Uhuru helps Chris Kirubi's daughter preserve the late billionaire’s legacy
Mary Ann Musangi at the restaurant she established in 2017, when Two Rivers Mall opened.
It is argued that once you give real empowerment to a woman with beauty, independence of a smart mind and determination to rise, then you are founding a superpower.
And that is exactly what describes the late Chris Kirubi’s daughter, Ms Mary-Ann Wambui-Musangi, who today controls an estate estimated to be worth over Sh40 billion that her father left in her hands.
The empire under her control brings together interests in real estate, technology, media, advertising, stocks, agriculture, manufacturing and processing, financial services and more, and her statement of introduction has been that of a woman of patience, hard work, tenacity and care.
Mr Kirubi died on June 14, 2021 aged 80. At 51 years old, Ms Wambui-Musangi is yet to subject her father’s estate to the too familiar blemish of sibling court tussles in search of a share-out formula.
During Mr Kirubi’s funeral ceremony on his 600-acre Bendor Farm in Murang’a County on June 19, Ms Wambui-Musangi made it clear that she would not let her father’s reputation as wheeler-dealer fade away but “rather I will make it more redefined”.
Given that her father had battled cancer since 2016, Ms Wambui-Musangi announced in her tribute that she would start a Chris Kirubi Foundation that would concentrate on four thematic areas —education, innovation and technology, health specialising in diabetes and cancer ailments, and agriculture.
Board member
“I have talked to President Uhuru Kenyatta and he has promised to support my idea. With his support, trust me, I am good to go and we will soon get together to celebrate the [continuation] of my dad’s big heart for the society,” she said.
And a year later, Ms Wambui-Musangi has been appointed to a three-year term as a board member of the National Cancer Institute via a July 29 Kenya Gazette notice.
The institute is a statutory body birthed by the Kenya Cancer Prevention and Control Act No 15 of 2012.
It is tasked with securing the establishment of hospitals, treatment and care centres and other institutions for the diagnosis, treatment and welfare of people with cancer in all counties.
The appointment is seen as a critical boost to her pet project of honouring her father’s legacy by rolling out the Chris Kirubi Foundation.
A source at the Ministry of Health revealed to Nation.Africa that Ms Wambui-Musangi appointment to the board came with an introductory note from State House that “she brings in a passion, patriotism and commitment to make a difference for the common good”.
It is claimed that the introductory note demanded that she be treated as a potential mover and shaker in how the country relates with its burdens of cancer and diabetes.
At the funeral ceremony for Mr Kirubi, Transport CS James Macharia declared that “President Kenyatta, who could not make it to this burial, is firmly with us here and will do all it takes to extend a helping hand in all your desired endeavours as a family”.
And the President’s hand has been extended her way, leaving her in government proximity as he retires, the move being billed as a placement on the highway to greater power.
“She has now been thrust into the mix of things and she is at a vantage point to reach out to any government office…She loves to make things happen and her spirit is that of a ‘creator’,” said Francis Kiprop at Afya House’s department of terminal illnesses.
Go-getter
“She is a go-getter who, if her mission is to have Kirubi’s name remain alive, she will be coming up with programmes that will be defining.”
Eulogising her father, she had declared that she was on a mission to change the anguish of cancer patients because “my experience with what my father was going through had left us emotionally exhausted”
“It was unthinkable what he was going through, hence why the foundation I have in mind will be that which brings in a humane face to the patients in search of health care,” she said.
In pursuit of that goal, she had promised to give it her best shot “and when I’m stuck, I will seek those in this gathering to hold my hand”.
Those present included members of the Kenyatta family, business magnates and government representatives.
Above all, she said, “I will seek the company of God to ensure my dad’s legacy will never be forgotten.”
Married to Andrew Mukite Musangi, billed by pundits as one of Kenya’s most connected attorneys, the couple have two daughters.
At 12 years old, she said, she was sent to Switzerland for studies and learnt a number of languages to add to her English and Swahili.
“I could not understand why my father would be so cruel as to separate me from my family, especially cousins, my friends and my country, and send me to a faraway country … sometimes I resented him,” she said.
Multinational company
Nevertheless, she said she learnt French, Italian and Spanish, which at the age of 22 allowed her to secure a job at the multinational company Coca-Cola. She was based in Morocco as head of 21 markets in North and West of Africa.
She holds a bachelor of arts in international business administration and a master of science in management from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom.
She is a director at UAP Investments, Sidian Bank, Haco Tiger, Rongai Sheraton Hotel and International Life House. She also owns the continental restaurant Opul at the Two Rivers Mall.
She has worked with big brands, including Coca-Cola, KCB, GlaxoSmithkline and Ogilvy & Mather as a manager.
She said she has a strong foundation to contribute to a better country and world.
In retrospect, she said, she has come to appreciate her father’s vision for her “where his single goal was to have me exposed, worldly, fearless of any culture, language, persons and situations and today as you look at me, bold is my other name”.
She said her father coached her on how to juggle, prioritise, sacrifice and pursue the best interests.
