CORPORATE SCENE
Saracen OMD – Founders
Journey
By Oyunga Pala
O
n 1st October, 2002, 15 years ago,
a small ad agency with a peculiar
name, opened its door to business,
in a global industry that munched local
upstarts for lunch and spat them out
before dinner. Saracen Media came into
existence as the audacious dream of 4
young ad agency men daring to create
Kenya’s first independent media agency.
The 4 Saracens were Sammy Thuo,
Lenny Nganga, Frank Maina and George
Wanjohi. Frank left in the early years to
pursue his own ventures.
I attempt to deduce that something extra
that turned Sarcen into a billion shilling
company as I sit across from Sammy Thuo,
one of the co-founders of Saracen OMD,
now the second largest media agency in
Kenya.
The spacious Saracen OMD head offices
are located off Kabarsiran Drive in the
Lavington area of Nairobi. The location
is homely. For all its success, Saracen
OMD retains an air of under-stated-
ness. I witness none of the buzz and flash,
stereotypical of media agencies.
Sammy Thuo’s office does not look like
a billion bucks. On the wall is a framed
black and white newspaper article from
the Business Daily in 2003. A young
Sammy, Lenny and George resemble
a geek boy band than the new face of
advertising that they were poised to be
then. The office is a repurposed single
storey family home and Sammy occupies
one of the upstairs ensuite bedrooms with
wardrobes still intact. The only trophy of
success is a picture to the right of his desk
of Sammy with former Cabinet Secretary
Anne Waiguru presenting him a prize at
Top100 SME contest flanked by Josphat
Mwaura, the CEO of KPMG.
We have a scheduled lunch meeting
planned, where I get to interview the two
other co-founders, Lenny and George.
Sammy looks at his watch and ushers me
out of his office. Time is flying. George
who runs the Uganda office is in for a few
days and this is the only opportunity I
have to get all three in one sitting.
We pile into George’s Mercedes to a
Chinese restaurant about a kilometer from
their offices. The restaurant is housed in an
15 years ago, a small ad agency with a peculiar
name, opened its door to business, in a global in-
dustry that munched local upstarts for lunch and
spat them out before dinner. Saracen Media came
into existence as the audacious dream of 4 young
ad agency men daring to create Kenya’s first in-
dependent media agency.
30 MAL22/18 ISSUE
expansive old Lavington bungalow with
an uninspiring design that sits on half
acre plot. We are the only the customers at
lunch and they clearly chose the location
out of convenience and curiosity.
George justifies the choice “The sign says,
Chinese restaurant for African dishes”, It
is the kind of sign that would attract an
ad man. The conversation between them
is spontaneous and it is evident they were
friends first before they became business
partners.
Lenny and George have known each other
since they were 5 years old in Madaraka
estate in Nairobi. Sammy and Lenny met
at their first day of work at the Ogilvy &
Mather offices in Nairobi in 1994. They
later re-grouped in McCann Erickson
where they worked together until they
took the leap of faith.
The menu is almost cryptic, written partly
in C