There are now very many privately owned petrol stations in Kenya.
Yet, at some point, only multi-nationals like the defunct Esso, BP and Mobil once called the shots.
But did you know that the first Kenyan to open a petrol station was Fred Mbiyu Koinange, the father of TV host Jeff Koinange?
Well, Fred was the son of Senior Chief Koinange after whom Koinange Street is named in the Nairobi CBD.
The then 41-year-old opened, Koinange Petrol Station, Kenya’s first indigenous in Kariokor area in 1966 - the year he died.
Never mind he had been detained for seven years after the State of Emergency was declared in 1952.
Did you also know that Fred Mbiyu was also the first African Kenyan to open a car dealership?
In 1948 - when Mr Cooper was also opening the Cooper Motor Corporation (CMC Motors) in a wooden hut along Jackson Road, now Parliament Road - Fred also opened his!
In his biography, Through My African Eyes, Jeff writes very interesting…[B]READ MORE[/B]
I need clarification regarding the picture.
You say that Fred Koinange died aged 41, but the guy depicted in the picture above seems well into his 60s. How comes?
Koinange wa Mbiyu was a rich polygamist. So he must have had several sons named Mbiyu wa Koinange. Jeff Koinange is not thr son of the late minister Mbiyu.