Alex Mwaura: How I Rose From a Street Child to a CEO of an Accredited College at 25 Years

There was a time when my world was measured in buckets. One bucket of crushed ballast stones that earned me seven shillings per bucket. Ten buckets meant seventy. Seventy shillings meant dinner. That was my economy at fifteen. Today I am a CEO of an accredited College with about 17 employees at the age of 25. The college is a big relief to professionals and institutions who are eager for capacity building and continuous professional development. 

I was born in February 2000, the fourth child in a family of six, raised by a single mother whose strength far exceeded her circumstances. Poverty was not an interruption in our lives; it was the atmosphere we breathed. We moved often, shifting from one primary school to another, ranging from Kaharati Primary School to, Wamahiga, Maragua, and eventually Swani, carrying little more than hope each time.

Despite the instability, I was a bright child. I topped my classes. Teachers believed in me. I believed in myself. Then in 2011, when I was in Class Six, life shifted in unprecedented circumstances of domestic violence. Our family relocated to Juja after a family and financial collapse. We moved with no furniture, no utensils, no certainty. My mother had no job. My sister dropped out of school. Soon after, I did too. We were all school dropout. 

The year 2011 and 2012, I was no longer a pupil. I was a street boy. There is a quiet humiliation in watching children your age going to school while you wander in search of food. Survival became my curriculum. The year blurred into hunger, uncertainty, and frustration. I had always dreamt of academic excellence, but dreams do not survive long without opportunity.

In 2013, we relocated again, this time to Kihiu Mwiri in Gatanga. We rented a small house for KSh 300 a month. My mother worked on farms earning about KSh 200 to 300 a day. One evening she told me, gently but honestly, “Alex, I want you to go back to school. Finish Class Eight. Maybe with a KCPE and the KCPE leaving certificate one day, you can get work as a watchman in Delmonte Company.”

That advise reshaped my expectations of life. I returned to Swani Primary School not dreaming of university, but of employment as a watchman. Often without food. Hunger humbles ambition, but it also sharpens it.

In 2014, I scored 297 marks in KCPE, higher than I had imagined possible. Yet secondary school remained financially out of reach. I began working in the quarries, crushing stones for KSh 7 per bucket. Ten buckets earned Ksh. 70. That money bought dinner.

Then came another setback. A rule banned anyone under 18 from quarry work. I was 15. Even hardship seemed to have age restrictions. Around that time, I met a man who would quietly change the course of my life, Mr. Ken Stephen Muchoki. I gathered courage and told him about my KCPE score and my desire to attend secondary school. He asked for an admission form. I could not afford it.

A week later, he sent for me. He had already secured the form. The following day, he bought me a uniform and escorted me to Swani Secondary School. I joined four weeks to the end of term one.

In my first exams, I ranked first. That moment taught me something I would only understand years later: your destiny is never tied to people who leave your life; it is tied to those who stay.

In 2016, my mother left to seek better opportunities and started living in Kiandutu slums. Then on April 23rd, 2018, she passed away. I was in Form Four.

Grief does not announce itself gently. It arrives and sits heavily on your chest while life continues moving. Extended family distanced themselves. My siblings and I faced the reality of burial arrangements alone. The Kihiu Mwiri community stepped in and allowed us to bury my mother in their cemetery.

I became a parent of my younger siblings before I became an adult. Yet that year, I sat for my KCSE examination and scored a C+. It was not a headline grade, but it was enough. Enough for direct university entry. Enough to prove that pain does not cancel potential.

I joined the University of Embu to pursue a Bachelor of Education (Arts), specialising in Business Studies and Christian Religious Education. University life carried its own struggles, financial strain, responsibility toward my younger sibling, uncertainty about the future, but I held onto one principle: Always postpone giving up. Not cancel it. Postpone it. One more semester. One more assignment. One more exam. I volunteered in neighbouring schools to earn small stipends. I developed skills in teaching, communication, leadership, and mentorship.

On September 15th, 2023, I graduated with Second Class Honours (Upper Division). Looking back, I began to understand something profound: life is understood backwards, but it must be believed forward.

The quarry did not make sense then. It makes sense now.

Street experience did not make sense then; it makes sense now. 

The hunger did not make sense then. It makes sense now.

The abandonment did not make sense then. It makes sense now.

After graduation, I chose not only to pursue employment but to build opportunity in entrepreneurship. At 25, I have founded Lebanon Technical Training College in Embu County, Kiritiri Town Alpha Plaza 2nd Floor. The Institution is accredited by the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA/TRN/2799), authorising us to offer professional and corporate training programs in leadership, governance, project management, financial management, grant management, monitoring and evaluation (MEAL), corporate governance, executive assistant training, data protection compliance, public speaking, business communication, child protection, disability mainstreaming, and other continuous professional development courses. We provide corporate training, executive programs, and continuous professional development for organisations, NGOs, SACCOs, faith-based institutions, and professionals seeking growth. Intake and Corporate training booking is ongoing reach us on directorlebanonttc@gmail.com or +254105221148 

The same boy who once crushed stones now builds skills. If my journey has taught me anything, it is this:

Dare to dream big.

Your background is not a place of residence it is a place of reference.

Never ignore an idea, not all of them return.

Always trust in God.

Never lose hope.

And your future is rarely decided by your worst season.

I understand my life better now than I did while living it. But even today, I must continue believing forward. Lebanon Technical Training College now invites corporates and professionals to partner with us for in-house training and continuous professional development programs. We believe skills transform lives and are committed to train competent professionals.

My story is not about escaping poverty. It is about building purpose from pain. If a street child can become a CEO at 25, then the limits we fear may not be limits at all. The story is still being written.