The Inspiring Story Of 31 Yrs Old Danson Muchemi, CEO Jambo Pay Worth K’sh 400 Million

He is among the top millionaires in Kenya with an estimated worth of Ksh 400 million.

Danson Muchemi, aged 30, today runs Kenyan-based electronic payments service provider JamboPay, and services over 1,500 merchants in Kenya, Tanzania and Senegal.

Born in the early 80s in Nyandarua county and a 1st born in a family of three Danson managed to always be the top in his class.

His business venture started early while he was in class two when he was introduced to a biology teacher in a nearby high school.

“He was selling rabbits and I also got 200 of them and sold to cousins and friends” he says in an interview with K24 Young Rich.

Danson was to later get his inspiration from a carpenter whom he saw transform a piece of wood into a table.

“He taught me that the greatest journey in life begins with one step.”

Muchemi undertook a degree in BSC in Telecommunication and Information Technology at Kenyatta University which prepared him for the industry.

While in years in campus his spirit for entrepreneurship furthered on.

“I had a movie library business in the university and also ran a venture for digitizing my lecturer’s content to students who missed class. I packaged it in a CD and would sell one between 250- 1000 depending on the content.”

Danson would then quit his job to start an e-payment business in a cyber café for 6 months.

He operated from a cyber café where he rented a computer of sh 4,500 a month for six months.

He was later able to convince the owner of the cyber café to partition a small area he ran his “office” in two rented computers.

“It was six months of maintaining the discipline of going to an office in a cyber café every day at 8:00 Am.” he says in an interview with ventures Africa.

“I don’t think we would have survived through that first year without discipline. It did not matter whether or not we made any deals; I still dressed up and went to work,”

During that first year, as he struggled to secure clients, partners and licensing, Muchemi says optimism helped him “keep the dream alive”.

“If I had known how difficult it would be I would not have walked that journey. However, there are some similarities between today and that first year when we were operating from a cyber café; I was as optimistic as I am today.” he says.

His biggest breakthrough was in 2010 when a local bank accepted to partner with his company in the provision of e-payment services.

He made his first million at the age of 25 in a software development tender which he was awarded.

In all his achievements, his business has had its fair share of losses.

“I lost 3 million shillings in 2 weeks time as a result of not conducting background check on procurement items from a foreign company.”

Jambo Pay has won the Google Innovation Awards in Financial Services 2013-2014 which confirmed its key strengths in Financial Services provision and Innovation.

Muchemi also advocates for excellence in all years in school so that one can be able to excel in business later in life.

He attributes his success to his good performance in primary, secondary school and even in the university.

His IT background was “A key requirement in a good knowledge in regulatory frameworks of e-payments in various African states.

“Any I.T or Information Systems graduate would fit in the sector. Specialized skills in e-payments and network security would be an added advantage.”

Tracing back to his humble beginning in his primary school, Muchemi maintains that your background should not define your future.

“It does not matter where you start or where you came from, but the direction you are going is what counts a lot”

His advice to the young people who aspire to be like him or better than him is “to have a clear dream, objective and a vision.”

“Get persistence and be consistent in what you do. Also remember to give attention to anything around that can add value to your dream.”

This is an inspiring story that has a strong message of having a positive attitude. A focused individual will succeed in life if he is optimistic about his future.

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