Chris Gathingu is the CEO and founder of Tangazoletu Limited, a company he started in 2005 with less than $2000 and has grown to handle contracts worth over $15 million. He is an entrepreneur and innovator who has developed several transformative mobile and technology solutions for industries like insurance, banking, and healthcare. Some of his major products include Bima Serve, SpotCash mobile banking, and the Lipa na M-Pesa merchant payment system, which processes over $150 million daily. Chris continues to mentor staff and entrepreneurs, and strives to provide solutions that serve clients and improve people's lives.

1. He’s an early starter,
A curious individual,
Analytical to the core,
The very definition of an
entrepreneur
And a doer!
Chris Gathingu is the CEO &
Founder, Tangazoletu Limited.
Having started Tangazoletu with less
than $2000 in the year 2005, Chris
has been able to move the company
to handling contracts worth over
$15 Million.
Having built his first SMS based
system while still in school at Jomo
Kenyatta University of Agriculture
and Technology, Chris had started
to see the need and form the line
of command that drives his spirit of
innovation.
After graduating with First Class
Honors in Computer Technology,
, Chris worked at Royal media
Services as an IT assistant where
he trained presenters and set up
two radio stations; Ramogi and
Inooro. He later joined DATABIT
LTD as a Sales and Technical
Assistant Manager where he not
only deployed VSAT for various
organizations, he also installed,
configured, trained and maintained
3 Large IP NBX systems at UNDP
Somalia, Standard Media Group and
Barclays Bank of Kenya.
He left Databit LTD in 2005 to
start his own firm, Tangazoletu
Limited where he has been the
visionary behind transformative
solutions built by the company to
date. His idea was and still is to
build transformative solutions with
countrywide coverage and use.
At Tangazoletu, Chris knows that
the buck stops with himself; He
Identifies problems that need
solving, comes up with the solutions
that can address the problem, briefs
his team who then brainstorm, build,
review and test the product before
its commercial launch.
Chris started by designing Bima
Serve - a mobile and email based
solution that enables automation of
various insurance services including
premium payment, premium
notification and reminders and
various inquiries ensuring that
insurance services and information
is easily accessible. This product
is still in use at leading insurance
companies in Kenya including
Cannon Assurance and Madison
Insurance. He then started working
on a mobile banking solution for
financial institutions and that grew
to become SpotCash Mobile Banking
*645#. Spotcash is the first mobile
banking solution for Saccos and a
key revenue earner for Tangazoletu
Limited. Spotcash is now in use in
over 60 Financial Institutions among
them 2NK Sacco, Nation Sacco,
Imarika and Sheria Sacco and has
made Tangazoletu be the Biggest
Sacco Aggregator in Kenya.
In 2010, Tangazoletu partnered
with Safaricom as one of the local
Product development partners
tasked to develop and grow M-Pesa.
This relationship that remains
to date has seen Tangazoletu
developing products like Lipa na
MPesa (merchant settlement);
a service that handles over
Kes.150Million daily, M-PESA data
bundles purchase and Lipa na
M-PESA online among others. Chris
spearheaded the company to bag,
build and support Safaricom Lipa
na M-Pesa settlement systems; a
business worth $10-15 Million.
Chris k. Gathingu
CEO & Founder - TANGAZOLETU LTD
$15b
Amount transacted through
our System.
Chris Gathingu,
CEO & Founder - Tangazoletu Limited.

2. Chris also spearheaded the build
and development of the finance
and payment component of TIBU, a
national TB management platform
funded by USAID and used by
the Ministry of Health- Division of
Leprosy TB and Lung Diseases. TIBU
is in use in all the 47 counties and
brought in business worth $6Million.
Chris, now 32, insists that he was
lucky to have started early and had
the right proportions of resources
for every step of the journey. He is
a young man with copious amounts
of persistence, patience, consistency
and stays riveted on his vision. He
desires and works towards serving
his clients and nation and not in
hype and big talk but on delivery. His
“LESS TALK, MORE DEEDS!” mantra
has transformed his clients to
becoming Tangazoletu ambassadors
seeing that the company has only
actively sold to 20 clients with the
others being referred to the firm.
Chris Gathingu is not only focused
in business, he yearns to see people
grow and has started a mentorship
programme at the church he grew
up in; ACK Gitothua church, actively
mentors the +25 staff at Tangazoletu
Limited and has recently joined
Mara Mentors – an online
community that connects ambitious
entrepreneurs with experienced and
inspiring business leaders like Chris.
He is also a firm believer in the
power of education and went back
to school to earn his Masters in
Information Systems Management
from University of Sunderland in
March 2013 and has enrolled for
the Owner Manager Program at
Strathmore Business School starting
February 2015 - November 2015.
Chris is also a husband and father to
Janice.
In 2010, Tangazoletu partnered
with Safaricom as one of the
local Product development
partners tasked to develop and
grow M-Pesa.
Mang’u High School
Passed KCSE with mean grade of A- (77points)
and got admission to JKUAT.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and technology
(JKUAT Juja Campus)
Bsc Computer Technology – First Class Honors
University of Sunderland
Masters in Information Systems Management.
Strathmore Business School
Owner Manager Program (OMP)Systems Management.
Feb 2015 - Nov 2015
March 2013
2002