Maxwell is passionate about education but becoming CEO of a publishing house was the last thing he expected to be.
“Everything you’ve learnt your whole life is supposed to prepare you for that thing that you want,” Maxwell says as he shares his life of working in a flowerfarm and a butchery in his younger years. The University of Nairobi accounting graduate began his professional career in 2005 when he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Nairobi as an audit associate.
He worked there for 11 years in their Nairobi and South Africa offices, rising to position of senior manager.
In 2016, he left PwC to join Longhorn Publishers as the chief finance and operations officer. Two years later, he became the CEO.
At Longhorn Publishers, he has been able to change things by influencing strategy. This has led to him score key achievements like steering the company through various market disruptions, overseeing the development and rollout of new digital revenue streams and venturing into the West African market.
Like every successful businessman, he is faced some challenges, one of them being people management.
“The technical part of a business is easy to learn but managing people, getting the best out of them, there’s no formulae or template,” he says.
Over the last 16 years, he has made it a personal objective to not work over the weekend. To him, success is bringing up God-fearing children and bonding with his wife. He enjoys cooking and watching soccer.
To the youth he says, “Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid of opportunities.”
–Purity Wanjohi
