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Sarah Mtalii reveals how she birthed Bonfire company
19th January, 2026 12:42 AM
Sarah Mtalii has revealed that she is the one who birthed the idea of Bonfire Adventures.
Speaking to one of the local podcasts on Saturday, January 17, 2026, Sarah stated that the company started from a simple campus project, before it grew into one of Kenya’s most talked about travel brands.
According to Sarah, the journey began when she was still in school and working on her final project.
She said her focus at the time was marketing small hotels, especially those that were struggling to attract customers because they had little or no online presence.
“That was when I was doing my project on campus. My project was about marketing small hotels. Most of them didn’t have websites,” she explained.
A campus idea
Sarah said she then started thinking of a practical solution that could help small hotels sell themselves online without complicated systems. That is when the idea of using pictures and online posts came in.
“So I was thinking of an idea of how to sell small hotels that were only online. That is when we started taking pics and posting online. The rest is history,” she added.
She described the early days as a youthful hustle, noting that she was working with colleagues who were mostly between 20 and 30 years old.
She also said she was constantly learning and building herself, moving from one course to another in her pursuit of knowledge and growth.
“My colleagues were 20 to 30 years old. I was studying one course after another. That was the last course I learned, about international studies,” Sarah stated.
Her remarks have sparked fresh conversations online, with many Kenyans expressing curiosity about the beginnings of the company and the behind the scenes work that went into building it.
How he joined
During the same interview, Sarah also opened up about how her ex-husband came into the picture, explaining that he joined later after the first trip was already organised.
“When I organised the first trip, he decided to assist me,” she said.
Sarah added that as the trips continued and the idea gained momentum, she made him part of the organising team, describing it as a decision that came naturally as the business expanded.
“When I was doing the second trip, I made him part of the new organisers,” she stated.
While she did not go into deeper details about their past relationship, her story painted a picture of how Bonfire Adventures was built from a student idea into a growing business that many Kenyans now recognise.
Her comments come at a time when more young people are turning to digital platforms to market businesses, proving that sometimes a small idea, backed by consistency, can grow into something big.
