President William Ruto’s inner circle now includes two sons-in-law from outside Kenya, each arriving with a résumé that stands entirely on its own merit.
His eldest daughter June married Nigerian-born legal scholar Dr Alexander Paul Ezenagu in May 2021, in a ceremony at the Ruto family home in Karen, Nairobi, that wove together Kalenjin and Igbo traditions.
His daughter Charlene followed five years later, marrying Tanzanian tech entrepreneur Isaya Yunge at a Koito ceremony in Kilgoris in August with their white wedding held in Mwanza on November 6.
What are Ezenagu’s qualifications?
Ezenagu’s academic record is among the most impressive in the family. He earned a first-class LLB from the University of Ibadan in 2010, then pursued an LLM in commercial law at Cambridge and a doctorate in international tax law from McGill University in Canada.
His professional life started at Templars, a prominent Lagos law firm, before he moved into research at the International Centre for Tax and Development in the UK between 2017 and 2020.
He subsequently held an assistant professorship at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, where he taught subjects ranging from the law of taxation to entrepreneurship law.
Since relocating to Nairobi, Ezenagu has founded Sapient Consulting Group, a professional firm operating across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the DRC.
In September 2023, Strathmore University Business School appointed him as its inaugural Director of the AfCFTA Policy and Development Hub, recognising his expertise in international trade and investment law.
He tends to avoid public attention. One of his rare visible appearances was alongside June at Charlene’s Koito ceremony in Kilgoris. June herself has forged a career in diplomacy, serving as Kenya’s Chargé d’Affaires in Poland.
How much is Isaya Yunge worth?
Yunge’s backstory is markedly different. Born on March 23, 1990, in Mwanza, he grew up with his grandmother after his parents separated, spending part of his childhood herding cattle and working near rice plantations. He started school late, at age seven.
As a teenager he tutored street children in English and mathematics, and helped establish a radio segment on Radio Free Africa to amplify their voices. That community work led to him being named a UNICEF African Youth Ambassador at 17 and selected as a Junior 8 delegate who represented African youth at a summit held alongside the G8 meeting in Berlin in 2007.
He later earned a degree in Insurance and Risk Management from the Institute of Finance Management in Dar es Salaam, supplemented by training at the Swedish Institute on sustainable business models and studies in Leading Change at Cambridge. He is also reported to speak fluent Chinese.
His business ventures centre on education technology and African innovation. As co-founder and CEO of SomaApps Technologies, he built SomaApp, a mobile platform that has reportedly connected more than 7,000 young Africans with local and international scholarships.
He has also founded KAYA, an AI-powered smart speaker designed to gather Africa-focused data, and Somafit, a smartwatch that monitors health indicators including blood pressure in real time. Since 2019, he has served as Chief Entrepreneur at GOODSAM Technologies, which is reportedly developing the REX 300, described as Africa’s first affordable premium smartphone.
His accolades include winning the GSMA Mobile Money Africa Hackathon’s Best Startup in Africa award in 2017, a Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 listing in 2018, the Queen’s Young Leaders Award from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace also in 2018, and an Ashoka Fellowship in 2019.
Media estimates place his business portfolio at between $3 million (KSh 389.9 million) and $5 million (KSh 649.8 million), though Yunge himself has not publicly confirmed any net worth figure. Both men have continued building their own careers independently of State House since joining the first family.
