SK Macharia : Billionaire Owning Royal Media Services

The Billionaires Of Kenya: SK Macharia Owner Of Royal Media Services

Samuel Kamau Macharia (SK Macharia) is the founder of the Royal Media Services (RMS), East Africa’s largest private radio and TV network.

RMS owns Citizen TV and 14 FM radio stations, broadcasting across six countries—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Zambia.

RMS is home to three TV stations: Citizen TV, Inooro TV, and Ramogi TV. Citizen TV caters to audiences speaking English and Swahili, while Inooro TV targets the Mt. Kenya region with programming in Kikuyu, and Ramogi TV serves the Nyanza region with content in Dholuo

The company is among the few in Sub-Saharan Africa to operate a Ksh300-million ($3.5 million) helicopter for news coverage.

Early Life

Born in 1942 in Ndakaini Village, Murang’a County, Macharia is the second of four siblings.

He lost his mother at age five, and his family moved to Arusha in search of a livelihood, where he spent much of his childhood herding livestock with Maasai boys.

During the 1952 State of Emergency, his family’s home was destroyed, forcing him to live on the streets of Thika for several months until he was reunited with his family through a family friend.

SK Macharia Educational Background

Macharia began primary school in 1954 at Ndakaini Primary and later attended Gituru Intermediate School.

After teaching briefly as an untrained teacher, he completed a two-year course at Kahuhia Teachers Training College, becoming a P3 teacher.

Macharia was selected for the 1962 J.F. Kennedy-Tom Mboya student airlift to the USA, where he completed high school in two years at Seattle Technical College.

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Upon arriving in Seattle, USA, Macharia found no one to meet him, leaving him stranded at the bus station for a week.

He had to rely on strangers for food while trying to locate the foster family assigned to him.

Unknown to him, the couple had divorced. A local church minister learned of his situation and intervened. After an appeal within the church community, a childless couple, the Andertons, volunteered to host him for the duration of his education in the United States.

Macharia holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Seattle Pacific University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Washington.

He also earned a Master of Arts Degree in Accounting and became a Certified Public Accountant.

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Business Ventures and Investments

In 1976, Macharia founded Madhupaper, Kenya’s first and only local tissue paper manufacturer. Its brand, Rosy, remains popular today. He sold Madhupaper in 1989 for Ksh 250 million.

Beyond RMS, Macharia holds shares in Directline Assurance Company, which dominated the motor commercial PSV insurance market under Royal Travel.

Macharia also has investments in Serenity Media Productions Ltd, Big Five Conservancy Safaris, Bushfire Media Distributors, and Harbour Capital Ltd, which provides financing and leasing programs for business growth.

He previously owned the Ribshack restaurant on Kiambu Road and the Whispering Palms Hotel near Mombasa, both of which are now closed.

Awards and Recognition

In 2015, SK Macharia received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Lifetime Award for Eastern Africa, recognizing his outstanding contributions to business and media in the region.