Prof. Eddah Gachukia

A career educationalist, Prof. Eddah Gachukia is the Academic Director of the Riara Group of Schools. She is also the Vice Chair of the Riara University Governing Council. 

Riara University is the latest innovation in higher education in Kenya. It is designed to be the regional university of choice to nurture innovators. 

Prof. Gachukia is the Founding Executive Director of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). She served on its Executive Committee between 2002 and 2004. FAWE has a presence in 35 African countries and has received several awards and honours for its contribution to female education in Africa.

She served as Chairperson of Moi University Council between 2003 and 2006. She was also the Senior Lecturer and Chairperson in the Department of Literature, University of Nairobi, between 1971 and 1993. In 2003, she chaired the Taskforce for the Implementation of Free Primary Education in Kenya. In 2006, she led the task force to provide Affordable Secondary Education in Kenya. 

Between 1999 and 2007, she was a member of the United States International University (USIU) –Kenya, Board of Trustees where she served as vice-chairperson between 2007 and 2010.

The professor was also a member of the Board of Trustees Population Council, New York, between 1987 and June 1995. She is passionate about girls’ education and has chaired task forces on education at the government’s request. She is Vice Chairperson of the Starehe Girls’ Centre Board of Trustees and one of its founding trustees. 

She was a Member of Parliament representing women’s interests between 1974 and 1983. She also served in the top leadership of the National Council of Women of Kenya, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake and the Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development, where she is the patron. 

Prof. Gachukia has held leadership roles in the U.N. conferences on Women—Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1979), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995)—representing Kenya and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs). She has been published several times on gender, development, education, and child development-related issues. 

Daniel Gachukia

Mr. Daniel Gachukia, a self-made entrepreneur, started his career as a secondary school teacher after graduating with a Diploma in Education from Makerere University College in 1956. Upon graduation, Mr. Gachukia taught in various secondary schools in Kenya and Uganda, including Kagumo and Thika high schools. 

Between 1962 and 1963, he studied Diplomacy in France. In 1963 and 1974, he worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Charge d’affaires at the Kenya Embassy in Paris and later as the Chief of Protocol until he retired from the Civil Service in 1974.

He joined the Board of Directors of East Africa Industries Ltd and retired in 1989 to launch the Riara Group of Schools. Mr. Gachukia was also the chairman of the Board of Governors of Thika High School for five years.

He served six years as a member of the Kenyatta University Council, where he was chairman for three years. He is a Life Governor of the Agricultural Society of Kenya and was chairman of the Nairobi International Show for three years.

In 1994, Mr. Gachukia founded the Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA). He was chairman for 10 years of this association of private school owners that follows the Kenya Curriculum of Education, of which he is currently the patron.