Dr. Chris Kirubi has had a myriad light and albeit hilarious moments both in the media on social media.
While he was known as one of the continent’s most savvy business moguls and listed in many executive lists as one of the richest the continent over, the dearly departed Dr. Chris Kirubi was utterly hilarious and would on occasion not take himself too seriously even when answering the deepest of questions.
Here are a few cases in point:
Marriage is tantamount to slavery
While appearing on an episode of Churchill Show, the businessman cracked everybody up when he equated marriage to slavery. ‘’You have to be careful. You must agree to go to a jail if you are planning on getting married. It is a permanent affair and you are bound to be in a semblance of a life sentence, ‘’ he said amid loud laughter.
What are January woes?
When Dr King’ori featured the usually upbeat man and asked him when he last experienced the infamous January woes, the mogul had this to say: ‘’I cannot relate to that. I only feel the effects of any kind of money woes when I am dishing money in terms of bonuses and advance payments in December. As for me, no!’’ He further advised men to ditch their girlfriends if they deemed them ‘expensive’ as they were likely to make them go broke. Asked if there was a shortcut to buying a car, he hilariously quipped: ‘’There is no secret, unless you plan on selling your wife off.’’
He would go on head to call counties ‘government babies’ as he claimed as the former depended on the latter financially. ‘’They are fed by the same government they claim owes them money. They borrow from the government to go on excursions like going to China to learn how the Chinese eat!, ’’he exclaimed as the audience burst out in laughter.
Be like Jesus, make a million from Sh 2000!
The long-serving Capital Group Ltd Chairman appeared on an episode of Our 2 Cents hosted by Sharon Mundia who asked him about how somebody with just Sh 2000 capital could make a million from that. The analogy that followed was profound. ‘’If Jesus took a loaf of bread and a few fish and fed thousands of people, you too can create a million from that amount!, ’’ he responded.
Mind your Capital FM business, Amina!
When the former Hits, Not Homework presenter Amina Abdi posted a promotional tweet for Coke Studio Africa in 2014, Kirubi caught wind of it and issued a stern response that would later go viral. ‘’You work for Capital, you should be tweeting about your show on Capital and your colleagues at Mt. Kenya. Stay focused,’’ read the response.
Speaking to The Sauce this morning (15.06.2021) Amina says she remembers the moment like it was yesterday. She was shocked by the tweet from her boss but she was glad it eventually worked out. “I had just finished tweeting while breastfeeding Tumi and a couple of hours later, I was almost trending because of Chairman’s reply. I was shocked, I didn’t even know that he even followed me on Twitter,” revealed Amina.
On Millenials and grammar
The entrepreneur was well spoken and he often received messages on social media from millenials asking for employment as well as business advice.
In this case an unemployed graduate reached out to CK on Twitter asking for a few minutes of his time. The only problem here was that this unnamed person’s grammar was wanting and also addressed the business mogul informally.
Kirubi replied simply with a word of advice to the youth that they must learn to articulate themselves if they want to be taken seriously.
Kirubi calls out CNN
In 2015, internationational broadcaster CNN riled up Kenyans when they reffered to Kenya as a hotbed of terror in one of their reoports ahead of the then President Barack Obama’s visit.
The #SomeoneTellCNN came to life and Kirubi was not left behind as he called it as it was. He replied to the hotbed of terror comment saying Kenya was a hotbed of opportunity,
Kirubi the Frenchman
Mr. Kirubi was a Pan-Africanist who was honored far and wide for his accomplishments.
In May 2015, he was knighted by the French government for his, “distinguished accomplishments and contributions to the growth of members of the society at large.”
“I’ve been told that this is the greatest honour the French bestow. I think what’s left for me now is to become a French man, I’ll be expecting my passport,” an emotional Dr Kirubi joked.
The Obama snub
Businessman Chris Kirubi turned down an invitation to meet with US President Barack Obama during his tour of Tanzania in 2013.
According to Capital News, he declined the invitation owing to the fact that Obama has once again snubbed Kenya in his three-nation African tour.
“I better be among the Kenyans who would rather say, ‘come home we meet you at home rather than in another person’s land’. I changed my mind and said I will not accept the invitation to go to Dar es Salaam,” he said.
“If Barack Obama visited Kenya, we would feature in every single media in the world. That promotion of a destination alone, we can never afford to pay for it. And Tanzania is now getting that opportunity,“ he lamented.
Ten years ago, Dr. Kirubi was featured on Forbes Magazine highlighting his business accomplishments and lauded him as one of Africa’s wealthiest businessmen. In the feature, he also spoke about his quest to engage with young minds and offering them his two cents through the #AskKirubi. Many will miss his nuggets of wisdom on social media platforms.
What are your most memorable moments of Dr. DJ CK in the media or social media?
