It’s no surprise that real estate is considered such an effective way to build wealth. All you need to be a self-made millionaire is time and a positive attitude.

In this article, we will feature a story of a young Kenyan lady, Leah Wambui, who has beaten all odds to build multi-million dollar real estate in Kenya.

Who is Leah Wambui?

Leah Wambui is an entrepreneur born in Kenya’s central region in the 1980s but orphaned at sixteen.

Despite being an orphan, she managed to go through her high school education and passed with flying colors.

Unfortunately, her dreams were cut short as she was financially restrained from progressing with her studies.

Leah’s Broken Dreams after High School

Since her dream of joining university and pursuing a degree was broken, Leah went job hunting to keep her life moving. At last, she got assistance from a kind relative and got a receptionist job.

While working, Leah realized that it was not a job she would live up to for the rest of her life as she desired a better life, which led her to seek greener pastures.

Finally, she quit her job to start her own business, as this was the only way to better her life.

After much deliberation with her entrepreneurial aunt, she settled on starting a wines and spirits business that grew successfully, allowing her to broaden her wings to increase the outlets she was operating from and borrow a vehicle for manning the businesses.

Finally, after much struggle and determination, lady luck came her way with a big smile when she bought 5 acres of land in Kitengela.

That was the beginning of Cheriez Properties Limited, a real estate company that boasts 200 houses, each unit for 15 million.

Wambui’s Risks and Rewards

One of the main challenges that Leah Wambui faced on her journey was land acquisition.

“I sold my house with my husband’s blessing and decided to use some of the little savings that we had managed to raise,” she disclosed.

Despite having a well-thought-out plan, things did not go her way, with the entrepreneur stating that the projects stalled in 2016 after failing to find occupants for the houses.

“We had our first show house and we invited people to come. I thought that the moment we had the show house we would get clients. I got into a rude shock. People came but most of them were friends and relatives and not the actual buyers,” she divulged.

The real estate guru further revealed that her attempts to find a buyer proved futile, with the form leaver turning her attention to international clients, a move that did not bear fruit either.

It was only in 2016 when the units going for Ksh 16 million would receive their first two buyers.

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Despite making major milestones in the industry, Wambui stated that it was not a walk in the park.

She revealed that she had to sack all her employees at some point because of numerous incidents of theft.

“This project brought great lessons with it. One day, I woke up and fired all my staff because the theft was unbearable. I would bring in tiles for the housing units and trucks will arrive at night to take them away. The project manager often conspires with workers to hike invoices.”

One day, just as she was about to give up, somebody offered to buy one of the houses. As they say, the rest is history.

From that first sale, Wambui got the finances to complete other units and customers kept coming for more. Her multi-million real estate began at this point, and she proudly joined the prestigious millionaires club.