Billionaire businessman Deepak Kumar Kamani maintains a low profile in a gigantic red-bricked storeyed office in Nairobi’s Industrial Area where he carries out his business.
From the outside, the building looks like an abandoned warehouse. But when the gates open, the plush life of the Kamani family is exposed. The parking bay is full of expensive vehicles. We are walked to the reception on the first floor of a spacious, well-lit elegant room with cream leather seats which dot each office here.
“My boss is a good man,” a secretary tells us. There is an air of opulence, too, and CCTV cameras all over. Every action is closely watched.
For 30 years, and from this building, Mr Kamani built his business empire, clinching deal after deal before the Anglo Leasing saga turned him into a controversial billionaire. He believes he has done nothing to warrant the reputation. Yet, he has remained elusive and unwilling to tell his story.
Even on occasions when the offer was sweet enough to get him to chit-chat on TV talk shows, he declined.
“This is the first interview I’m sitting for in years,” he said as he welcomed us to his office on the second floor with a spacious lounge with light brown carpet. “This carpet is more than 30 years old,” he tells us.
It was a week after Mr Kamani and his brothers launched a fresh bid for a negotiated settlement of Anglo Leasing-type deals that were part of one of Kenya’s biggest public finance scandals.
By avoiding nagging reporters, Mr Kamani’s silent wish, as he told us, has always been to wait first for the case to conclude, and then talk.
As a courtesy — and perhaps to deflect attention away from himself — he always directed persistent journalists to his lawyers for answers to the Sh56 billion security tender deal that sparked uproar in 2004 when it was unearthed.
“Anglo Leasing has been used to cover other political issues that arise time and again. It is always political,” he says.
For the past 10 years, Mr Kamani has been fighting to clear his name. After frequent grilling — at times lasting more than four hours with investigators and what he describes as “harsh media coverage” — he spends a part of his morning scanning through all newspapers to follow the latest developments.
“I have nothing to fear. As long as your conscience is clear then you don’t have to worry. If you have all the facts, there is nothing to worry about,” he says.
Born on July 3, 1953 at Ngara Maternity Hospital, Mr Kamani started working at his father’s auto spare shop at 17 after failing to find hope in education. Although he was a scout leader, his performance in the classroom was dismal.
“I never liked school. I was always last in class. I also failed in swimming,” he says. Defeated, he dropped out at Form Two to join his father, Mr Chamanlal Kamani, at his auto shop in Nairobi’s Tom Mboya Street.
That was in the 1960s. “My dad said I needed professional training and took me to Kenya Polytechnic (now Technical University of Kenya) for training in mechanical work,” he says. At the polytechnic, he registered for part time classes and completed his diploma.
Mr Kamani excelled in selling motor spare parts and his father opened a shop in Mombasa for him. He stayed there for four years (1969-1974) and later returned to Nairobi because “my family was starting to miss me.”
It was this time that he convinced his father to venture into the posho mills business and they started Kamsons Limited — which was short for Kamani & Sons. It was the formation of Kamsons Ltd that would lead the Kamanis into the world of government tenders, big money and later taint the family name.
With Kamsons, they started by tendering to the ministry of Public Works from newspaper adverts. The government tenders were as lucrative as today, but Mr Kamani says there was a shortage of cash since payments took long.
But given the government is the biggest spender, the tender contracts for them were viable. And even in the face of Anglo Leasing scandals, he says he would still do the same. “We are part and parcel of this country. Like any other business we are ready to do it if opportunity arises,” says the businessman who starts his day at 6am with a one-hour walk before breakfast.
He is the chair of Zuri Group Global with interests in real estate, hospitality, project financing, floriculture, hospitality, e-commerce, infrastructure development, renewable energy and power, and defence and national security.
He is a father to two — Daisy, his first daughter, is married to Sameer Group chairman Naushad Merali’s son while Bobby is a businessman. Throughout the interview, Bobby sat watching his father tell the story of his life.
For a man who loves spending time with his grandchildren, Mr Kamani also tells us that he loves going out for dinner when he is not watching his favourite TV series — Arrow, Suits, House of Cards and The Good Wife. He can stay up till 1am.
Kamani’s father first arrived in Kenya in 1950 from Goa. They were not rich and his grandmother sold peplums for survival.
A cousin, then working as a chief accountant for Kenya Police in the British government in Kenya, invited one of Mr Chamanlal’s family members to work in Kenya. Mr Chamanlal, the second born in a family of three, took the chance and arrived in Mombasa with only Sh16 in his pocket. To live in the country, he was required to marry a Kenyan and he was lucky to find a girl in Mombasa.
Mr Chamanlal, as Mr Kamani tells us, started working as a mechanic for several companies including Marshalls East Africa, and later opened an automobiles shop — African Motor Spares.
It’s in this shop that Mr Kamani honed his business skills. It was a long, circuitous road. On taking chairmanship of the company, Mr Kamani sought to diversify investments to hospitality and agriculture and now energy.
He also set up Zuri Group of Hotels which has now become a global brand with five hotels spread out in Kenya, UK and India.
In the UK, the Kamanis took over The Liner, a hotel in Liverpool. This was followed by the construction of Varca, a 154-room hotel in Goa in 2002 where they broke construction record at the time, building the hotel in just 11 months.
He then acquired The Diani Reef Beach Resort & Spa in Mombasa for Sh120 million from a receiver. Kumarakom, Kerala in Goa and Whitefield in Bangalore, India are his other hotels.
But the hotel business has not been particularly rosy. Kamani says he was forced to close one hotel for two years because he noticed that the tap water was acidic and would harm children who drank it. He spent $15 million to fix the problem and renovate the hotel.
Then came the tourist slump and Mr Kamani says he is using the lull to spruce things up. His idea is to construct a conferencing facility and add 100 more rooms. “If the Europeans won’t come, it’s OK. The domestic market is enough,” he says. “With bush and beach, shopping will bring in tourists and revenue to Kenya.”
The Kamanis also run a flower business in Athi River and Nyahururu and they export 90 million roses a year. They also run a family foundation — Kamani Charity Trust, which pays school fees, donates learning materials to the needy and supports eye clinics.
“We learnt giving from my father. He always gave to the poor. It’s something we do quietly. It’s not done for public image,” he said.
