The greatest threat to family wealth is not market volatility or economic downturns but the lack of better succession planning.
Many family businesses in the world fail after the death of their business-savvy founders.
In most cases, the lack of better strategic planning on succession causes this failure.
The passing of Billionaire Chris Kirubi left the million-dollar question. Who was going to rule the empire and would they live up to the legacy left by the business mogul?
Christopher Kirubi, passed away in June 2021 after a battle with cancer.
At the time of his passing his wealth was worth over Kshs.40 billion, approximately $350M, from his vast business empires.
He had built his businesses in various sectors from media, manufacturing, agriculture, technology, and real estate.
Succeeded by three children, Robert Kirubi, Mary-Ann Kirubi Musangi, and Fiona Farha Kirubi, someone had to keep the family name going.
In his will, Chris Kirubi bequeathed 80% of his wealth to his two children; Robert Kirubi and Mary-Ann Kirubi Musangi.
The other 20% was awarded to his siblings; Anthony Maina, Dr. Michael Kirubi, Elizabeth Waithera, and Salome Mburu.
In an incomprehensible move, Chris’ third child Fiona Farha Kirubi was only awarded a gift of US$ 35,000 (KES 4,000,000), worth a measly 0.01% of the entire estate.
While Robert and Mary-Ann are Chris’ children with his ex-wife, Fiona is his child from an extra-marital affair. She was not close to his father even before converting to Islam in 2011.
Perhaps to circumvent an imminent succession court battle, Kirubi’s children would agree that Fiona be awarded 10% from the 80% share accorded to Robert and Mary-Ann.
With that out of the way and with Robert back to his workstation in DHL Europe, the responsibility to manage the day-to-day operations of the Kirubi business empire fell on the shoulders of Mary-Ann Kirubi – Musangi.
Mary-Ann believed that their father had already prepared her for this role.
“Ever since I was young, I have always loved business. I always knew that I was going to be a business person and I always knew that I would take over his businesses.” She said.
Her business journey started when she was a little girl.
Mary-Ann recalls being sent to Switzerland to pursue her education at only 12 years old.
She accounts that being exposed to the global world from an early age grew her knowledge of business markets.
She did her undergraduate in the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom where she studied Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration.
She further pursued a Master of Science in Management while still in the United Kingdom.
To her, the greatest gift that their father left for them was quality education.
She acknowledges that her father never involved them that much in his business meetings.
However, as someone passionate about business, she would find herself grabbing insights from her father’s business talks.
Sometimes she would even serve him tea while he was having a business meeting at home just so she could pick a thing or two.
After her studies, she worked in several companies including Coca-Cola Company, Kenya Commercial Bank, GlaxoSmithKline, and Ogilvy & Mather.
She also served on several boards; Haco Tiger Brands, UAP Investments Limited, International House Limited, Woof Advertising & Marketing, Croyden Limited and Sheraton Rongai.
She resigned from KCB Bank Group after serving as a Marketing Director for five years to venture into the hospitality industry; opening two high-end restaurants, Secret Garden in 2011 and Olpul in 2017.
The two restaurants would close down due to the Covid-19 pandemic that restricted movement and crowds.
Mary-Ann became the Managing Director of Haco Limited, her father’s multinational company in 2019.
She recalls taking over the family business immediately after her father was diagnosed with cancer.
Since he had to travel to seek medication, someone had to keep the wheels rolling.
In an interview with Business Daily, Mary-Ann said and I quote
“I had been running the business five years before he passed away. I already had a relationship with all the members and I felt that I was at a point where people knew who I was, they trusted me, we developed strategies together, and we knew where businesses were going.”
Getting into the family business molded her steps towards being a better CEO.
She would consult her father about everything and tried to understand her father’s approach to business. For five years, daughter and father worked side by side.
However, the passing of Dr. Kirubi was a turning point as now she had to make most of the decisions without his insights.
When asked about the challenges that came with filling her father’s shoes, Mary-Ann stated that there was a lot of pressure.
“You want to be the best to ever be but you can’t be like him, no matter how hard you try.”
Mary-Ann Musangi
Many people wanted to see how good she was going to be. The pressure of just trying to keep up with his business empires drove her to come up with her business strategies.
Also, some of the business partners could not trust her as much as they did the father.
Most of these business partners operated on a wait-and-see approach to establish their partnership status.
Aside from running multimillion-dollar businesses, Mary-Ann has a family of her own to contend with.
She is married to Andrew Musangi and is blessed with two daughters.
Her husband has been supportive of helping her maintain the momentum left by her late father.
Andrew Musangi is a renowned lawyer and businessman, who is currently serving as Chairman of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
When Kenya’s President William Ruto appointed Andrew to chair the CBK Board, Mary-Ann resigned as a board member of Sidian Bank, where Kirubi has a significant stake, in a bid to avert any issues of conflict of interest.
Although Chris Kirubi’s shoes are one of the biggest she’s had to fill, Mary-Ann believes she’s got what it takes.
She is trying to live up to the words she used at her father’s funeral,
“Daddy, I am still your little girl, and as little girls do, I will put on your shoes, those shoes that you have left behind. However, my tiny little feet will be swimming helplessly in your shoes, as I reach out for your hands to hold me steady,”
