Lizzie Wanyoike: Career, Schools and Businesses Owned by NIBS Founder

 

Lizzie Muthoni Wanyoike, a distinguished entrepreneur and educator, has passed away at the age of 73 after a short illness. Lizzie Wanyoike founded NIBS, among other investments.  Wanyoike was a visionary leader who transformed the education and hospitality sectors in Kenya.  Early life and career of Lizzie Wanyoike In 1972, Lizzie took up the role of a secondary school teacher at State House Girls' School in Nairobi, earning a monthly salary of KSh 961 (approximately US$140 at that time). Collaborating with her husband and other business partners, they founded Temple College of Secretarial Studies in Nairobi. Lizzie Wanyoike was a tutor and principal at a city college from 1975 to 1981, where she taught secretarial courses. Despite serving as Principal and instructor at Temple, Wanyoike's efforts to suggest expanding the course offerings and increasing student enrollment were met with rejection from the management. Lizzie Wanyoike starts NIBS Wanyoike realised the growing need for more courses, and with a capital of KSh 6 million savings and a KSh 4 million bank loan, she established the Nairobi Institute of Business Studies (NIBS). NIBS was incorporated on March 19, 1999, under the Companies Act (Cap 486), as a private tertiary college mandated to offer market-driven courses.  At the beginning, the NIBS enrolled only 25 students, but now it has over 6000 students taking dozens of courses. Lizzie Wanyoike owns Emory Hotel Wanyoike also built a hotel in Kileleshwa, Emory Hotel, which not only serves local clients but also foreigners visiting Kenya. She served as the hotel's managing director, which also serves NIBS' hospitality students during practical training and internships. The hotel's establishment was budgeted to cost $4 million (about KSh 632 million at the current rates) and was partly funded with loans from Equity Bank Kenya Limited. Other investments by Lizzie Wanyoike Wanyoike's latest venture was in the education sector, in which she established the Lizzie Wanyoike Preparatory School. She has also been a successful investor with investment portfolios in real estate and the stock market. Lizzie Wanyoike was a philanthropist who established the Lizzie Wanyoike Foundation, which performs charity work, including the sponsorship of disadvantaged students at NIBS and more students in Kenyan secondary schools. 

by  Elijah Ntongai