Kenyan technology and business communities are in mourning following the tragic death of Mwaura Gathua, the esteemed Chief Executive Officer of Com Twenty One Limited.
Gathua reportedly plunged from the 14th floor of the Alba Gardens apartments along Kasuku Road in Nairobi’s Kilimani neighborhood in the early hours of Tuesday afternoon, December 23, 2025, in what authorities are investigating as a suspected suicide.
Security guards at the upscale residential complex discovered Gathua’s body on the ground floor after hearing a loud thud.
Officers from the Kilimani Police Station and detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) were immediately dispatched to the scene, where an investigation has been launched.
Authorities are currently reviewing CCTV footage and examining the 14th-floor unit to reconstruct his final moments.
Mwaura Gathua was a pivotal figure in Kenya’s “Silicon Savannah,” having founded Com Twenty One at the turn of the millennium in 2000.
Under his leadership, the company grew from a modest startup into a regional Tier-1 powerhouse, specializing in critical infrastructure such as data centers, cybersecurity frameworks, and unified communications systems.
His firm was a key partner for major Kenyan corporations, including Safaricom, KenGen, Kenya Power, and Britam, providing high-level enterprise solutions.
His passing has not only left a void in the ICT sector but has also ignited a crucial conversation about mental health and the often-unseen pressures faced by high-achieving professionals within the corporate world.
The body of the fallen tech titan remains at the mortuary pending a post-mortem examination as colleagues, friends, and family grapple with the profound loss.
