Tabitha Karanja whose full name is Tabitha Mukami Muigai Karanja is a Kenyan entrepreneur, businesswoman and industrialist. Tabitha is the founder and current CEO of Keroche Breweries, the largest brewery in Kenya owned by a non multinational company. Keroche accounts for 20% of beer consumption in Kenya, as of October 2012 statistics.
She was born in Kijabe, central Kenya and after attending Kenyan schools, she got employed in the Ministry of Tourism as an Accounting Clerk. She met and got married to husband who owned a successful hardware store in Naivasha town. The couple closed the hardware store and went into the wine-making business in 1997.
Age
Tabitha was born on 29th August, 1964, Kenya.
Children
She has four children together with Joseph Karanja, her husband, who serves as the Chairman of Keroche Breweries Limited and the children include James Karanja, Anerlisa Muigai, Edward Muigai and Tecra Muigai.
Husband
She got married to Joseph Muigai Karanja after the two met in Naivasha town where he owned a successful hardware store. They later closed the hardware store and went into the wine-making business in 1997.
Net Worth
As a hardworking businesswoman, she is the CEO of a multi-million Keroche Breweries making her to have a net worth of over Kshs. 10 Billion.
Tabitha Karanja Tax Evasion
The area MP Kihagi threatened to break into the Keroche Breweries Ltd company and inspect for second generation brews months after Commissioning by Adan Mohammed. This was also followed tax evasion scandal that occurred recently where she was accused by the KRA that her company had evaded tax payment of upto Kshs. 14 Billion. Kenyan director of public prosecution Noordin Haji issued her arrest warrant.
She tried to rubbish the claims by connecting with unfair competitors of her company but she was unlucky. The KRA won the case in court, making her to come up with arrangements on settling the arrears.
Tabitha Karanja Career
Early 1997, Tabitha and Joseph started making fortified wine, targeting the lower end of the market. When the government enacted heavy taxes on locally made wines in 2007, her product was priced out of the market and she switched to manufacturing ready to drink gin and vodka, which her state of the art factory still makes till now. She added beer to her repertoire of alcoholic drinks, beginning with a brand known as ‘Summit’ in 2008. The factory began expansion plans to increase beer production from 60,000 bottles per day to 600,000 bottles per day in 2013. The refurbished plant, which cost KSh5 billion, was commissioned by Adan Mohammed, on 31st March, 2015.
