About Me - Dr. Eng. Joseph Njoroge (Engineer)
Dr. Eng. Joseph Kibere Njoroge has walked an unconventional yet very inspirational path to earn the rare opportunity to serve Kenyans in very senior levels of public service. Before he was directly involved in the economic transformation of Kenya as a CEO of Kenya Power, a Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, a Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, a Principal Secretary for the State Department of Transport in the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works, Engineer was a boy born to the late Ruth Njoroge and Laban Njoroge in extremely challenging colonial conditions.
As the fourth born in a family of six, he was exposed to a very difficult life of financial limitation in rural Gatundu south, Central Kenya. Fortunately, economic limitation did not translate to intellectual limitation and despite the prevailing circumstances, he had a mother and father who naturally gravitated to the pursuit of a formal education. His father Laban became a teacher at a time when the profession was just opening to black natives in Kenya. Laban would often prophecy to the children that one undergraduate degree would not be sufficient in future.
Yet this was a time when even the completion of secondary school was viewed as an incredible feat! His mother would chime the same message by following track of all her children’s learning endeavors relentlessly. A continuation of her childhood passion whereby she started sneaking out to go learn to read and write when girls were not allowed to do that. Unfortunately, the family lost father Laban quite early in 1975 and Ruth had to conjure all her physical and mental resilience for the survival of her young family. She did it all! All the jobs she could come across such as tea and coffee plantation work and selling farm products and firewood to various long markets like market, about 15 kms away from her home bare foot. As she worked tirelessly, she also encouraged her children very strictly in the Catholic Faith of her late husband.
Meanwhile, Ruth passionately developed and nurtured a Christian faith in the African Inland (AIC) Church. She was so committed that she became distinguished for building a house of worship for her community. With God’s grace and steady resolve, she was able to supervise the education and eventual prosperity of all her children.
After arriving at his formative years amidst turbulent financial depravity, Engineer Njoroge contemplated dropping out of high school in order to pursue a technical training in agriculture that could guarantee a job very fast. He did not pursue that path as he chose to study A levels in Alliance High School alongside his brother Professor Bernard Njoroge. They completed their studies with a lot of assistance from a strong community of family members, priests, clergy and corporate organization scholarships. Select people of influence are Christopher Gatuma, Father Cunningham, Sister Martin and careers master Mr. Kahiga who aggressively discouraged Engineer and his brother from dropping out of school. Back at home, Lucy Wairimu and Martin Gathimbu were contributing newly earned income to help the family at large.
Engineer went on to complete advanced academic studies in Electrical Engineering at the University of Nairobi where he graduated with first class honours. He continued advancing in his educational pursuits by acquiring a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), University of Nairobi, 2003 – Specializing in Strategic Management. His management research project was based on the broad subject of “The role of service quality as a strategic tool/variable for creating competitive advantage in a business environment’. As he served in a very senior government position he also completed a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Strategic Management University of Nairobi, 2015: PhD Thesis subject “Influence of Performance Contracting and external environment on the relationship between Strategy Implementation and organization performance of Kenyan State Corporations.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” – Nelson Mandela