The sight of a magnificent, classical and state-of-the-art piece of architecture where Ruiru Rainbow Resort stands is symbolic with the power of tenacity and hardwork towards achieving childhood dreams.
The towering structure located in Ruiru and a few steps from Thika Super highway worth sh3 billion speaks of the unimaginable.
Its owner, Julius Kamau, 61, says that what today stands as a multi-billion investment was once a condemned quarry.
Kamau in a piece done by the Standard narrates that his childhood dream was to run such a high flying investment in the hospitality industry.
His dream began to drive him at his late twenties when he decided to fly abroad to further his studies so that he could raise more money through his education and fulfill his dream.
But, even as he flirted with the idea of travelling abroad for further studies, he did not know just how he would raise funds to even buy a plane ticket.
“My mother was winnowing beans and humming a song when I dropped the bombshell,” he narrates.
But with time, he says, “I was able to raise ticket money and some more to pay for college in England.”
He travelled to U.K where he graduated with a Diploma and later a Degree in Business Management.
But even as he studied, he was forced to work as a security guard to save enough money to actualize his dream.
And as if luck was by him side by side, he would later form his own security company in U.K and was able to save much more.
In 1998, he sent sh300, 000 to his brother and instructed him to buy a prime piece of land in Ruiru where he would set up his hotel.
But, he states, “What I got was an abandoned, water logged quarry. I told my brother that I was looking for a plot, not a piece of Lake Victoria.”
Not discouraged by this the condition of his new plot, he sent the then Ruiru Town Council a sketch of his intended construction at the site seeking approval.
“They thought I was mad. They actually told me that they were looking for ways to fill the quarry that had become a danger to local residents. Putting any permanent structure here, let alone a 10-floor hotel, was out of question,” notes Kamau.
However, undeterred by the response, he got down to working together with architects and they came up with other designs including one which sought to construct an on-site septic tank to address the water logged nature of the plot.
After approval, they modeled the water logging site into a basement where currently, it also harbours a water treatment and recycling plant.
Today the resort houses 130 rooms, a penthouse and 12 fully furnished apartments.
It also has 12 conference rooms. Two of them can hold between 200 to 500 people while the other ten have capacity to hold between 10 and 100 guests.
With the towering structure that gives Ruiru a sense of pride in housing one of Kenya’s superb piece of architecture; Kamau says he lives a fulfilling life in knowing that he has achieved in life.
“This has been my most fulfilling entrepreneurship journey that has given Ruiru Town a new impetus as a hospitality and investment hub. Our dream has been to create a facility that evokes good memory about the client’s stay here.”
