Now he sits behind a mahogony table in a wood-panelled office, but when he was a boy, Helb boss Charles Ringera went barefoot.
Ringera had many dreams in life but being CEO of the Higher Education Loan Board was not among them.
He has worked there since March 2013; earlier he was a banker for 23 years.
Away from Anniversary Towers, Ringera is an ardent Arsenal fan.
“I watch the English Premier League, I even tweet about it, I am an ardent fan of Arsenal and we are even in trouble right now,” Ringera told the Star in an interview.
On Sundays, Ringera spends time with his family attending church service after which they retreat for family hangouts.
He is married with two sons and a daughter.
Ringera was lucky to have benefitted from the ‘boom’ back in the day, though not directly.
“My brother who had actually benefited from boom saw me through high school,” Ringera said.
Ringera recalls being enrolled in a primary school almost three kilometres from his home.
He would take four trips in a day, reporting to Giakando District Education School in Meru, go for lunch at home and return in the evening.
At noon, when he would go back home to have lunch, his bare feet burnt because the ground was scorching.
“We need trees in that area because there are some days when the soil is so hot that walking is a problem,” Ringera said.
This forced him to walk on the sides of the road where there were trees and his feet could at least not be burned.
His parents could not afford a pair of shoes for him but that didn't keep him from learning. In Class 7 he was appointed school captain.
This position came with a free pair of shoes, as well as titles and privileges.
The young man from Giakando’s dream shone brighter when he received a scholarship to study for an undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom.
Today, his job as Helb boss comes with a lot of pressure from beneficiaries who fail to receive their loans on time.
He does not dream of collecting bad loans or disbursing loans. He is always worried about the huge number of students who for some reason miss out on them.
“When I see a student borrowing and there is no other source of income, and we can’t fulfil his or her needs, that pains me,” he said.
Ringera said he feels bad when imagining the number of students who might drop out of school due to a lack of fees.
The Helb boss formerly worked as a regulator with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
While at CBK he worked at the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC).
He then moved to Co-operative Bank in 2004 and worked for two years. He later moved to KCB for eight years.
(Edited by V. Graham)
“WATCH: The latest videos from the Star”