Candid chat with Einstein, the golf club chief at only 31 years

Vet Lab – an 18-hole course in Kabete, Nairobi is one of Kenya’s top-three biggest golf courses. Started in 1923 to serve the Scottish doctors, who worked in the country, it sits on a massive 80 hectares at the Veterinary Laboratory Department of the University of Nairobi.

They fashion themselves as an “equalising golf club” by the type of cross-board membership (they have 1,500 members) that is opened to CEOs and the general public.

But it’s not only its size and its membership that is unique; it’s also run by the youngest manager in this country at only 31 years. The average age for golf club managers is 50, I’m informed. Even more peculiar is the name of this manager — Einstein.

We meet for breakfast at Java, ABC Place and talk about Albert Einstein then talk about Einstein Maangi.

With a name like that you don’t need an icebreaker.

People notice the name, it opens doors, it starts lively conversations and it creates a high expectation from me.

I think the name you give your kids shapes how they turn out in life. My dad is a professor, a civil engineer by profession; he has a PhD in Construction and is currently a consultant at the Development Bank of South Africa. Him naming me Einstein, I think, was an expectation of greatness.

Do you have kids and what have you named them?

I have two. Ethan is seven years old. In 2 Kings: 4, Ethan is described as a being second wisest man after King Solomon. My daughter, Divine is 4. Her name means excellent, delightful, of divine powers. What have you named your kids?

With names like Ethan and Divine dare I mention mine? Anyway, at 31, how did you land the manager’s position at this club? How did the old guards let that happen?

The club needed new direction; they needed to break that old golf club mentality. They wanted a fresh mind that would do things differently and grow the portfolio of the club. I happen to have the qualifications and the mind-set to do that.

With all the old guards who are from a different school of thought. Who did you have to buy beer to be accepted?

(Laughs). I’m well-learned; two masters’ degrees in sports and fitness and in leadership and I had great ideas. You deal with CEOS, senior directors and company owners who all have to buy into your character and work ethics. Not everyone will like you, but most will see me through the strengths of my work.

A lot of young men nowadays casually talk of playing golf. Is this some new age personal branding?

(Chuckles) I encourage them. They should keep doing that. At a golf course, your true character comes out; your strengths and weakness, how you handle defeat.

Let me put is simply, the biggest business decision are made on golf courses. CEOs speak business on the course. Don’t you want to influence this somehow kind of conversation?

What has golf taught you?

That you became who your friends are. If you play with CEOs and Presidents, it will rub off you, it will define the direction and decisions you make in life and in your social life. It’s the best university for people in business.

Most golf clubs are very strict about who joins, not because they are elitist but because they want to control and manage the reputation.

Einstein wasn’t a success socially, a string of failed marriages and a number of illegitimate children. Do you guys share that?

(Laughs) Somehow, yes. My two kids are from different mothers. I’m divorced. I don’t live with either of my kids and although it’s something that disturbs me a lot, it’s inevitable.

Look at all the notable great men, they all didn’t know how to handle women but they never let those failures define them. In many ways, I’m like Einstein in that regard, he didn’t fight it, in fact he struck a deal with one of his ex-wives that he would give her the money he got if he won the Nobel Peace prize if she didn’t make the divorce nasty. And he did just that. He bought peace of mind.

Did you offer your ex-wife something for peace?

No. What I did is I never challenged the divorce. I never said anything negative to assassinate her character. I never exposed her weaknesses. It’s something Einstein would have approved. (Smiles).

What do you think was your contribution to that marriage ending?

By nature, I’m a melancholic person. Great thinkers like Abraham Lincoln were, I have been reading a lot about this. Happy one moment then moody and testy the next. I also preferred things done in a military way, my bed made in a certain way, my food prepared in a certain way…

In other words you were a handful…

Very. Very very much! It must have been a challenge for her and I think I wore her patience out.

How do the old guards at the golf club take all this?

These old men are very understanding because they have been through it all. They always say “don’t let one event in your life define who you are because life isn’t defined by an event, life contains a series of events, all unique.” Unsurprisingly, it’s the young guys who judge me.

Who are your greatest influencers?

People who are religious; pastors, my bible study leader. Also, men who have made mistakes and owned up to them; like Former Us president Bill Clinton. I don’t allow jokers or people who are careless about life near me.

You are born-again, I take it?

Yes. Life has ironed me out properly.

Twice you have tried this marriage thing [first was a come-we-stay], will you marry again?

Yes. Of course. I have faith in love.

Maybe she is reading this, what are you looking for?

A quiet and gentle spirit. She could be a professor or a cleaner, but I want a quiet and gentle person. A woman who doesn’t have a problem submitting to a man.

One who can listen to what God says about life and what her husband wants for the family. A woman like Ruth or Naomi from the bible.

You are looking for a needle in a haystack, my friend.

(Laughs loudly). It’s possible. I know it’s possible.