Paul Mburu, born in 1934 in Limuru, Kenya, shares with Kenyans a life story on the importance of perseverance and having a vision. Coming from a poor family deep in Limuru, many of his classmates and close friends brushed off the words of the then young student as they never envisioned him as a business owner.
As Paul would walk to his primary school, he would see the buses that drove past him and the other villagers leaving dust in the air, and he immediately became inspired by them. This was the beginning of a passion of being a business owner that he would go to great lengths to achieve.
‘I always knew I wanted to be involved in transport, I just didn’t know how,” Paul said in a past interview with Who Owns Kenya.
In 1952, Paul finished High School but there were no resources for him to further his education. This did not bother Paul, who refused to seek employment despite serious nagging from his friends and instead decided to start small businesses that would help him save up and start his own transport company. His friends laughed at him, but the now 91-year-old has lived to prove them wrong.
How Mburu Started Mbukinya Bus Company
Paul Mburu is now the owner of 39 51- seater buses, down from 48 buses after a couple of up and downs in the PSV industry.
Mburu started selling eggs in 1952, which he did for eleven years and saved up Ksh 6000, which was quite a good amount of money then.
He took a loan of Ksh 5000 and added Ksh5000 from his savings and bought his first bus, a second hand one. The bus plied the Limuru-Nairobi route, with Paul Mburu personally driving the bus to ensure he got maximum profits.
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In 1972, Mr Paul Mburu’s hardwork started to pay off as he bought his first new bus. “With the new bus, I was able to operate for 24 hours, and this grew the business rapidly. I increased my buses quickly,” he says. He named the business Mbukinya, a name inspired by his family, and not from western Kenya as rumoured by many.
The 1980’s saw the number of buses increase to 48, but insurance premiums got too demanding, and Mr Mburu was forced to reduce the number of his fleet early in the 1990’s.
Major Business Setbacks
Mbukinya faced a major decline in 2019, when 41 buses they had acquired from Toyota Hino faced severe mechanical problems leading to a major disruption in Mbukinya’s operations. The buses were repaired and Mburu was paid Ksh 60 million. He took back only 14 buses and noted he incurred losses running into billions of shillings. “I had invested billions into those buses, and the repairs took a toll on our finances. It was a huge setback,” he says.
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Today, Mbukinya operates a fleet of 50 buses, covering multiple routes across Kenya and employing over 200 people. Mr Mburu is still involved in the running of the business with help from all his children, the oldest being 54 years old.
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