There is a tall building along Biashara street in Nairobi that houses a hotel bearing a name that has left many people confused what it entails.
The name is “After 40 Hotel” and to many people, the investor intended to accommodate customers aged 40 years and above.
Others think the owner named it so having built it when he/she attained the age of 40.
However, these are not the cases, a fascinating story is behind the naming.
The hotel is owned by billionaire Esther Muchemi who is the CEO of family-owned Samchi Group of Companies.
According to Esther the name is spiritual and it captures the tribulations she went through to reach there, having lost her husband Major General Muchemi in 2007.
“The number 40 is mentioned 146 times in the Bible, mostly in connection with trials and tribulations before the dawn of promise” Esther says.
Explaining; “I was neither interested in the times before 40 (of which I had my fair share) nor at 40 but rather the period after 40 which signifies triumph. So ‘After 40 Hotel’ it became”.
The name they thought first was M&H (Standing for Milk and Honey) but it happened that it was similar with UK’s H&M stores.
The After 40 Hotel has 63 luxury rooms, a restaurant, lounge and six meeting rooms. Its major customers are tourists and other foreigners arriving in Kenya.
