A tribute for John Gichia Macharia - loving son, devoted father, affectionate and loyal brother, successful business man - and a brilliantly complicated individual.
EARLY LIFE
John was born on 3 August 1969 in Nairobi. He was the first child of Dr. Samuel Kamau Macharia and Serah Njeri Macharia. John was a demanding baby who always wanted to be held and gave his young parents many sleepless nights. His demanding nature doubled when his brother Karanja was born and would demand this his mother put down baby Karanja and hold him instead.
SCHOOL LIFE
John started his school life at Msingi Bora Kindergarten. He went on to St. Mary's Primary School for his primary education at then to Alliance High School where he completed his 0 Levels. Thereafter, his father made the decision to send John to Canada. He joined Cantab College in Toronto at Grade 9, proceeded to York University in Toronto and later transferred to Trent University in Ontario.
FAMILY LIFE
In 1998 John met Lisa Amenya at a party hosed at the Goan Gymkhana Club in Nairobi. Many of John's friends remember that evening well and with lots of laughs.
As told by John's friends, he spotted Lisa across the dance floor and decided he needed to know her, immediately! He asked several friends "who is she?" His queries provided none of the information he had hoped for. Ultimately, John made the decision to closely trail (some may have described it as stalking) Lisa around the venue all night. It was a loonnngggg night.
John and Lisa enjoyed a whirlwind romance - thrilling, with lots of highs and some lows. In love, John and Lisa had one child - Adam Kamau Macharia.
Every person who knew John knows Adam, even if only through John's stories. Adam was John's baby, his munchkin, his pride and joy. He loves his son very much!
Adam was the most important person in John's life. Lisa's favourite story of John as a new father is from Adam's first night at home, after having been discharged from hospital. Adam had a blocked nose that evening, but nothing that his mom thought was serious. John disagreed. Adam did not spend his first night at home. Instead, John and Lisa took Adam back to the hospital to have Adam's blocked nose assessed by Aga Khan Hospital casualty staff. Adam's paediatrician called Lisa the following day to tease her about it.
'Baby Adam' looked just like his father. Friends often referred to Adam as John's mini-me.On Adam's first birthday one friend, Althea McCourt, bought 'baby Adam' a pair of khaki trousers and a blue button-down Oxford style shirt to match the clothing John wore daily at that time in his life. John's mini-me was complete.
All of you know - John was the best father he knew how to be. He took his role as a father seriously, loved Adam with intensity and ensured that Adam lacked for nothing. John is an outstanding model of intense and unwavering love and commitment to family; he is a model of hard work, smarts and ingenuity, and success greater than most of us dream of.
CAREER LIFE
On returning back from Canada in 1994 and joined his dad and aunty at Royal Card Ltd as a marketing executive - recruiting credit card holders for the company which at that time held the Diners Club Card franchise for Kenya. It was during this time that John learnt the art of running a successful business. After much thought and consultation with them he started his own journey in business.
In 1996 he founded his first company Triple A Capital, a pioneer insurance premium finance company in East Africa. At Triple A, John was the negotiator and steered the company's strategic direction growing the business dramatically due to his dedication, discipline, his ability to craft lucrative and astute deals - and headstrong determination to be more successful than everyone else.
In 2005 John founded Directline Assurance Company Ltd, which grew to be the largest PSV underwriting company in Kenya. He drove all over the country growing the business and signing on customers who had been largely ignored by most large insurance companies in the country. His ability to adapt to situations and convince a large part of the sector to sign onto Directline was driven by his charm and sometimes brutal candor, which endeared him to many PSV owners.
In 2015 he co-founded Harbour Capital, a boutique financial institution that arranges funding for a variety of companies as well as managing its own projects. Since its inception Harbour Capital has operated in a variety of business sectors ranging from real estate to media. Most recently, John had found a new passion in Serenity Media; this is what he was working on until his death.
John could spot a good deal from a mile away and always reading, researching and trying to learn and understand. He was always eager for knowledge whether it was business related, his personal interests or philosophy. John could read and research all day and then feel the need to share the information with everyone whether you were interested or not, he was relentless and most people would eventually just give in and listen.
HOBBIES AND SERVICE
John's love for children was evident. He felt a compelling need to do his part to give children a fighting chance. John sponsored three children to attend Mt Kenya Academy - Brian Kennedy, Peter Ochieng Junior and George Kennedy. In addition to this he also was educating Margaret Kitetu at Egerton University, and little Flavia Simiyu at Green Pastures School in Kibera. John identified needed children and was determined to give them a foundation for a better life.
