Makini School Runda acquires Former Regis Runda Academy
Acquisition:
Peter Mburugu is an astute businessman but with a passion for education. He had worked with East Africa Breweries Ltd for many years and when he retired felt a desire to found a school and fortunately, his wife, who has always been a teacher, had also (after retirement) founded the Westend kindergarten in Lavington, Nairobi with 100 children. By his retirement time, Mburugu had acquired 30 acres of land in upper Runda and this is where he decided to invest in a housing estate on 23 acres and in the Regis Runda Academy on 7 acres. Having identified a fitting business partner in his wife, Mburugu went ahead and mooted the founding (and establishment) & construction of the school which he guessed would take about 7 years and then went into an earnest search for a serious and viable investor & partner for the initiative.
He initially approached several reputable schools for partnership for several months and eventually identified Gems Int’l Schools, who had the best partnership offer after which he signed the partnership contract in 2008. The school facilities were completed in seven months and he provided the keys to the institution to the new partner but unfortunately his partner who was working through a license abruptly pulled away in Jan 2024.
“I made all efforts possible to save the school and after 12 months decided to run the school as a family business to serve the education needs of the Runda Community and the Community where I’ve been developing 120 homes in the aforementioned housing estate,” reflected Mr Mburugu at the event where the Makini Schools Group formally announced the Regis Runda Academy acquisition, an outright purchase, on August 7th 2025 at the school premises. “We managed the Regis Runda Academy as an interim initiative until we got get a suitable investor and suitor. We received five offers which we declined until Makini Group approached us,” Mr Mburugu added.
According to Mr Mburugu, given the Makini Group’s reputation and commitment to education and their keenness to run the school, due diligence on both the Regis Runda Academy school and the Makini Group was conducted for about two years leading to the recent acquisition. “We appreciate the Makini Group as a continental education provider and we’re happy and joyous to welcome them so that they can leave a legacy for our family and the country and also to take the school to the next level,” he affirmed adding that Regis Runda Academy has been one of the best managed despite being in operation for only five years.
“This is an outright purchase like that of the Makini Schools by the ADv Tech Group in April 2018 and full control by 2020,” explained Mr Horace Mpanza, Makini Schools MD in Kenya. The Makini School also established a school in Kisumu City in 2019 and later established another school in the Migosi area Kisumu, Kenya, along the Kisumu-Kakamega Road. Records indicate that the ADv Tech Group came to Kenya through the Tatu City Crawford international School in 2018 and manages 120 schools in South Africa, Botswana and Ethiopia. Currently, the Makini Group schools in Nairobi include the schools along Ngong Rd and State House Rd one. According to Mr Mpanza, the Makini Schools Group maintains good and cordial relations with the schools’ founders including Dr Mary Okello & Pius Okello who founded the Makini School.
“We honor the various founders and their legacies and we shall also honour Mr Mburugu and his legacy. In our Schools, we give parents curricula options. In Kenya, for instance, we fully support the current CBE (Competency Based Education) system which essentially is helping the learners to remember the skills they learn. Yet, some parents prefer international curricula such as the Cambridge system which we have introduced at our Ngong Rd school in Nairobi,” explained Mr Mpanza at the event.
He explained that the ADvtech schools in South Africa, like others, follow the government curriculum while others also follow international curriculum such as the Cambridge system. In Ethiopia, they follow Cambridge system; and in Botswana the Cambridge system and national curriculum. “This is a fantastic school with happy learners but also yearning for some changes. We’ll enhance the school to make it fit for Makini systems including in IT & AI and other facilities. This school will undoubtedly become part of the Makini Group through the necessary changes,” asserted Mr Mpanza. Mr Mburugu confirmed that the Makini Runda School currently has 1200 students though its full students’ capacity is 2000 students.
