One day, a family friend came to their home, and Ashish sold him his personal computer, making a profit of about Sh8,600. “I then got convinced I could make a lot of money in IT. I dropped out of school after finally convincing my family that this was temporary and I was just testing the waters. If business did not work out, I would go back to school — the option is still open, 17 years down the line,” he laughs.
“I convinced my dad to borrow $5,000 (Sh500,000 at current exchange rates) from friends, and I used the money to travel to Dubai on weekends to stock up on computers, hard disks and motherboards, among other items.” Ashish cashed in on the “Africa Rising” wave of democracy, globalisation and technology that was sweeping across the continent in the early 2000s.
With the help of his parents, the last born with two elder sisters, Ahuti and Rona, branched out and started offering credit to other businessmen. Today, Ashish is the founder of Mara Group, which has more than 10,000 employees across 22 African countries (as well as UAE and India). The company’s annual turnover is in excess of $100 million (Sh8.76 billion), and according to the Financial Times, the Mara Group is valued at “slightly above” $1 billion (Sh87.6 billion).
“Mara has its tentacles in banking, real estate, IT and agriculture. We offer a wide range of products through Riley Packaging (a leading East African packaging company), Atlas Mara (a bank founded in partnership with former Barclays Bank UK boss Bob Diamond), Mara Ison (a pan-African IT services company) and Ison BPO (a pan-African business process outsourcing company), among so many other businesses.” Getting a salary Ashish says he started taking home a salary two years ago after it dawned on him that his business had come of age. “I take home about $5,000 — the same amount I borrowed to kick-start my business,” he says.
“As cheesy as it sounds, I like using my life to make a difference in the lives of other people. I have gone through the phase where people isolate you because you do not have anything. If you do well, with a clean heart, you will flourish.” Ashish begins to dole out his nuggets of wisdom as he sips on green tea, explaining that he used several tactics to change his perception of life at a young age to prosper. “On the advice of my elders, I took the right steps, such as registering my business and being part of the formal sector. I paid taxes, I started building a track record so I could get loans. Thinking short term is futile, I learnt; think long term.” He credits his determination to think differently from others as a key reason for his success.
“I was persistent even when they refused to offer me credit; I questioned this and refused to accept the norm. If I had got comfortable, I’d still be a small-time businessman trying to grow,” he says.
How is he able to run his empire “I don’t juggle, I just pretend to be smart, yet I don’t run anything. I oversee my fantastic team of smart, empowered individuals who help me run the organisation. I’m involved in strategy and spearheading growth,” he says.
Spiritual teachings
Ashish says his visit to Kenya is purely to catch up with friends and is not business related. However, his companies, such as Ison BPO, Dodhia Packaging and the Mara Foundation, are scaling up in the country.