When they first met in Toronto, Canada, no one thought the special African blend of a Ghanaian man and a Kenyan woman would end up in marriage.
Beyond the marital ties, the couple would then decide to come back to Kenya and set up a business.
This is the story of Mr and Mrs Harold Sena-Akoto. Mr Akoto has lived in Germany, France, US, Australia and Canada for the last 40 years before he made up his mind to come back to Africa.
Surprisingly, he settled for Kenya, where his wife, Rose Njoki Wahome hails from.
The couple having had their time miles away from home, made a bold decision to return to Kenya and set up an exclusive organic restaurant at the heart of one of the posh neighbourhoods in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
Mr Akoto who featured in Ghanaian YouTuber, Wode Maya’s show recently said that his wife would constantly speak of the good about Kenya and she kept urging him that they go back home.
“It took us sometime but with thought about it and we were like, you know what, it’s the right thing to do,” he recounts.
His wife says that they thought about going back to Ghana as well but they sat down and had a common ground on settling back in Kenya.
She says that Kenya makes her family have a sense of belonging as well as massive opportunities to invest in “that you can take advantage of unlike in the west”.
Barriers to new entries in business terms was one of the reasons that propelled their decision to come back home from the US.
“Me living here for five years, I have seen it. I mean, the freedom, you can just get up and go anywhere you want to there is no harassment on the street – you really feel like the quality of life has improved..” Mr Akoto said his Mrs Akoto opined that life in the west is always a “life race, always on the wheel!”
Now, they have this amazing restaurant in their five-acre farm where they prepare delicious African cuisines that also have a Meditteranean feel. Mr Akoto set up the business since he is well versed with it and also prepares delicious meals for clients, a majority of whom are expats.
He organically grows his vegetables and all other farm produce for use on his restaurant. He rears exotic dairy cows for milk which he uses in the restaurant.
Mrs Akoto handles the administrative part of running the restaurant while her husband handles the culinary delight. Amazingly, she also manages a gallery at the restaurant featuring works of different artists in Kenya for free as a way to give back to the community.
A word of advice, Mrs Akoto says having left Kenya in the 90s, she is surprised at the current state of the country with massive opportunities.
“Kenya today has very may opportunities. There is access to credit, there are many many ways that you can set up a business and many ways to earn a living,” she remarks.
Mr Akoto encourages you African flying to the West to further their studies to create a plan to come back because there are many opportunities that they can tap from back home.
