Business biography of hawker who made good

By Ng’ang’a Mbugua

The motif of the poor boy who becomes a wealthy man is emerging as one of the most dominant narrative strands in self-publishing in Kenya.

One of the latest entrants in this multi-million shilling market that is changing the face of publishing as we have always known it is Churchill Winstones Ochieng with his business biography, From Hawker to Banker.

Churchill started life as a shoe shiner-cum fruit hawker at Nairobi’s Burma market. With time, he found himself playing for Premier League side, Gor Mahia FC, though this did not give him a direct ticket to a materially satisfying life. Through sheer grit, persistence and an uncanny combination of creativity and audacity, he landed a job as a cleaner with Barclays Bank. The job did not come on a silver platter for the hustler. After getting nothing but a pile of regrets from writing informal job application letters, Churchill - with the help of his sister - penned a personal letter to Gareth George, then CEO of Barclays, explaining his situation and extolling his own virtues as a worker. Pummeled to submission, Gareth hired him. Soon enough, Churchill was promoted to supervisor on account of his industry and later to a messenger and clerk. By the time he was leaving the bank after close to a decade of service, he was one of its senior managers.

When he landed an opportunity to work in an even bigger capacity at CFC Bank, he resigned from Barclays to take up his new posting, which, as he explains in his 132-page book, lasted only two years. The adventure bug bit him again and he quit to Join Faulu Kenya where he is now head of retail banking.

His story, published in 2012, is certainly one of the more compelling in the genre. Churchill has the narrator’s gift and since he is more than familiar with the subject, he keeps the reader – even the skeptical reader – engrossed. That is, until he gets to the ninth and last chapter which takes the oomph out of the otherwise enchanting coming-of-age story of self-actualisation. Unlike the athlete who saves the best kick for the last lap, Churchill fails in his attempt to congeal the wisdom he has gathered over the years in pithy generalisations.

Of course, one understands that his is an attempt to impart advice that could encourage his readers to lift themselves by their bootstraps and make something of their lives. But his life story does that effortlessly. One sees how his effort is rewarded; how his willingness to take risks pays off; and how his experience as a school prefect prepares him for leadership in the workplace. However, he simply cannot resist the temptation to become a motivational writer. After all, he is a motivational speaker. For all it is worth, that chapter on “Secrets of Success” lacks the urgency, fluidity, vivacity and lucidity that characterise the rest of the book and that also make up Churchill’s DNA. In all honesty, though, he can be forgiven for spotting the hunger for motivation that is the curse of our time and going out to satiate it.

If, by any chance, you are tempted to judge the book by its cover, perish the thought. Plough right in and start with the forward which is written by Churchill’s most famous customer, Raila Amollo Odinga.