Maxwell, the reformed party animal on spiritual journey

Dr Maxwell Okoth, Founder of Ruai Family Hospital. FILE PHOTO | POOL

In every walk of life, there are people whose greatest gift is being the most confident person in the room. Their success is unquestionable, and you can’t pinpoint why.

What do they actually do? How do they do it? Are they smart or just lucky? Is it anything beyond just looking the part?

Dr Maxwell Okoth is one such man. There are many adjectives you could use to describe the 36-year-old founder of Ruai Family Hospital (RFH): Fun? Perhaps. Funny? Periodically. Pedantic, even.

But what you can’t say is that he is boring. Contrary. He is the life of the party. When he turns up, things go down. But, he says, those days are crucially coming to an end.

Now he is into Lego sets and long drives, that is, when he is not in Zanzibar, which he says, balances his chi.

Prior to founding RFH, he served in various roles in the public health sector, his last being the Deputy Director of Health Services and Medical Superintendent of Mutuini Hospital in Nairobi County where he spearheaded the upgrade of the facility to a level four hospital.

He is a graduate of Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) from the University of Nairobi, Certified Public Accounts from Strathmore College of Accountancy, Managing Healthcare Business from Strathmore University, Stanford Seed Transformation Programme from Stanford Graduate School of Business and Senior Executive Programme from Harvard Business School.

He is a man’s man, and the only time he betrays a flicker of testiness is when his phone rings.

In the attic is a GLD radio, one of those spoils of war that remained from campus, a reminder of his dogged days in downtown Luthuli Ave, where he became a shadow supplier.

“It’s just here for the sentimentality,” he says, just like the Legos he loves to solve. Not that he loves his TVs less but he loves his Lego sets more.

What’s the favourite part about your home?

My bedroom because I love to sleep haha! That or my attic, where I can play with my son and bond with my daughter when I am not cracking my head at these Lego sets.

What led you to Lego sets?

I had an uncle—a high school teacher—who liked me. Whenever I visited him, I would make them. The Lego sets then were quite big pieces and not very affordable.

Then about four years ago I rekindled the habit. Lego sets stimulate your brain. My son is a gamer but I am steadily recruiting him, like that movie, Inception hehe!

What else are you into?

I’ve changed a lot. Maybe it’s ageing but I used to drive a lot. I’d even take part in driving competitions, which were dangerous. I remember one day leaving the house with a car and coming back with my things in a recycling bag.

My wife was like, “Do you know you are a father now?” That has a way of bringing your head back from the clouds.

I like photography and I am trying to go back to collecting art, a habit I picked in campus. I won’t lie, I have been a party animal. Dancing is my thing—give me afro beats, give me amapiano and watch me put the ‘I’ in dancing.

Are you the life of the party?

Let’s just say if I join a table and we are two, by the time I am done it will be a full table.

Tell me about your Saturdays?

Oh, I love driving. I used to have a driver but somehow this became my private time. I’ll pick the car and find myself in Ndakaini, Tatu City or even Thika, mostly alone, sometimes with my sons.

What do you enjoy most about fatherhood?

It’s the best thing I ever did. My children are my compass, my true north. I believe the biggest legacy that defines us is our children. I want to dedicate this phase of my life to them.

How has fatherhood changed you?

I am more responsible for sure. Maybe it also comes with age but I have cut down on partying. You know, sometimes being successful early in life is a curse.

My children are an alarm clock when I wander off that primrose path.

How do you make time for yourself amid all these roads you are taking?

It’s a tricky balancing act because I like to show up for my people. Before I was available to everyone, you would call me at 10pm, and I’d get up and come.

But I learned that most people were not genuine—it’s what they can get from me. My phone had become a switchboard until I decided to focus on what was important, my family.

I stepped down as CEO and now I have found myself drawing closer to God. Being busy is not necessarily a synonym for productivity.

Does that explain why your phone is always ringing? Do you ever put it away?

In the past no. But in the last six months, there were about two weeks I switched it off completely. I’d wonder ‘God forbid I die tomorrow, will the hospital close?’ No.

I also have a life to live. But I am a work in progress. As you can see I am always on my phone. It is easier to find me on WhatsApp. And I have two, actually, three lines.

You give yourself to a lot of people. What do you take from them?

I used to treat myself but realised it was all superficial. For instance, I love watches, shoes, and cars. You think you are looking for happiness in them but it’s all vanity, especially since I get bored fast.

But God has been faithful to me. I have been lucky. I made a covenant with God in Standard 8 at a pit latrine—if God makes me successful, I will turn the other cheek. A promise is a debt.

I like to pay my debts. “Dawa ya deni ni kulipa,” no? So I am working on a foundation to mentor young people and send the elevator back down.

When you think of the weekend what food comes to mind?

I love Indian (butter naan and butter chicken at Diamond Plaza) and Chinese food at Garden City—sizzling beef and egg rice is my favourite meal.

Exquisite. No nyama choma because 90 percent of nyama choma joints don’t know what they are doing.

Are you a reader?

I like captivating books. If by the tenth page, I am not drawn in, I drop it. My real library is audiobooks, great for a drive.

My current read is The Key Man: The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale by Simon Clark and Will Louch. It’s like a movie.

Are you a planner or spontaneous?

Spontaneous. My family knows I can call them at 3am and tell them we are going to Zanzibar. Actually, wait, I have done that.

Short and tee-shirt. You trust your legs?

I trust my legs now. It is what it is. You do you, I’m going to do me. Haha!

Are you happy?

Relatively. Happiness is by the moment. It’s life, there is always something.

Share a hack to make weekends better?

I don’t advertise this, but I am one of those guys who can sleep a whole weekend. From Saturday morning to Monday. No guilt, no shame.

But to your question: this thing called work, it’s not all about work. Sometimes you just need to take it easy. Let your weekend be about you, then your family.

You don’t have to work daily, then on weekends go to a kamugunda (farm). No. Take a breather. Give yourself time. What makes you, you? Do that.

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