Sarah and Simon Kabu: We are now billionaires

Bonfire Adventures couple Simon and Sarah Kabu are now billionaires, if their recent interview is anything to go by.

Speaking to Ghanian YouTuber Wode Maya, the Kabus revealed that they have officially joined the billionaire’s club.

“We thank God that we are now in the billionaires club officially,” Sarah stated.

In the 48-minute video, the power couple recalled how they met and how their love for adventure blossomed into their successful billion-dollar travel and tour company, Bonfire Adventures, which they built during their courtship.

Simon, Sarah and the Bonfire

Before they even started dating, they were in an online young professional group that organized an end-of-year team building getaway at Lukenya in Machakos County.

The lovebirds officially met in December 2007 where the two organized trips with a small group of friends and later discovered they had same interests and hobbies.

Simon explained that he and Sarah were later requested to take charge of a team building event for a bank which turned out to be a huge success.

“We did our first team building for a bank. When they asked what name they should the make the cheque out to, we were dumbfounded because all along, we thought they would pay us in cash!

“We quickly searched for a business name and registered a company. The funny thing is we had to keep the cheque for over three months because we did not have a bank account! That’s how Bonfire Adventures was born,” Simon said.

“Our passion for travelling enabled us to get a lot of fans, many of whom opted to pay for our services, and I remember sitting with my wife and asking ourselves, why not? This seems like a good business venture,” the former marketing executive added.

Sarah also disclosed they started the famous travel and tour company with only Ksh 10,000 which they used to buy a desk from a relative.

“We started with KSh10,000, which we used to buy a desk from a relative in town.”

Sarah Bonfire Adventures wins

In 2008, around a bonfire in Maasai Mara Game Reserve, the first child of Simon and Sarah was born, and today, it’s one of the most prestigious and preferred travel and tour company.

Bonfire Adventures was named Africa and Kenya’s Leading Travel Agency 2018 at the World Travel Awards held in South Africa.

“These awards show we have the support of the clients, fans and our professional team,” Simon’s face lit up with pride as he mentioned some of the awards Bonfire has received through the years such as Top 100 Midsized Company, Company with the Best Use of Social Media and Kenya Leading Company on Honeymoon.

He says all the credit goes to the amazing staff led by his wife.

The company has over the decade had an annual turnover of over a billion shillings and creating over 200 job opportunities annually.

Kabu takes particular pride an award that he received from the United Arab Emirates as the biggest supporter from Africa.

“Sometimes we take more leisure travelers to Dubai than to Mombasa,” he explained.

Bonfire Adventures has also expanded with 10 branches in the country and still looking to expand internationally.

“So far, we have 10 branches in the country, 8 within Nairobi, 2 outside Nairobi. Plans of going international are in the works,” Sarah mentioned.

Kabu foresees a future for East Africa’s travel space in which agents come up with new ideas to make it even easier for travelers rather than copy-pasting from each other.

He says the various tourism bodies should also think of other products beyond the “beach and bush” safaris.