The Kenyan entrepreneur is applying the lessons of technology, patient growth and operational scale across digital payments, football and indigenous poultry farming.
Nick Mwendwa has built businesses in industries that may appear completely unrelated.
He has developed financial-technology systems, built a community football club and expanded an indigenous-poultry operation that reportedly began with only seven chickens.
Behind these ventures, however, is the same entrepreneurial philosophy: start with what is available, develop dependable systems and remain patient enough to achieve meaningful scale.
Although many Kenyans recognize Mwendwa through football, his professional foundation is in information technology.
Building Kenya’s Payment Infrastructure
Mwendwa studied information technology at the Kenya College of Accountancy, now KCA University. Early in his career, he helped deploy retail-payment systems for Uchumi supermarkets, gaining practical experience in the technology supporting everyday transactions.
In 2009, he founded Riverbank Solutions, a Kenyan financial-technology company that developed payment and channel-management systems for banks, microfinance institutions, retailers and other organizations.
The company expanded into markets including Uganda and Rwanda, becoming part of East Africa’s growing digital-payment economy.
A major milestone arrived in 2025 when KCB Group acquired a 75 percent shareholding in Riverbank Solutions. The transaction represented significant recognition for a technology company founded and developed in Kenya.
Riverbank’s products, including the Zed 360 platform, demonstrated how locally created technology could help businesses manage payments, sales, inventory and customer transactions more efficiently.
Taking Technology Into Agriculture
Mwendwa’s entrepreneurial interests later led him into an entirely different industry: indigenous-poultry farming.
Through Swiggo, he is building a consumer-facing agribusiness focused on pure kienyeji chickens, eggs and chicks.
The business brings together several areas of his experience. Technology supports customer orders, digital marketing and payments, while farming and logistics ensure that the physical products reach households and businesses.
Mwendwa says the poultry operation began with only seven birds.
By June 2026, he reported having approximately 110,000 pure kienyeji chickens. Later public updates placed the flock above 200,000 birds at the farm associated with Salukya Farms in Makindu, Makueni County.
The figures reflect an extraordinary example of growth through breeding, reinvestment and long-term planning.
The Patience Behind Kienyeji Farming
Pure kienyeji chickens generally take longer to mature than commercial broilers. They also produce fewer eggs than specialized layers.
For Mwendwa, this makes patience one of the most important parts of the business.
His model emphasizes authentic indigenous breeds, carefully controlled feeding, premium-quality products and direct access to customers through digital platforms.
Instead of forcing traditional agriculture to operate like a fast-moving technology startup, he appears to be applying technology where it adds value while respecting the natural timeline of farming.
That balance offers an important lesson for other entrepreneurs: innovation is not always about replacing familiar industries. Sometimes it means making them more organized, accessible and scalable.
Building Institutions Across Industries
Football has also played an important role in Mwendwa’s journey.
He founded Kariobangi Sharks in 2000, developing the club from its community roots into a team capable of competing within Kenya’s top-flight football system.
Like Riverbank and Swiggo, the club demonstrates his interest in building institutions from small beginnings.
Whether the starting point is a neighborhood football team, a technology company or seven chickens, Mwendwa’s approach is centered on developing structures that can grow beyond the founder.
A Builder Across Worlds
At Sisi Kenya Media, we celebrate Kenyans who see possibilities where others may see unrelated ideas.
Nick Mwendwa’s journey shows how knowledge can move between industries. The discipline required to build payment systems can strengthen an agribusiness. Digital platforms can connect farmers directly with customers. Lessons from football management can help an entrepreneur understand teamwork, talent and long-term development.
His story is not simply about the reported size of his poultry flock. It is about the thinking that made such growth possible.
From fintech to football and farming, Nick Mwendwa continues to demonstrate that extraordinary enterprises can begin with modest resources—provided someone has the vision, patience and determination to keep building.
