Despite his death, Nicholas Biwott alias Total Man, will live on for quite some time. Hated and loved in equal measure, he remains an icon in the Kenya’s history. Seemingly, he is the man who has held the majority number of ministerial posts (eight) in the Kenyan history.
His family was the only one competing with the first two presidents’ families in terms of wealth, and that is not a walk in the park. He had a personality that helped him achieve all these, which is described in the following tips on how to be the next ‘total man’ in Kenya.
- Have connections
Biwott never got his immense wealth from selling bananas (though that’s where it all started) or working for a salary. Eventually, he did big businesses, both in Kenya and internationally. Such businesses, in most cases, are not done through competitive means but through connections especially in the third-world countries. Biwott excelled in this, because he knew people, who knew the people who mattered.
2. Be unpredictable
In previous publications, Business Today noted that Total Man travelled in a maze. Biwott would use more than three vehicles to travel from Nairobi to his rural home in the Rift Valley. It was seen as a security measure to evade his enemies who could have trailed him with malicious aims. This will help you avoid any foul play planned by your enemies. And no one can counter or copy any of your moves, both in business and politics.
3. Do not be a big spender
He amassed a lot of wealth, but he never used expensive cars/fuel guzzlers nor splashed or showed off. Remember that being rich is not determined by how much you spend, but how much you save. It is through saving that total man became a billionaire, otherwise he would have died a poor man, like many former prominent politicians do in Kenya.
SEE ALSO: Total Man’s secret admirer brings out the soft side of him
4. Protect your family
Very little was known about his family till his death, when it was discovered he, in fact, had four wives. He never exposed them to the public or media, otherwise enemies would have used them to ‘finish’ him. This should help aspiring ‘total men’ to keep their families out of their ‘murky’ businesses and politics, unless it’s very necessary and you have tight security like presidential candidates.
5. Get into politics
Being in politics for more than three decades helped expand and protect his wealth and chain of companies. In 1974 he ran unsuccessfully as a prospective MP for the Keiyo South Constituency. At the next election in 1979 he was successful, standing on KANU ticket in Keiyo-Marakwet, retaining the seat in 1983 and 1988. In 1992, 1997, and 2002 he was elected the MP for Keiyo South Constituency.
In the Parliamentary elections held on 27 December 2007, running on a KANU ticket, he lost his seat to Jackson Kiptanui arap Kamai of the Orange Democratic Party (ODM). The ODM swept to victory in all but one of KANU’s seats on the Rift Valley. Politics pay, if you play it smart.
6. Get a nice and powerful nickname
Addressing him as ‘total man’ sounded better, and more inspiring, than Nicholus Biwott. So many people have been able to win big through nick names, and so can you. Coin a nice and powerful nick name that will make people shudder when they hear it, if you want to be a total man.
7. Hear evil, see evil but say no evil
Being in three governments, Biwott carried a lot of secrets with him about the governments, and the presidents, most of them evil. He has never attempted to yap in the public about them. To be a total man, it calls for such trust and secrecy.
8. Be educated
Very few people knew that Biwott was a Masters degree holder in economics from the University of Melbourne. He also had a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Economics and Political Science, as well as a Diploma in Public Administration. That helped him manage himself and his businesses.
9. Diversify your investments
As a teenager he and his father invested in fruit and vegetable business in Eldoret. He later started selling meat products and eggs. In the late 1960s he formed ABC Foods selling food and animal feed products.
Within a few years Nicholas Biwott was able to invest in farms and businesses, taking advantage of the post-independence banking policies at a time when Kenyans were granted loans on favourable terms. In 1969, aged 29, Biwott purchased the Eldoret Town International Harvester (IH) dealership (now FMD trading as Lima Ltd).
NEXT: An empire worth a king’s wealth: The 30 companies Biwott own
He also purchased a dairy farm in the same year, started an import-export business in 1972, purchased two wheat farms in 1974, invested in the sole agency for IH in Kenya for agricultural tractors and implements in 1975, and purchased a local air operator in 1977 (now Air Kenya).
10. Make your smile count
Biwott rarely smiled, and if he did it meant something – either you have impressed him so much or he just caught someone by the balls.
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