S.K Macharia Biography
S.K. Macharia whose full name is Samuel Kamau Macharia was born in 1942 in Ndakaini village, Muranga county. He is the founder and chair of Royal Media Services.
Dr. Samuel Kamau Macharia was born in 1942 in Ndakaini Village, Murang’a County. He was born to a humble background couple who worked as squatters on settler plantations in Sabatia. He was born amongst three sisters and was the second born in the family. He lost his mother at the tender age of five. The family moved to Arusha in search of livelihood but the father was unable to secure any employment. Subsequently, Dr. Macharia started keeping the company of Maasai boys, herding their family herds and would, as a result, traverse great distances looking for pasture alongside the Maasai boys, hence he would be away for extended periods of time
S.K. Macharia Age
S.K Macharia is 79 years old as of 2021. He was born in 1942.
S.K. Macharia Family Children
S.K. Macharia is a family man. He is married and blessed with six children, two girls and four boys who are all university graduates. It is a family that learned to stay together closely through thick and thin as they went through livelihood experiences and challenges.
S.K. Macharia Wife
S.k. Macharia is married to Purity Gathoni Macharia, together they have six children, Macharia’s wife Gathoni is also a sister to the former cabinet minister Njeru Githae, she is also sister to playwright, author, activist, instructor and literary critic and professor of literature in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University in New York.
S.K. Macharia Net Worth
Mr. Macharia has investments in Agriculture, Real Estate, Transport, Banking, and Telecommunication.
He is a businessman and media mogul, who owns numerous stations in both English, Kiswahili, and Vernacular that include Citizen TV, Kiss, Radio Jambo, Ramogi, Muuga, Chamgei, inooro, Bahari and Wimwaro.
His total net worth is estimated to be over Ksh 40 billion. He is, in fact, said to be an all-rounder as his investments are found in all major companies in Kenya. Fondly known as the man with a short name. His net worth runs into millions of dollars.
S.K. Macharia Education Background
He later enrolled for certification to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), holder.
S.K. Macharia
Graduate student, Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Accounting/Finance
Undergraduate student at the University of Washington, Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Accounting
Undergraduate student at Seattle Pacific University, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
- He applied for the Kennedy Airlifts and was accepted in the 1962 group. His family could not, however, raise the 4,000 shillings required for the plane ticket to the United States. He could only raise 1,200 shillings and had to travel for nearly 2 months by road from Kenya to Benghazi, Libya where he took a ship to England and then a flight to the USA.
Student at Kahuhia Teachers Training College, p3 trained teacher
Ended 1958: Student at Gituru Intermediate School, Kenya African Preliminary Examination (KAPE)
Started 1954: Primary school student at Ndakaini Primary School.
S.K. Macharia Career
He was, later on, offered a job as an untrained primary school teacher (then called UT) at Makomboki Primary School, where he taught for a year before being selected to join Kahuhia Teachers Training College for a two-year training course which would qualify him to become a P3 teacher. On completion of the course, he was posted to Gituru Primary School in 1961.
He went to the United States of America in 1962 and coming back to Kenya in 1969 he got a job in the Ministry of Local Government, as a Provincial-Local Government Finance Officer (Supernumerary). He later worked with Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC ) and Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE). While at the KIE, Dr. Macharia was involved in the implementation of President Kenyatta’s Africanization policy.
Thus in 1973, he was appointed to head a task force whose broad term of reference was to do a thorough audit of the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), with the aim of eventually liquidating it. The ADC was then a government parastatal organization, which had been established in 1965, through an Act of Parliament (Cap 346), to facilitate a land transfer program from “European” settlers to indigenous Kenyans, following independence.
After one year, the team filed their report with Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, stating that ADC could be saved. Dr. Macharia was then transferred to the ADC as Financial Controller in January 1974 and tasked with the implementation of
the team’s report. Working together with the ADC’s general manager, the late Ben Gakonyo, they were able to successfully turn around the Corporation. Thus, his contribution to the agricultural sector in this country and, in effect, indigenization of the economy deserves acknowledging.
Dr. Macharia left ADC in 1979, to run Madhupaper, a tissue production company he had started three years earlier. The company grew rapidly and by 1985 had over 300 employees and “Rosy”, its tissue paper brand, was and still is a household name in East Africa. Madhupaper was the only local manufacturer of tissue paper in Kenya and, in just a few years, had saved the country millions of shillings in foreign exchange previously spent on imported tissue paper.
Royal Media Services
Today S.K. Macharia stands tall as a media mogul who owns the biggest radio network in Kenya with a combined listenership estimated at 70 percent of all Kenyans-this was far ahead of the next private-owned radio station in Kenya. By the last count, his radio stations included: Citizen FM, a Swahili station, which commands an audience equivalent to 43 percent of Kenya, Ramogi FM, Mrembe FM, Inooro FM, Musyi FM which broadcasts in Luo, Luhya, Kikuyu, and Kamba respectively.
Though Macharia’s Royal Media attracted a negligible share of the gross advertising revenue three years ago, according to industry data, in 2004, the group captured a 10 percent market share of the Sh8.4 billion that companies spent on media in Kenya.
In 2005, media planners interviewed by the Financial Standard indicated that Macharia’s stations will increase their market share. The expert argues that with the media market fragmenting the way it has-already 17 FM stations are featured in radio dials-in the Nairobi market alone, both national and local advertisers are enjoying the freedom of choice to target their customers in ways that they could not do before.
Service to University of Nairobi
Dr. Macharia has greatly promoted the vision and mission of the University of Nairobi towards enhancement of its institutional visibility and public image over the last decade, largely by providing free live coverage of its graduation ceremonies and other events. This magnanimity of service provision saves the University millions of Shillings.
As a former member of the University of Nairobi Council and chair of the University’s Procurement Committee, he spearheaded the streamlining of the University procurement systems, saving the Institution millions of shillings. This is in addition to his support for transformative leadership at the institution, which saw the University of Nairobi adopt and internalize the organizationally effective culture or management practice of doing business from 7.00 am in the morning.
S.K. Macharia Awards
RMS Chairman Dr. S.K. Macharia received Ernst and Young Lifetime Achievement Award.
S K Macharia Video
SK Macharia son John Macharia dies in a road accident
Updated: 27.04.2018
A son of businessman mogul and Royal Media Services chairman SK Macharia Jonh Macharia has died in a road accident along Southern bypass last evening.
A female passenger who was with him, however, escaped unscathed.
The body has been moved to the mortuary.
The self-involved accident happened at 10 pm when John Macharia, who is said to have been speeding lost control of his Porsche Cayenne 911. The 2017 Porsche 911 costs between Sh8.5 million ($85,350) and Sh13.3 million ($133,850).
Jonh Macharia car speedometer
John Macharia’s car speedometer is stuck at 200 Km per hour. A speed that most cars on this Kenyan roads struggle with.
John Macharia is the director and founder of Triple-A Finance and Direct Line Assurance.
Witness Recalls Moment Sk Macharia’s Son John Macharia Crashed
A man who witnessed the car crash that claimed the life of the son of media mogul SK Macharia’s son, John Macharia, has spoken.
Munene Maina said he was driving behind the Porsche when its driver, who was speeding, hit a pole.
The crash happened at 11 pm when John, who is said to have been speeding, lost control of his Porsche 911 Turbo S 2016.
Mr. Munene and his passengers, Mike and Linda Kamonya stopped to help.
They removed John and a female passenger from the car.
Munene told Nairobi News they did not know who John was at the time of the crash.
The lady, who was conscious, asked for a mobile phone so that she could call for help.
She called her mother, who sent an Uber that took them to hospital, Munene said.
SK Macharia’s son John Macharia Accident in 2016
In 2016, John Macharia was involved in yet another accident at Museum Hill, Nairobi.
This is after he crashed his new Porsche saloon car worth Sh30 million into Prado that was ahead of him.
The young Macharia was cruising the 911 Turbo S 2016 car when the accident occurred.
Police arrested him for drunk driving and were charged before a Nairobi traffic court after failing to follow a traffic officer’s order to blow into a breathalyzer.
He pleaded guilty through his lawyer Ian Maina.
Maina said his client was remorseful for his actions and did would not repeat the offense.
John Macharia Biography
A seasoned entrepreneur, Mr. Macharia is credited with introducing insurance premium financing in Kenya having founded and run Triple-A Capital Ltd.
Over the years, Mr. John Macharia has also built one of the most successful Public Service Vehicle underwriters, Directline Assurance Limited in which to date he serves as an Executive Director.
Mr. Macharia is an Executive Director at Harbour Capital with over 20Yrs experience in the financial services sector.
The video of the mangled wreck of SK Macharia son John Macharia
May God rest the soul of John Macharia in eternal peace and offer the family comfort and strength at this trying moment.
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