumbu Thairu, Muguku had a simple rule: reinvest everything. That discipline paid off. Over the years, his farm grew into a high-tech hatchery boasting four advanced incubators capable of producing more than half a million chicks every single day. Thairu recalled that Muguku personally read the manuals, operated the systems, and handled the maintenance — right up to his final days.
Beyond business, Muguku became known for his generosity. He created jobs for hundreds of young people and invested heavily in community development. He founded Kikuyu Township Primary School, Kidfarmaco Primary School, and a high school at Red Hill, originally called Greenacres before he renamed it Tumaini School.
Together with his wife Wanjiku, he raised seven children while building one of Kenya’s most impressive entrepreneurial legacies.
Muguku passed away on the night of October 10, 2010, shortly after a phone call with his youngest son in the United States. He left behind a story that continues to inspire countless Kenyans: proof that determination, reinvestment, and vision can turn even the humblest beginning — two hens and a rooster — into a story of national impact.
