Reinstated

Stephen Mukuha, one of the siblings at the heart of Tuskys Supermarket’s operations for the last four decades, has owned up to the mistakes that have brought the retail chain to its knees.

Mukuha’s rare public admission comes as the retailer embarked on a “rebirth” on Friday after securing a Sh1.2 billion working capital from suppliers in the form of merchandise.

Mukuha, who owns a 17.5 per cent stake in the business, revealed on Friday how in the last few months he had “broken down” and expressed remorse at how close the siblings had come to losing the grip on the family jewel.

“There’s a prayer I prayed many years ago that Tuskys would not be sold to foreigners, that Tuskys will be ours forever. We wanted to prove we can also do retail like others. It is a big thing for us to have Tuskys run by locals... regardless of colour,” said an emotional Mukuha.

The sibling shareholders at the event also attended by other stakeholders, including suppliers and bank representatives, agreed to cede a majority stake to a strategic investor in the coming weeks in a bid to save the business.

Tuskys is Kenya’s second-largest supermarket chain, having been overtaken by Naivas, and once it secures an investor, it will mark the end of family-owned top-tier retailers in the country.

Naivas and Quickmatt have all since been partly acquired by private equity funds.


Experts blame internal fraud, sibling rivalry, aggressive debt-fuelled expansion and fierce competition as some of the reasons for Tuskys’ present troubles.