Quickmart opened its initial public offering on the Nairobi Securities Exchange with a valuation of KSh30 billion, allowing the Kinuthia family to sell half of its 31.83 per cent holding.
The family’s stake amounts to 1.27 billion shares, and the planned sale of half of that interest is expected to generate a KSh4.8 billion payoff for the relatives of the late John Kinuthia.
Quickmart, which began as a single shop in Nakuru in the late 1990s and was later renamed from KIDS Supermarket, now operates 72 stores and reports an annual turnover of KSh50 billion.
Founder Zipporah Wanjiku Kinuthia said, “We had started out as farmers, before going into the butchery and restaurant, but I did not like that business as much. My dream was to own a supermarket,”.
In 2019, private-equity fund Adenia Partners bought a 51 per cent stake in Quickmart and merged the chain with Tumaini Supermarket in January 2020, leaving Adenia with a 50.8 per cent holding, the Kinuthia founders with a combined 31.83 per cent, and CEO Peter Kang’iri with 5.36 per cent.
Within the family, Duncan Kinuthia directly controls 20.73 per cent (829.2 million shares), Gladys Wambui Kinuthia holds 4.79 per cent (191.5 million shares), and Zipporah and her son William Gitau Kinuthia each own 3.16 per cent (126.4 million shares each).
Zipporah explained the importance of early involvement of children, saying, “It is important to bring in the children into the business early, so that as it grows, they grow with it. That’s what we see with the successful Asian entrepreneurs.”
Wambui Kinuthia recalled that the family only began taking holidays after Adenia’s investment, noting, “We never took time off for days like Christmas and Easter, until Adenia came in. When we stopped going to the shop on Sundays, it felt like sinning.”
Zipporah added, “Today, I sometimes get hear of new branches after they have been opened,” and observed, “We now have shops where the staff don’t know me, where I go in as a customer, do my small shopping and leave without being recognised.”
