Samuel Kariuki
Samuel Kariuki is a Kenyan finance executive and real-estate strategist whose career has shaped some of East Africa’s largest property investments. Appointed Group Chief Finance Officer of Centum Investment Company in 2016, he steered treasury, ICT, and fundraising operations, assembling more than KSh 20 billion in structured capital that underwrote flagship projects from Two Rivers Mall to Pearl Marina in Uganda.
In 2019 he became Managing Director of Centum Real Estate, overseeing a 3,000-unit residential pipeline and mixed-use precincts worth KSh 90 billion before exiting in mid-2022. During his tenure he introduced cash-flow–linked construction models that cut project financing costs by 18 percent.
Kariuki now serves as Chief Executive Officer of Mi Vida Homes, a joint venture of Actis and Shapoorji Pallonji focused on middle-income housing. Since taking the helm in June 2022 he has completed 340 apartments at Garden City, broken ground on three new Nairobi estates, and launched a KSh 5 billion Development REIT to scale rental communities. Mi Vida’s sustainability programme won the 2024 Kenya Green Building Society “EDGE Champion” award.
A CFA charter-holder and Oxford Brookes accounting graduate, Kariuki sits on the Kenya Green Bonds Advisory Board and mentors young property financiers through the Africa Leadership Initiative. His data-driven approach and record of innovative capital raising continue to position him at the forefront of Kenya’s affordable-housing agenda.