MEET DR GIKONYO, CEO OF THE KAREN HOSPITAL WHICH IS WORTH KSHS 1 BILLION
DR BETTY GIKONYO- THE KAREN HOSPITAL
She was born on May 27, 1950 in the village of Kiamabara near Karatina town in Nyeri County during the Mau Mau revolution. She came from the typical village where they lived in communal huts which were occupied by five or six families. She recalls being treated for chickenpox with ash and mud from an anthill which was the common practice then.
She started her primary education at the age of six when she qualified for school. This was when she was able to reach her arm over the head to touch her ears. This was during the times when there were no birth certificates and touching your ear suggested physical growth. That was the criteria for joining school.
Like other village children, Betty braved the barefoot walks to and fro school and recalls that the classrooms were mud thatched, window frames had no glass panes, and the wall partitions were broken at ceiling level.
She was among the first candidates to sit the primary school national exam where she qualified to join Alliance Girls’ High School. She wore her first shoes when she was 13. Her first major medical encounter was when her mother was diagnosed with cancer when she was 14 years old. Unfortunately, her mother passed on when she was 15 forcing her to live with her elder brother, now Dr Wallace Kahugu.
Compiled by: Suleiman Ndoro Jnr (Dr Audi)
She was born on May 27, 1950 in the village of Kiamabara near Karatina town in Nyeri County during the Mau Mau revolution. She came from the typical village where they lived in communal huts which were occupied by five or six families. She recalls being treated for chickenpox with ash and mud from an anthill which was the common practice then.
She started her primary education at the age of six when she qualified for school. This was when she was able to reach her arm over the head to touch her ears. This was during the times when there were no birth certificates and touching your ear suggested physical growth. That was the criteria for joining school.
Like other village children, Betty braved the barefoot walks to and fro school and recalls that the classrooms were mud thatched, window frames had no glass panes, and the wall partitions were broken at ceiling level.
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While at Alliance Girls she doubled up as a Sunday school teacher at Maai Maihii PCEA church at Thogoto Kikuyu, a member of young farmers club, Girl Guide and member of the Book Club. When she was growing up she used to admire nurses at Tumu Tumu Hospital which is about eight kilometres from their home. “The nurses wore starched head caps, white uniform and walked with focus. The nurses were all referred to as ndagitari (doctor). I admired Hannah Maria, a nurse from our village who was always smart,” she says.
After completing her secondary education at Alliance, Betty joined the University of Nairobi and pursued Medicine and Surgery. She then completed her 6 year course and went for internship at Nakuru Provincial Hospital. Her passion for treating and working with children was nurtured at Nakuru Provincial Hospital.
“During my undergraduate course, I had thought of working in gynecology since there were few doctors then. But while on internship, I was drawn like a magnet to the children’s ward where I always felt relaxed, performing my best, working long hours and watching with satisfaction as children regained their health,” she says. That’s how she chose pediatrics.
While in University, Betty met Dan Gikonyo who was his classmate. The two later married each other when they were in their fifth year of medical school. Upon completing her internship, Betty went for Master’s in pediatric cardiology from the University of Nairobi. After her masters’ degree, Betty and her family (two sons and a daughter) flew to Minnesota, USA for a fellowship in pediatric cardiology.
The genesis for the Karen Hospital grew out of a dream the couple had back in Minnesota as they planned to come back home.
She adds that they developed the dream with a close friend, James Mageria, in 1985 as they were pursuing their postgraduate studies in cardiology in the US.
The dream remained with them for over 20 years while they worked at Nairobi Hospital. To actualize the dream, Betty and Dan saved money for buying land and engaging a consultant for the business plan.
In 2002, she adds, they approached a local bank to finance the construction of the hospital. But despite their reputation - both as a top cardiologist and personal doctors to the country’s who-is-who - they had to literally walk from bank to bank for five years in search of a financier.
Some bankers, she adds, pointed out that a hospital was not a business but rather a social service provided by governments, churches and other charitable organizations.
“A hospital is like a church. We have never heard of people taking a loan to build a church. Suppose we give you a loan and you fail to repay, what will we attach? The patients?” Betty quotes one banker as saying.
By September 2002 they had received three positive responses from three financial institutions. However, they all came with daunting conditions. The two were like conjoined twins. One would participate only on the condition that the other was on board. At the time, both were considering dollar-denominated loans, a foreign exchange currency risk, considering the instability of the Kenya shilling during the electioneering period.
However, the bank wanted them to raise cash equity of Sh150 million from shareholders to be deposited with the first institution as a fixed deposit for the period of the loan.
The couple also approached other donors and even hosted a cocktail party to woo more investors, including fellow doctors, in a bid to raise the deposit. But no one committed to the project with some saying they would join once the project was up and running.
They held a cocktail with presentations by an architect, Mr Stanley Kebathi of Archplans, the team from Africa Project Development Facility (APDF) led by Nderitu Muriithi and Mathege Ichangi of Lead Consultants.
The bank had an elaborately well-prepared presentation complete with photographs and an architectural model of the proposed hospital. It was an investors’ presentation. They did not limit the prospective investors to doctors but invited over 50 business people to listen and hopefully participate in the project.
All the guests had registered and left their contacts with them. A few business people made verbal commitments to support the project subject to further meetings with the sponsors. They had entertained 150 would-be investors but only 20 of them finally committed to the project. This made them fall short of the Sh150 million target.
The couple then took a mortgage on their property in a bid to begin the groundwork for the Karen Hospital.
Later, Kenya Commercial Bank agreed to give them a Sh350 million loan for the project. But before then many banks had turned a deaf ear on their request for financing.
She says in her autobiography: "Our first application for a loan for the hospital project from KCB was on 3 July 2002. We specifically wrote to their subsidiary, saving, and loans. The response was prompt and concise. We were informed that the bank’s subsidiary was primarily for mortgages below Sh50 million. We had applied for Sh360 million. "
"Additionally, their interest rate at the time was 24 per cent. That would have rendered our project unviable. We were advised to approach the main bank for special loans of the magnitude we envisaged. We did apply to the main bank in February 2003. In September 2003 our response came. It was an elaborate response that poked holes in our business plan before concluding that the project was not bankable. The officer’s skepticism about our chances of securing a bank credit on account of our business plan was clearly discernible. The reply would have broken the spirit of most folk. But we were not to accept doom and gloom. Where it was bleak, we saw a breakthrough."
Their hopes were raised in January 2004 when they got a call from Mr John Mark Wandolo, the KCB Corporate Relationship Manager, indicating that he would like to visit the construction site. At that time the construction was going on. That was a green sign as it indicated that the bank was interested in considering their application. They gladly showed him the hospital site in Karen on Wednesday, January 28, 2004. By the time he left, he was positive that we stood a chance of getting funding for the project.
They later furnished the bank with all the financing requirements that culminated in an offer letter seven months later on August 2004. The bank had to take out security for their facility to mitigate risk. They required them to deposit with their lawyers the title deed for their residential properties, take personal guarantees to the value of the entire loan while charging the land and the hospital to the bank until the loan would be fully discharged.
They agreed to all their terms and diligently went about charging the same properties as per the bank’s requirements. The terms of the loan were seven years with a two-year moratorium during which time the bank would be the first to recover its loan and interest before they settled any other obligation, may it be the payroll or even supplier accounts.
And that is how Karen Hospital was born. On January 3, 2006, the Karen Hospital finally opened its doors to the public. The Karen Hospital is now a multispecialty institute that employs over 500 employees and is worth over Sh 1 billion. It is a 5-storey complex and has 102-bed capacity that caters for outpatient and inpatient medical services.
It has a modern physiotherapy department with a hydro pool, a heart clinic with modern facilities and equipment with three operating theatres. The building has won accolades and a Silver award for Design Excellence from the Architectural Association of Kenya.
The hospital also has 11 satellite branches in Chester House (in Nairobi’s city center), Karatina, Meru, Nyeri, Nakuru, Kitengela, Thika, Naivasha, Ngong, Ong’ata Rongai, and Mombasa.
As part of her charity work, Gikonyo co-founded the Heart to Heart Foundation, an organization that raises funds for poor children suffering from heart ailments. In 1993, she (together with her husband) pioneered the Heart Runs, annual charity events today known as the Karen Hospital Heart Run (or the Heart to Heart Foundation Run) and the Mater Heart Run.
Dr Betty Gikonyo was awarded the Silver Star (SS) Presidential Award in 1998, Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) Presidential Award in 2008 and CEO Global Limited East Africa Regional Awards - Most influential Woman (Medical category).
She has been featured on CNN’s African Voices and the BBC’s Africa Business Report. She has also been the long-standing personal doctor of Kenya’s third president Mwai Kibaki. She is a member of the Kenya Medical Association, Kenya Cardiac Society, Kenya Pediatric Association and Kenya Medical Women Association.
She is the Chairperson of Nairobi Health Management Board and the University of Nairobi Alumni Association. She is also an author of her autobiography titled ‘The Girl who DARED to DREAM.’
After completing her secondary education at Alliance, Betty joined the University of Nairobi and pursued Medicine and Surgery. She then completed her 6 year course and went for internship at Nakuru Provincial Hospital. Her passion for treating and working with children was nurtured at Nakuru Provincial Hospital.
“During my undergraduate course, I had thought of working in gynecology since there were few doctors then. But while on internship, I was drawn like a magnet to the children’s ward where I always felt relaxed, performing my best, working long hours and watching with satisfaction as children regained their health,” she says. That’s how she chose pediatrics.
While in University, Betty met Dan Gikonyo who was his classmate. The two later married each other when they were in their fifth year of medical school. Upon completing her internship, Betty went for Master’s in pediatric cardiology from the University of Nairobi. After her masters’ degree, Betty and her family (two sons and a daughter) flew to Minnesota, USA for a fellowship in pediatric cardiology.
The genesis for the Karen Hospital grew out of a dream the couple had back in Minnesota as they planned to come back home.
She adds that they developed the dream with a close friend, James Mageria, in 1985 as they were pursuing their postgraduate studies in cardiology in the US.
The dream remained with them for over 20 years while they worked at Nairobi Hospital. To actualize the dream, Betty and Dan saved money for buying land and engaging a consultant for the business plan.
In 2002, she adds, they approached a local bank to finance the construction of the hospital. But despite their reputation - both as a top cardiologist and personal doctors to the country’s who-is-who - they had to literally walk from bank to bank for five years in search of a financier.
Some bankers, she adds, pointed out that a hospital was not a business but rather a social service provided by governments, churches and other charitable organizations.
“A hospital is like a church. We have never heard of people taking a loan to build a church. Suppose we give you a loan and you fail to repay, what will we attach? The patients?” Betty quotes one banker as saying.
By September 2002 they had received three positive responses from three financial institutions. However, they all came with daunting conditions. The two were like conjoined twins. One would participate only on the condition that the other was on board. At the time, both were considering dollar-denominated loans, a foreign exchange currency risk, considering the instability of the Kenya shilling during the electioneering period.
However, the bank wanted them to raise cash equity of Sh150 million from shareholders to be deposited with the first institution as a fixed deposit for the period of the loan.
The couple also approached other donors and even hosted a cocktail party to woo more investors, including fellow doctors, in a bid to raise the deposit. But no one committed to the project with some saying they would join once the project was up and running.
They held a cocktail with presentations by an architect, Mr Stanley Kebathi of Archplans, the team from Africa Project Development Facility (APDF) led by Nderitu Muriithi and Mathege Ichangi of Lead Consultants.
The bank had an elaborately well-prepared presentation complete with photographs and an architectural model of the proposed hospital. It was an investors’ presentation. They did not limit the prospective investors to doctors but invited over 50 business people to listen and hopefully participate in the project.
All the guests had registered and left their contacts with them. A few business people made verbal commitments to support the project subject to further meetings with the sponsors. They had entertained 150 would-be investors but only 20 of them finally committed to the project. This made them fall short of the Sh150 million target.
The couple then took a mortgage on their property in a bid to begin the groundwork for the Karen Hospital.
Later, Kenya Commercial Bank agreed to give them a Sh350 million loan for the project. But before then many banks had turned a deaf ear on their request for financing.
She says in her autobiography: "Our first application for a loan for the hospital project from KCB was on 3 July 2002. We specifically wrote to their subsidiary, saving, and loans. The response was prompt and concise. We were informed that the bank’s subsidiary was primarily for mortgages below Sh50 million. We had applied for Sh360 million. "
"Additionally, their interest rate at the time was 24 per cent. That would have rendered our project unviable. We were advised to approach the main bank for special loans of the magnitude we envisaged. We did apply to the main bank in February 2003. In September 2003 our response came. It was an elaborate response that poked holes in our business plan before concluding that the project was not bankable. The officer’s skepticism about our chances of securing a bank credit on account of our business plan was clearly discernible. The reply would have broken the spirit of most folk. But we were not to accept doom and gloom. Where it was bleak, we saw a breakthrough."
Their hopes were raised in January 2004 when they got a call from Mr John Mark Wandolo, the KCB Corporate Relationship Manager, indicating that he would like to visit the construction site. At that time the construction was going on. That was a green sign as it indicated that the bank was interested in considering their application. They gladly showed him the hospital site in Karen on Wednesday, January 28, 2004. By the time he left, he was positive that we stood a chance of getting funding for the project.
They later furnished the bank with all the financing requirements that culminated in an offer letter seven months later on August 2004. The bank had to take out security for their facility to mitigate risk. They required them to deposit with their lawyers the title deed for their residential properties, take personal guarantees to the value of the entire loan while charging the land and the hospital to the bank until the loan would be fully discharged.
They agreed to all their terms and diligently went about charging the same properties as per the bank’s requirements. The terms of the loan were seven years with a two-year moratorium during which time the bank would be the first to recover its loan and interest before they settled any other obligation, may it be the payroll or even supplier accounts.
And that is how Karen Hospital was born. On January 3, 2006, the Karen Hospital finally opened its doors to the public. The Karen Hospital is now a multispecialty institute that employs over 500 employees and is worth over Sh 1 billion. It is a 5-storey complex and has 102-bed capacity that caters for outpatient and inpatient medical services.
It has a modern physiotherapy department with a hydro pool, a heart clinic with modern facilities and equipment with three operating theatres. The building has won accolades and a Silver award for Design Excellence from the Architectural Association of Kenya.
The hospital also has 11 satellite branches in Chester House (in Nairobi’s city center), Karatina, Meru, Nyeri, Nakuru, Kitengela, Thika, Naivasha, Ngong, Ong’ata Rongai, and Mombasa.
As part of her charity work, Gikonyo co-founded the Heart to Heart Foundation, an organization that raises funds for poor children suffering from heart ailments. In 1993, she (together with her husband) pioneered the Heart Runs, annual charity events today known as the Karen Hospital Heart Run (or the Heart to Heart Foundation Run) and the Mater Heart Run.
She has been featured on CNN’s African Voices and the BBC’s Africa Business Report. She has also been the long-standing personal doctor of Kenya’s third president Mwai Kibaki. She is a member of the Kenya Medical Association, Kenya Cardiac Society, Kenya Pediatric Association and Kenya Medical Women Association.
She is the Chairperson of Nairobi Health Management Board and the University of Nairobi Alumni Association. She is also an author of her autobiography titled ‘The Girl who DARED to DREAM.’
very inspiring
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing. 😊
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm really inspired.
ReplyDeletewow,its full of inspiration.
ReplyDelete