The name Raphael Tuju, when uttered among a majority of Kenyans, will ring political bells at best, however Tuju is one of the most refined and successful journalist in Kenya on matters money.
In the early 80's and 90's, Tuju was one of the pioneer Kenyan TV anchors working at KTN with the likes of Catherine Kasavuli, Zain Verjee, Kathleen Openda, Njoroge Mwaura and Joseph Warungu.
Tuju was well aware that the most journalism can offer was the glamour and not the money so he embarked on a journey to create a reputable financial empire.
“I know what it’s like to be reading TV news wearing a nice jacket and tie and not so nice trousers, and then to go home in a matatu people think you shouldn’t be in. They can’t reconcile the glamorous public persona with the very humble life you are living. As a career, journalism is transient. People do it to move on to something else because it does not pay so well,” Tuju revealed in an interview.
Tuju started his transition journey by painfully saving his income and invested his money in land. He would later make another wise decision when he opened a TV production studio.
“When I was buying my two-and-a-half acres of land in Karen, I lived in Buru Buru. But when some of my colleagues got the money they went to the best pubs in town and the most significant discotheques of the time. Me? Whatever little I got, I put into real estate,” he narrates.
Tuju's studio later transformed into a company called Ace communications. A company that would play a key role in producing documentaries that enlightened the society on the deadly HIV virus in early 2000, though with some scary images (if you were lucky to watch that is).
The documentaries he did with Ace Communications created massive wealth for Tuju who will even work with big international corporations like the UN.
Tuju would later sell his studio and shifted to real estate and politics in 2002. His real-estate interests are reported to be worth billions with numerous tracts of commercial land in Karen and in Upperhill. He remains a silent shareholder at Ace Communications.
He is also the owner of the high-end Dari Restaurant in Karen.
After becoming a minister in 2003, he surprised many of his colleagues after he banned his company from receiving any deals with the government in order to avoid conflict of interest.