Muguku’s dissatisfaction with his employment led him to resign. His decision was not only met with disapproval from those he was closest to, including his parents and boss, but was also met with mockery.
Muguku, who was in his mid-20s at the time, started a chicken farming business with just Ksh2,000, two hens, and a cock. It was during this time that he proposed to Wanjiku, and she accepted.
The pair would go on to have seven children over the years.
Wanjiku left her teaching position in 1963 to work alongside her husband on the family poultry farm. Together, they would create an enterprise that would make them two of the wealthiest people in Kenya.
After two years of working in the poultry industry, they had saved enough money to purchase a 2-acre farm, which they named Star Ltd.
They installed a 9,000-egg incubator at this property to begin their hatchery. After some time, the farm became known as Muguku Poultry Farm.
Many people, including Kenya’s first Prime Minister Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and the colonial era’s last Governor Sir Malcolm MacDonald, received day-old chicks and eggs from the farm.
When Muguku passed away in October of 2010, he owned 6.08 percent of a local bank.
This was before the bank was publicly traded. Over the course of several years, he became the bank’s single largest shareholder.
Knight Frank included Wanjiku as one of only 23 female billionaires in their 2018 edition. She is rumored to hold a Ksh1.2 billion (0.9% interest) in a local bank.
Wanjiku was once the second highest-ranking woman among active traders on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. She had just finished a trade worth Ksh306.9 million.
Muguku’s wife also owns a Ksh3 billion shopping complex in Nairobi’s affluent Karen area, known as the Waterfront.
The mall’s proprietors take great delight in providing customers with a first-rate environment in which to shop and live.
There are a total of 7 acres of waterfront landscaping, including 3 acres devoted to the artificial lake itself.
