Brother B, as he is referred to by his close friends and fellow artistes, was born in Asembo, Siaya County, but grew up in Nairobi’s Eastlands at a city council housing estate.
He schooled at Jogoo Road Primary School and thereafter joined Eastleigh High School, albeit briefly.
His mother, a civil servant who has worked in the Transport and Tourism ministries, was convinced that a more exclusive school was what her first born needed to permanently shut the door on scarcity.
She used up her savings to transfer the young man to St Mary’s School in Nairobi when he was in Form Two, thrusting him into an unfamiliar world where he rubbed shoulders with the sons of society’s privileged families.
President Uhuru Kenyatta was his senior at the institution.
After completing secondary school in 1981, Mr Odhiambo joined Charles Coldham School at the Nairobi Aboretum to pursue his A-level studies, after which, due to a lack of funds, “he went into the hustle”.
He moved to the Mombasa and joined different bands including Safari Sounds Band, kicking off his now stellar career in the showbiz industry.
“I used to sleep on the seat of a Combi (Volkswagen) inside the practice house of the Safari Sounds Band after band member Rishad Chuli took pity on me,” he told the Daily Nation in an earlier interview.
He left this band in 1992 and, with tens of international performances under his belt, flew to Switzerland where for two years he performed with several other bands even as he honed his productions skills.
When he returned home, he was employed at a marketing company but he also did his production work under the Johari Cleff name without a physical location until it became a full-time entity in 1998.
Johari is Swahili for a gemstone mined at sea while Cleff is musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes.
In 2011, Mr Odhiambo enrolled to pursue an online sales and marketing undergraduate degree (and subsequently masters) in India’s Mangalore University.
The producer, who was part of The National Alliance’s (TNA) 2013 General Election campaign machinery, also works as an events organiser and media consultant.
Johari Cleff organised President Kenyatta’s inauguration ceremony at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. Mr Odhiambo is presently the communications adviser for the First Lady’s Beyond Zero campaign.
These high profile engagements, the fact that he attended St Mary’s with the President, his subsequent appointment as YEF chairperson have ceaselessly seen Mr Odhiambo’s name mentioned in the same breath as that of the head of State.
The single father of one daughter and a son was appointed by Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2014 to head Youth Enterprise Fund board for three years.
“There was talk that the only reason I got the chairmanship job was because I was with him in the same school.
If that was the case, I should be the most privileged of all students who went to St Mary’s,” he says.
Mr Odhiambo describes the President as “a friend just like he is a friend of all Kenyans”, adding that the only reason his company secured the jobs is because he is “the best events organiser in the country.”
His proven track record of working with the youth over nearly three decades got him the YEF job, he adds.
Former President Mwai Kibaki established the YEF in 2006 to provide loans to youth enterprises to enable them start businesses and help reduce unemployment.
The noble idea was to see young people, in the 18-to-35-year age bracket, access funds at a highly discounted interest rates.
Since its formation, the Fund has used up billions of taxpayers’ money with minimal returns to be reported, if the many critics of the programme are to be believed.
One thing the Fund has not had a scarcity of, however, is scandals. Almost every year after its conceptualisation, the programme has been enveloped by dishonour, a state that has seen it play host to several CEOs and chairpersons in its short existence.
Mr Odhiambo, who has no regrets over taking up the job, opines that the reason for high turnover and conflict is that some of the Fund’s leaders are not “pulling in the same direction”.