John Mwanzia, a former paratrooper who now runs seven multimillion-dollar private hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He spent one year as a paratrooper with the 20th Parachute Battalion in Gilgil, Nairobi. At the time, he was sent to a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Yugoslavia.
After a year, Mwanzia returned to Gilgil, where he hung up his boots.
“In life, somebody has to make tough decisions. I did not want to grow old in the military hence I opted for something else,” he said.
Mwanzia stated that his duties as a paratrooper extended beyond standard parachute missions and included high-intensity warfighting.
“Initially, we were doing it for entertainment but during operations, we would use stealth tactics to observe enemies, especially at night,” he said.
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He explained that they will be dispatched into enemy territory to carry out a variety of missions, including preventative and pre-emption tasks.
Despite his lack of knowledge in the subject, he decided to shift into business and enter the medical market in 2007.
Mwanzia stated that he was moved by the plight of the locations he had visited during peacekeeping deployments and wanted to help change people’s lives after leaving the military.
True to his pledge, Mwanzia now controls seven private hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, having invested over Ksh 84 million to launch and establish many branches throughout the huge country.
Mwanzia also hosts servers in India and Russia to ensure smooth operations.
In severe circumstances, he may seek a second opinion from doctors in France or England.
Currently, he employs 300 Congolese and 7 Kenyans at hospitals and is looking for more specialists to help improve affordable healthcare for the needy.
