Profile of Kenyan Who Won Ksh 37M African Business Heroes Award

Kenyan businessman and co-founder of Pula,Thomas Njeru, alongside two other African business moguls, Ikpeme Neto from Nigeria and Ayman Bazaraa from Egypt were feted at the African Business Heroes Awards on November 25th, 2023.

Thomas Njeru was placed second runners up in the entrepreneurial awards.

The announcement took place during an AR-enabled Grand Finale held in Kigali, Rwanda, which also captivated a global audience through a live broadcast.

Further, the top three winners were selected through multiple stages of interviews and evaluations from 27,267 applicants from all 54 African nations. 

The Africa’s Business Heroes Prize Competition is a philanthropic initiative sponsored by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy.

Of note, the award ceremony fetes African entrepreneurs and business leaders from all over the continent.

Additionally, it honors recipients who have contributed to the creation of over 123,000 direct and indirect jobs through their entrepreneurial endeavors.

The African Business Heroes Awards is a coveted award that has honored business and thought leaders such as Tesh Mbaabu, a Kenyan tech guru who graced the Forbes Top 30 under 30 in April, 2023.

Another big name that won the award was Victor Williams, the inaugural chief executive officer of NBA Africa who received the prize in 2021.

Also Read: Meet President of NBA Toronto Raptors with Kenyan Roots

Therefore, the prosperous award worth Ksh 37,957,500 (USD250,000) put Thomas Njeru, an insure-tech co-founder and CEO of Pula in the global map.

Many people who followed the award ceremony in Kigali were left with the question, who is Thomas Njeru? 

Thomas Njeru’s Business Formative years

Thomas Njeru was born in the slopes of Mt Kenya, in 1986. He grew up in a small farm, where he says his mother lectured him every day on the importance of hard work.  

In his childhood years, he witnessed the effects of poverty on small scale farmers, which drove him into the field of insuring agricultural sector, later in his life. This was through his insure-tech start up, Pula. 

After completing his primary school education, Thomas Njeru was admitted into the prestigious Mangu High School in the year 2000. This set a strong foundation for his future endeavors.

As ambitious as ever, after the completion of his high school education in 2003, the Kenyan businessman applied to join Havard University. 

However, he failed to make the cut. He later applied to go to Japan for his further studies but unfortunately failed the scholarship exam.

After two years of trying and failing in his abroad endeavors, Thomas Njeru was admitted to the University of Nairobi in 2005 where he pursued a degree in Actuarial Science.

He graduated in 2009 with first class honors. 

In his later years, he went on to Strathmore business school to pursue an MBA and the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India to pursue and earn his title as a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst).

Thomas Njeru’s Career

Consequently, in January 2009, Thomas landed a job at UAP insurance, where he worked as an associate actuary, rising up the ranks into a fully qualified actuary in 2011.

His star shone even brighter when in 2012, mega audit firm, Deloitte took him in as a consulting actuary and flew him to their office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Likewise, his stint as a consulting actuary soon came to an end in 2014, where he was made director at Deloitte.

Consequently, in 2017, at 31-years-old, Thomas was considered a Deloitte partner.

After having climbed the career ladder at an impressive speed, Thomas Njeru took the uncharted path and left the corporate world for what he then considered his side hustle, Pula.

On Thomas Njeru’s Startup, Pula

Pula is a microinsurance agricultural insurance technology firm that provides insurance to small scale farmers countrywide.

It was founded by Rose Goslinga and Thomas Njeru in 2015.

Additionally, the firm currently serves more than 1.7 million smallholder farms in 10 African countries.

Furthermore, Pula also operates outside of Africa stretching its services to some countries in South America and the Middle East.

Thomas Njeru says he considers small holder farms as farms that are 0.6 acres or less.

The firm was reminiscent of his childhood, where he saw how farmers were helpless at the mercies of natural weather elements, pests and disease.

Also Read: Meet Former Kenyan TV CEO Who Launched a Station in Rwanda

Nonetheless, Pula is located at Nairobi’s ABC place along Waiyaki Way, Westlands.

Some of the services offered by Pula include inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, and farmer advisory services to help increase farmers yields and protect their income.

A market gap that Pula capitalized on is that most farmers do not have any form of crop insurance.

Furthermore, if these farmers lose their crops due to forces that are outside of their control such as weather elements and pests, they lose their income, dragging them into a cycle of endless poverty.

The company has won numerous awards including U+ Awards as one of the Top InsureTech Innovators in 2021.

Additionally, in 2022, Pula was honored among the World Economic Forum (WEF) of top 100 global tech pioneers.