Nice City: Where Family Legacy Meets Rural Transformation

By ABN Staff June 20, 2025

Nice City: Where Family Legacy Meets Rural Transformation

From a single rice mill to a thriving rural business hub

Where It All Began

Driving into Mwea along the Embu-Nairobi highway, you’re greeted by endless green rice fields a beautiful yet deceptive scene. Beneath the lush landscape lay deep challenges for local rice farmers.

“In the 2000s, farmers were really poor here in Mwea,” recalls Joel Kariuki. “They would farm rice but had no money.”

At the time, limited rice milling capacity meant low returns for farmers. Despite Mwea’s fame as Kenya’s rice capital, the growers saw little reward.

A Family Steps In

After experimenting with different businesses, Charles Njiru, alongside his wife Catherine, set up a rice mill. But this wasn’t just any mill—it included storage for traders and a space to sell rice directly to travelers.

This simple but structured market became a game changer. Farmers could now earn more, travelers accessed affordable rice, and Njiru’s business flourished.

Planting the Seeds of a City

Over the next 11 years, Nice Rice Millers sparked the birth of Nice Digital City—a vibrant commercial hub that has transformed Mwea into a key stopover for travelers.

Inspired by visits to China, Dubai, and Australia, the Njiru family saw how integrated service centers could uplift entire communities. They came home determined to build one of their own.

Nice City: Where Family Legacy Meets Rural Transformation

What Nice City Offers

Today, Nice Digital City features:

Two award-winning Shell petrol stations
The Nice Rice Millers headquarters
A supermarket
A DTB Bank branch
High-volume M-PESA outlets
Vehicle rescue services and mechanics
Conference and hotel facilities
A fun park, swimming pool, gym, salon, and barber shop
Ample secure parking

M-PESA: The Backbone of Business at Nice

At the heart of Nice Digital City’s success is M-PESA, which has revolutionized the way transactions are done—both for the business and the customers.

“Without services like Lipa na M-PESA, we wouldn’t be where we are,” says Kariuki. “Back then, people came, promised to pay, and disappeared. Now, we track every transaction.”

Beyond convenience, M-PESA introduced transparency and accountability. Shopkeepers and stall operators no longer deal in risky cash transactions. Instead, they receive real-time payments, reducing theft and speeding up cash flow cycles.

Today, the two M-PESA outlets at Nice handle high volumes of daily transactions, serving not just businesses but also travelers, locals, and farmers. It’s not just a payment platform—it’s a financial enabler. M-PESA allows small-scale traders to build digital transaction histories, which can eventually be used to access credit or grow their businesses.

Moreover, services like Lipa na M-PESA Till Numbers have made it easier for micro-retailers within the City to accept payments professionally—building customer trust and creating a seamless commercial experience.

In many ways, M-PESA has become the silent infrastructure that powers the city—connecting the rice fields to the retail tills, the mechanic shops to the supermarket counters.

A City Within a City

Nice Digital City has become one of Kenya’s most unique rural business models—a place where community, commerce, and technology converge. Locals proudly call it “a city within a city.”

What’s Next: Feeding More Families

Looking ahead, the family is expanding into the maize value chain. Their upcoming product, Nice Extra Premium maize flour, is in the final stages of production. This next step aims to enhance food security while delivering the same trusted quality they’ve built with rice.