The following entrepreneurs have built multi-million businesses across East Africa over the years creating employment opportunities to citizens of these countries.
Naushad Merali (Kenya)
Chairman: Sameer Group
Asian-Kenyan millionaire Merali is one of East Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs. He founded and has steered the Sameer Group into one of the region’s leading conglomerates. The Sameer Group has about 15 companies, with major investments in agriculture, construction, power, an export processing zone, information technology, telecommunications, finance and transport. Merali also owns a 5% stake in mobile operator Bharti Airtel Kenya. He is known for a being tactical and astute businessman as well as a philanthropist.
Said Salim Awadh Bakhresa (Tanzania)
Chairman: Bakhresa Group of Companies
Bakhresa dropped out of school at 14. He would later start his own restaurant in the 1970s before venturing into grain milling. Three decades later, his small business venture has grown into a conglomerate of various companies with operations in Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique with plans to expand to other countries.
The Bakhresa Group is the largest producer of wheat flour in east Africa. It also has interests in food and beverages, packaging, logistics and real estate. The group, which is Tanzania’s largest conglomerate, employs more than 2,000 people.
