{"id":26958,"date":"2023-03-30T10:36:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T10:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders"},"modified":"2023-03-30T12:15:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T12:15:26","slug":"east-africas-top-business-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders","title":{"rendered":"East Africa\u2019s top business leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>A string of troubles have hurt the Tanzanian magnate, who is keeping a lower profile after his kidnapping from Dar es Salaam under mysterious circumstances in October last year.<\/p>\n

In February, the MeTL chief executive was in the crosshairs of President John Magufuli\u2019s government for not developing his company\u2019s farmland. The government took some land back last year and threatened similar actions in February.<\/p>\n

Magufuli\u2019s administration has been taking a tough stance on businesses through its anti-\u00adcorruption campaign and other policies. Mohammed Hamid Pearl picker With interests in agribusiness and transport, the Sudan-born and Uganda-based businessman has made a big move into tourism.<\/p>\n

The 20-storey luxury Pearl of Africa Hotel, opened in 2017 at a cost of $320m and managed by the US firm Wyndham Hotels since October 2018, takes pride of place in Hamid\u2019s Aya group of companies.<\/p>\n

Next on his list Tabitha Karanja Bullish beer brewer keen to expand The chief executive of Kenya\u2019s only locally owned brewery, Keroche Breweries, has her eyes on the region.<\/p>\n

In November 2018, Karanja announced that the firm is interested in expanding its operations to Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Global giant AB InBev announced plans for a $100m plant in Tanzania in March 2018, so the competition is set to be tough.<\/p>\n

Ally Edha Awadh Smooth growth trajectory Young businessman Awadh\u2019s Lake Oil Group, based in Tanzania, is making moves to become a bigger player in the petrol and lubricants market in East Africa.<\/p>\n

It agreed a deal in 2017 to take over the retail operations of Kenya\u2019s Hashi Energy and set up a $20m lubricants factory in Dar es Salaam in October 2018. Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa Up in smoke<\/p>\n

With Pan African Tobacco Group, Ayabatwa is one of the few big Rwandan private-sector business leaders to have a strong presence outside of his home country.<\/p>\n

Pan African, which celebrated 40 years of operations late last year, launched a $20m processing project in Uganda through its Meridian Tobacco subsidiary in 2017.<\/p>\n

It is also active in Angola, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Patrick Bitature Roaring opinions Bitature, owner of Uganda\u2019s Simba Group, may not be winning friends in the Kampala government due to his outspoken positions. He told a conference there in February: \u201cCorruption and weak institutions are killing our economies.<\/p>\n

\u201d He leads the Private Sector Foundation Uganda and has been encouraging the government to get all major multi\u00adnationals to list on the stock exchange to promote local ownership and make sure profits are not disbursed to other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

Juliana Rotich At the Kenyan tech forefront Having co-founded crowdsourcing platform Ushahidi and router company BRCK, Rotich remains focused on innovation.<\/p>\n

Her day job since May 2018 is as the boss of giant German chemical company BASF\u2019s East Africa office, which is located in Nairobi. The firm focuses its activities there on sectors like agriculture, construction and plastics.<\/p>\n

But Rotich keeps busy. She was a member of Kenya\u2019s Distributed Ledgers and Artificial Intelligence Task Force last year and serves on the government\u2019s 2030 Vision Delivery Board to help to plan a developmental strategy for the country.<\/p>\n

Her interests and skills are not limited to tech and science, as she serves on the board of the Standard Group media house since March 2018. Vimal Shah Dual-paced developments<\/p>\n

Shah is the chairman of top Kenyan fast-moving consumer goods company Bidco Africa, which is trying to convince governments in the East African Community to focus on key business problems like non-tariff barriers (see page 59), the lack of cheap electricity and poor infrastructure.<\/p>\n

One of Bidco\u2019s main focuses since 2018 has been in improving its logistics supply chains. Elsewhere, Shah is fighting with other investors in the Tatu City development, and legal proceedings have stopped the big urban development project outside of Nairobi from advancing.<\/p>\n

James Mwangi Change-maker with an eye on digitisation Kenya\u2019s Equity Bank, the country\u2019s largest bank by market value, continues to innovate under Mwangi\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

The bank is embracing agency banking and mobile banking, reporting 108m transactions outside of its branch activity in the first quarter of 2018. Mwangi wants the bank to dive deeper into digitisation.<\/p>\n

While Mwangi has been vocal in his opposition to Kenya\u2019s cap on interest rates on loans because it depresses lending, the bank recorded an 8.1% rise in profits over the first three quarters of 2018, hitting KSh15.8bn ($158m).<\/p>\n

James Mworia Power player Under the leadership of chief executive Mworia \u2013 who has been in the position for nearly a decade \u2013 Kenya\u2019s Centum Investment wants to invest in big infrastructure projects, especially in the power sector.<\/p>\n

Centum is going ahead with testing of geothermal sites in Naivasha after years of delays, and is shopping around for the finance for a $2bn coal-fired plant due to be built by General Electric in Lamu. Centum turned a healthy profit of $24m in the first half of 2018.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. A string of troubles have hurt the Tanzanian magnate, who is keeping a lower profile after his kidnapping from Dar es Salaam under mysterious circumstances in October last year. In February, the MeTL chief executive was in the crosshairs of President John Magufuli\u2019s government for not developing his company\u2019s farmland. The government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[242,233,246,245],"class_list":["post-26958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nEast Africa\u2019s top business leaders - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A string of troubles have hurt the Tanzanian magnate, who is keeping a lower profile after his kidnapping from Dar es Sa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"East Africa\u2019s top business leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A string of troubles have hurt the Tanzanian magnate, who is keeping a lower profile after his kidnapping from Dar es Sa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-30T10:36:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-30T12:15:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1680156553.95.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"East Africa\u2019s top business leaders\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-30T10:36:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-30T12:15:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders\"},\"wordCount\":831,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1680156553.95.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/east-africas-top-business-leaders\",\"name\":\"East Africa\u2019s top business leaders - 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