Keroche: Edward Muigai, Tabitha Karanja son, seeks to revive closed family business

This is after a timely intervention which saw Edward Muigai, the son of Nakuru Senator Tabitha Karanja and younger brother to popular Instagram influencer Anerlisa Muigai, take up the lead and personally embark on restarting the once-mighty brewer by injecting a fresh breath of air and bringing with him a re-energised business vigour.

On January 15, Muigai unveiled a comprehensive drive aimed at securing employment for thousands of young Kenyans and, ultimately, uplifting the youth and significantly revitalising the Kenyan economy.

On Wednesday, thousands of young men and women lined up outside the revamped Keroche Breweries (KB) offices at Krishna Centre, Westlands, as interviews to pick the best of the batch lasted for the better part of the day, with many of the interviewees bringing along with them a wealth of academic excellence and workplace experience.

"It just had to be done," Muigai said. "It got to a point where I decided that we couldn't just sit and watch a billion-dollar empire like Keroche just rot to the ground. This business took years of hard work and unimaginable sacrifices. I just thought it would be great to bring it back to life and also, offer employment to thousands of qualified men and women languishing in poverty across this country."

The drive to restart Keroche has already begun earnestly as Muigai seeks to unveil a countrywide recruitment drive which will see his team scour the entire country, county after county, scouting for the best talents and reinvigorating the market with fresh ideas and a formidable workforce, too.

"This will be something that has not been done in the past few years. We are moving across the country, going to almost all the 47 counties, in a mass recruitment drive which is meant to tap the most brilliant brains from all corners of the country to once again run the massive empire that is Keroche," he said.

The recruitment drive is set to last for at least three months - until March 15 - after which the teams will get down to business in what Muigai has described as a 'digitalised economy' aimed at onboarding everyone, from employers to distributors, to one online platform from where they can all easily transact business and make sales, just by a tap of a finger.

He said, "This will be a 100% digital enterprise involving all spheres of work - from the regular employer to the distributors from all corners of the country. We've sought to have everyone involved in the new Keroche domiciled in one platform that allows for a faster delivery of services and an effective running of the company."

The thousands of young men and women already being recruited have been named "Digital Activators" as their roles will include directly talking to business owners, onboarding club owners, engaging distributors and sensitizing the consumers on a mass scale.

"This is essentially our objective - to make sure that our digital activators bring out the magic of the new, revamped and revitalised Keroche, or as we now call it, KB. We intend to cover areas that had not been covered before and to have a reach which will massively impact the economy," Muigai reiterated.

Closed in December 2021, and again in June 2022, Keroche Breweries has witnessed a rare baptism of fire as the company battled several liquidation suits and grappled with a protracted tax dispute which, now, appears to have been resolved as the younger Muigai enters the fray and seeks to renew the old spirit and roaring power of one of Kenya's most widely-decorated and massively profitable companies.