Dr Betty Gikonyo’s Journey From Earning Ksh700 To Becoming Karen Hospital CEO

Dr Betty Gikonyo is one outstanding Kenyan woman, both in professional as well as entrepreneurship and business circles.

She is the co-founder and CEO of the Karen Hospital, a Nairobi based 102-bed specialty hospital. Since establishment in 2006, her Hospital today has expanded to  five satellite centres spread across Kenya.

She is also the co-founder of the Heart to Heart Foundation, a non-profit medical charity that funds curative services to children with heart ailments and raises awareness about preventing heart diseases in Kenya. Last year, she released her autobiography, The Girl Who Dared to Dream.

In a recent interview with Dinfin Mulupi in How We Made it in Africa, she shares the inspiring journey of her career from a clerk, schooling to eventually setting up her successful group of hospitals.

1. What was your first job?
My first job was working with the Kenya Railways and Harbours just before I joined university. I was a clerk. I was earning Ksh. 700 which was a lot of money coming from the Ksh. 20 I was often given as pocket money while in school. It was so much money I did not know what to do with it.

2. What are the top reasons why you have been successful in business?
I work hard and I am persistent. When I want something I go for it. I will not stop until I get it. I don’t necessarily step on people’s toes, but when I see an obstacle I look for ways to overcome it rather than turning back. I have that resilience and tenacity. I am not being arrogant but I really believe in myself. I believe I can succeed and that when I take up a responsibility I can do it. I am also good at convincing people to come on board and join me in executing an idea or supporting my cause.

3. What parts of your job keep you awake at night?
Different times come with different things to worry about. The financial obligations are what preoccupied me [in the past] but not anymore because we have paid off our KSh.700m debt.

For me the financials: the payroll, the suppliers and the bank debt… kept me awake not in a bad way but because I am alert to the great responsibility that was weighing down on my shoulders. In as much as I work with Dan [Dr. Dan Gikonyo, her husband], we have separated our responsibilities.

He takes care of the clinical issues and I make sure that the business side is working. If I had a choice I would prefer to be on the clinical side because I am a doctor and that is my comfort zone.

I am a perfectionist in some way and I don’t like things not going right. I want suppliers and staff paid on time. When you run a hospital you never run out of people who need your services but sometimes your clients do not have money.

4. What are the best things about your country, Kenya?
God has given us a very beautiful country that has literally everything that a human being could want. Kenya is the Garden of Eden. We have a sea, we have a desert, we have mountains and hills, we have the Rift Valley, we have wildlife and a wonderful climate. Kenyans are very good people.

When you get them to come together they are able to move even a mountain. I appreciate the colonialists [because today] we have a highly educated population. If you want heart surgeons they are here, if you want great bankers and IT innovators they are here. Kenya is a country that is endowed with so much human resource.

5. Your future career plans?
I am actually easing off in terms of day-to-day management of the hospital. I have a very good succession plan. My deputy is in place and all things working out by June, I should be able to say there is someone who is running the show here. I want to develop the school programme. I want to leave a legacy of training the next generation of medical doctors. I feel the expansion of the hospital and satellite clinics can be handled by someone else as I focus more on medical training in a bigger way… like a university.

6. What is your message to Africa’s young aspiring businesspeople and entrepreneurs?
First and foremost, make sure that you get the knowledge and skills in the area that you are interested in. I would say that already exists among many youth. What should be addressed is how they can now go into business. One way they can do this is coming up with a project in a field they have a passion for. That passion is very important as a driving force so the first thing should be identifying where your passion is.

Courtesy: Howwemadeitinafrica.com