Caroline Gikunda, the Kenyan mom making waves in the male-dominated construction industry

Caroline Gikunda is a Kenyan serial entrepreneur with several businesses. Prominent among her businesses is a transport and construction materials supplies company called Alpha Charlie.

Alpha Charlie based in the coastal town of Malindi supplies building materials such as sand, ballast, bricks, and rough stones within the larger Coastal region in Kenya as well as the Mount Kenya region. She is also the owner and director of Drivers at Alpha Charlie, a holiday home that offers accommodation, conferencing, and meetings services.

Gikunda’s entrepreneurial success was mostly due to table banking and saving in chamas. “I will always vouch for Chamas. I have initiated several such groups and they have built up the members. In table banking you pool resources together, borrow money at an interest and pay at the agreed group terms,” she told Nairobi Wire.

Besides her construction business, Gikunda is also the founder of a dating app named CaroLove. According to her, she launched the app for “mature” people looking for love. The app, which is named after her, is a premium dating application where users will be vetted and charged a fee before being allowed to become members.

She further explained that the app is designed to bring together financially stable persons finding it difficult to get partners. The founding of CaroLove was influenced by her divorce from her former husband.

Her most flourishing business remains Alpha Charlie and she attributes her success in the male-dominated construction industry to how she treats her clients.

“Today, I am aware that if a client is having a difficult time paying for a tonne of sand, they will certainly not be able to pay for tens of tonnes of the same product. I have also learnt that everyone cannot be my client. This has helped me set my standards, treat my customers equally and give them the space to make their choice of supplier,” she told Kenyan.co.ke.

Gikunda is a graduate of the University of Nairobi where she pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Chemistry. The mother of one is also a media personality and previously worked with the state broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).