The doctor is in: I will get Uchumi out of the ICU

Julius Kipng’etich, the chief executive of cash-strapped Uchumi Supermarkets is a man under-siege. Or so they say. The man himself does not think so. And he is not just putting on a brave face. He means what he says.

Julius Kipng’etich CEO Uchumi Supermarkets

What he is going through at Uchumi is déjà vu to him. He has been through it all before. “I thrive at the edge. That place where people look down and get scared,” he said as though he was standing at the top of a precarious precipice. Weekend Business had visited the former CEO of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for an interview at Uchumi’s headquarters at the heart of Nairobi’s Industrial Area. “I have dealt with much difficult situations before,” he said of his decision to join the struggling retailer.