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| The 3rd Book of Joe. Published by the University of Nairobi Press |
To those who have never met him or read any of his three books, Dr.
Joseph Barrage Wanjui, CBS, is this mysterious figure that once ran the mighty
East Africa Industries (EAI) and now runs the University of Nairobi. “Mysterious”
because few knew what it meant to be chairman of EAI, now Unilever East Africa,
or what the job entailed! Many are
those who only know of him as member of a powerful cliché of Kikuyu businessmen
who were wildly rumoured as being part of Mwai Kibaki’s Kitchen Cabinet aka
“The Kikuyu Mafia” and, more recently, as the first non-president Chancellor of
the University of Nairobi. Yet there are those who, believe it or not, will
wear blank looks and ask you, “Joe Who?”
Whichever group you fall under, you will quickly realise, once you
start reading Joe’s new book of memoirs, that being Chairman at EAI was a most
complex and demanding job. In the sixties and well into the nineties, EAI was
almost the sole manufacturer of most of the essential commodities around the
house. The modern housewife cooked with Kimbo,
washed stuff with Sunlight,
entertained with Tree Top and bathed with Lux,
Rexona, or Cadum, while her
husband bathed with Lifebuoy. She
spread Blue Band on bread, made tea
using Brooke Bond tea leaves, cooked
chapattis with Cowbow and went to the
office clad in clothes kept bright by “New”
Blue Omo with or without power-foam, having left her maid at home to do
other things with other equally high quality products from EAI.
Now keeping all these brands on the shelves – not only in Kenya
but also in Uganda and Tanzania – and showing a healthy profit, was the
ultimate job of the Chairman/ Chief Executive at EAI. A job that was sometimes
made extremely complex by dire social-economic circumstances, created by inept political
interference and/or restrictions. It was a big, demanding job; and just how big
and demanding forms a big part of Joe’s new book, Native Son, Experiences of a Kenyan Entrepreneur.
Dr Wanjui’s earlier books, From
Where I Sit (1986), a commentary
on African Societies and Economies; and
My Native Roots: A Family Story (2009), which
narrates the story of his difficult childhood and humble background and traces
his lineage. But it is this, his
third book that clearly demonstrates what kind of man he really turned out to
be: an exceptional Kenyan.
Released last year in paperback and hardcover by the University of
Nairobi Press, the book has, not one, but two brilliant Forewords, both by
people who have done well in their fields: Roger H. Steadman and Professor
George A.O. Magoha.
Before starting a cottage industry that grew into a household name
across Africa, and selling it to a Multinational group, Roger – who is Executive
Director, Pan Africa Ipsos, worked as Joe’s expatriate Marketing Manager at
EAI. Prof. Magoha on the other hand not only has I.O.M., M.B.B.S. (Lagos), F.R.C.S.
and F.W.A.C.S after his name, but is also Vice Chancellor & Professor of Surgery, University of Nairobi, and a Consultant Urologist.
Native Son’s 360 pages detail not just the illustrious and fruitful life of
one of Kenya’s most eminent sons, but also the thoughts, observations, choices
and decisions, that have informed that life. Candid and eloquent, the book details
the man’s life from secondary school at Kabaa Mission School and Mangu High
School to his appointment as Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, and
everything in between. There is the vocational job at Metalbox in colonial-days
Nairobi; the frugal but exciting undergraduate life at the Weslyan University
in Ohio, United States, and postgraduate at Columbia University; courtship and
marriage to a beautiful young fellow Kenyan, Elizabeth Mukami Gethii; his career
progression from his first job with Esso in the states – and subsequent posting
to Kenya, his stint at running ICDC, his move to EAI and resultant career with
Unilever that saw him rise to the esteemed position of Development Member for
Africa, with responsibility for Africa & the Middle East and an office in
Nairobi; his Chairmanship and membership of various organisations that have,
over the years, moved Kenya forward one way or another; his difficult
relationship with Daniel arap Moi and his muggy government; his relentless
clamour for economic liberalisation; Chancellorship of the University; and his part
as a leader in building Kenya as we know it today.
But the book is not all about education, corporate leadership and
government. It is also the story of a man; a great man.
Family Man
“My joy and happiness in life,” he writes in the section about his
immediate family, “has sprung from the well-being and happiness of my children.
Watching them grow and bringing them up mattered more to me than anything
else.”
This section also includes a candid, almost kiss-and-tell story of
Courtship, Marriage and eventual Separation and Divorce with first wife; his girls
growing up exceedingly well despite the challenges of their parents’ divorce, single
parenthood, his second marriage, and the addition of a brother and a sister - Joseph,
and Ciiru; and the raising of all into responsible, mature Kenyans who have
made their father a proud grandfather – all of which he handled just as
efficiently as he handled his CEO duties for Unilever. Many, for instance are
the single parents who would find it extremely difficult to broach the subject,
let alone break the news of impending remarriage, to their children –
especially daughters – but Joe Wanjui seems to have handled that very smoothly,
thank you.
“When I made up my
mind,” he recalls. “I called the girls over to communicate my decision. To be
quite frank, I did not want it to be a major issue for debate. That has been my
style with my children on sensitive matters like these. The main point was that
I wanted them to know what I wanted to do so that they would not be taken by
surprise. I simply told them I had decided to remarry and asked for their
opinion – a kind of family ‘brainstorming’ session!”
But Joe is no sweet potato; before calling that meeting, he had,
for four years, observed how his girls had come to love his girlfriend’s son,
their little brother Joseph, a great deal, writing from school to request that
the boy be brought home to spend time with them over their holidays.
No wonder Professor Magoha picks on Joe’s relationship with his
children for special mention in his Foreword: He states:
“We see him grow up with his children, talk to them and with them;
we observe that he actually knows the character of each of his children; he
respects and appreciates their strengths and encourages them through their
weaknesses. This is a lesson for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – to know
his human resource apart from always looking at the bottom line – money flowing
in.”
Patriot at large
Dr. Wanjui, CBS, is a great Kenyan who has more than earned the
state commendation he got in 2003. A fountainhead who has done more with his
life than several lesser men put together, he is an unabashed, unapologetic defender
of Capitalism, who not only understands the ways and workings of Capital, but
also how best to optimise its growth for self and country; especially country,
I am sure he would argue. Throughout the book, even as he eloquently writes
about his duty to his employer, Unilever, Joe’s sharp sense of patriotism is
never too far from the surface. Even though the story is subdivided into six
unequal parts, the last two parts, are solely dedicated to matters of national interest,
his candid views on them and the parts he played in his various capacities to
set things right.
Using simple, everyday words, Joe explains how the Moi government
killed Investment in Kenya, such that “throughout the 24 years of the ‘Nyayo’
era, no worthwhile investment came Kenya’s way. And not for lack of trying.” He
also analyses some of the errors of the “Nyayo Error” that ultimately turned
the once promising young nation into a basket case that was almost perpetually
on its knees, begging for alms from reluctant donors; the same donors whose advice
to liberalise the economy and be a little nicer to the citizens Moi had blatantly
ignored. Joe paints an almost comical picture of the poor state of the economy at
the time and how it had progressively got that way. He pulls no punches and
calls it as he saw it. But like the “‘Professor’ of Practical business and
dynamic change management” that he is, as opposed to a politician that he is
not, Joe Wanjui also explains how that was turned around and can continue to be
turned around further because we are not out of the muck yet.
Using both personal and corporate experiences, Joe shows us how “The
Politics of Slavery and Colonialism” led to the killing and/or scaring off of capital
investment and rot the economy. He covers the nation’s struggle with
liberalisation when it finally came, the Matatu
Politics of the early days of Multiparty Democracy, the euphoria of 2002
following the democratic ouster of Moi’s rule; where John Githongo erred; and
the battle that lies ahead to catch up on what we lost over 24 years of
economic mismanagement and plunder.
To paraphrase Roger
Steadman in his Foreword, Dr Wanjui “is the leading light amongst his peers in
building Kenya and this is his testimony. The fact that he labours to write
this book is yet another indication of his conviction that the struggles of his
time and lessons from his life can profit those Kenyans who will follow in the
years ahead.”
Having studied law at Yale, the late Mark H. McCormack the world’s godfather of Sports Marketing, and author
of What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard
Business School, once wrote that
he never went to Harvard himself, but was optimistic that his book would
become recommended reading at the esteemed university. Dr Wanjui never studied at
any Kenyan university, but Native Son
should be compulsory reading at every
university in Kenya, nay, Africa.
Lloyd Igane. kreative@publicist.com
