Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU) was established in 1997, being among the first private universities to be accredited in Tanzania in the year 2000, it has since then received local, regional and international recognition. 
It was the idea of Prof Hubert C.M Kairuki and his wife Mrs Kokushubira Kairuki to establish the University, moved by the situation in Tanzania after independence in 1961, whereby diseases, poverty and ignorance were declared the country's key enemies.