Andrew Muriungi
Andrew Muriungi is a Kenyan entrepreneur and business leader best known for founding Rhino Mabati Factory Limited, a locally manufactured roofing sheets and nails company that now supplies iron sheets across Kenya. He holds a degree in Accounting and Economics from the University of Nairobi and later did a Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management. His early career was in media and advertising, where he worked as a digital advertising executive, then agency advertising executive, and progressed to agency business manager in leading Kenyan media houses.
Around 2015, driven by frustrations from constructing his own house in Kitengela (where costs were inflated due to middlemen, especially on roofing sheets) Muriungi made a bold decision: he left his stable managerial role to enter manufacturing. He founded Rhino Mabati in Kitengela, which now operates a factory producing roofing sheets and nails, serving orders nationwide.
Muriungi has contributed greatly to local manufacturing and job creation: Rhino Mabati employs engineers, plant operators, administrative staff and drivers. Its plants have directly created several dozen jobs and stimulated upstream industries (steel, color coating, transport). By manufacturing locally, Muriungi has reduced reliance on imports and supply chains prone to price gouging. His business model addresses inefficiencies he observed first-hand during his own home construction. In turn, this has impacted and nurtured confidence in local products. His success has also helped to dispel the belief that Kenyan-made roofing sheets can’t compete on quality. His distributed products (in varied colors, profiles) have found market trust.
Murungi’s journey has inspired a generation entrepreneurship and has earned him accolades across board. His shift from corporate employment to manufacturing entrepreneurship serves as a case study for risk, vision and pivoting one’s career.
