Jimnah Mbaru’s name is well-known in Kenya because of his exceptional business sense.
Not much was known about his family, despite the fact that many facets of his life—including his persistent struggle to finish a distant third against Kidero—became public after that.
In his book, Transforming Africa: New Pathways to Development: Selected Speeches and Papers on Financial Reform and Development, Mbaru states that he married Mary Murigi in 1983, and had two children, Fukunda Mbaru and Cynthia Mwende.
The politician noted that he called his kid Fukunda in honor of Takeo Fukunda, the 1980s Japanese prime minister, who he looked up to.
Fukunda’s Linkedin page states that following his graduation from Warwick University in the UK with a bachelor’s degree in Economics, Politics and International Studies, he started his career as an intern at his father’s Dyer and Blaire.
From October 2006 to September 2007, he worked as a Cross-Division Intern analyst at the company before moving to London to pursue a master’s degree in real estate management at Cass Business School.
After that, he worked as an investment banking analyst for Morgan Stanely for four months in Johannesburg, South Africa.
From March to July 2009, he was employed at Centum Investments as an analyst in the managing director’s office (real estate division).
Fukunda returned to Johannesburg in January 2010 to work as an investment banking analyst for J.P. Morgan, specializing in Sub-Saharan Africa.
After three and a half years in that role, he was elevated to the position of Investment Banking Associate before ultimately departing the company in 2014.
Fukunda eventually found employment with Actis, a multibillion dollar investment firm with markets in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
He began as an associate in the Johannesburg office and worked his way up to the role of principal, which he has held for the past year and a half.
