EP 33: Thomas Njeru: On leaving the prestige of the Big 4, pursuing impact, and scaling Pula across 18 countries

Send us Fan MailIn this conversation, I sit down with Thomas Njeru, co-founder and CEO of Pula Advisors, to unpack his remarkable journey from growing up on a farm in rural Kenya to becoming an actuary, rising to director at Deloitte, and ultimately walking away from the corporate world to build for impact. We discuss how he co-founded Pula to provide agricultural insurance for smallholder farmers, scaling it to 18 countries and reaching over 20 million farmers. Thomas shares hard-earned lessons on building a resilient team, navigating expansion across continents, and what it really takes to raise a $20 million Series B in a tough fundraising climate.Thomas pursued actuarial science at the University of Nairobi and later earned an MBA from Strathmore Business School. Before founding Pula, he held senior roles at UAP-Old Mutual and Deloitte South Africa, where he honed his expertise in risk and insurance. In 2023, he was first runner-up in the Africa's Business Heroes competition, and in 2024, he was featured on the TIME100 Next list. That same year, Pula raised a $20 million Series B round led by BlueOrchard’s InsuResilience strategy.