AfricaPress-Tanzania: EFFORTS by the government to improve a business and investment climate in the country has been singled out as the major factor behind the clinging of Mohammed Dewji to the top position of 2021 Africa’s youngest billionaires list.
This is the 11th consecutive year Mr Dewji holds to the top spot of Forbes Africa’s youngest billionaires list.
According to the newly released list of Forbes Africa’s billionaires, Mr Dewji has now climbed three positions in the overall list of rich persons on the continent with his $1.6bn wealth.
Last year, Mr Dewji was at the 16th spot of Forbes Africa’s billionaires, but this year he has been placed the 13th spot, meaning that he has climbed three positions. Mr Ali Dangote leads the list with his $12.1bn.
Mr Dewji, who is famous by the name of Mo, heads MeTL Group, a Tanzanian conglomerate founded in the early 1970s.
The company has diversified business by engaging in a number of activities, including textile manufacturing, real estate, transport, logistics, agribusiness, energy, flour milling, beverages, financial services and edible oils in eastern, southern and central Africa.
METL operates in at least six African countries and has ambitions to expand to several more.
Mo Dewji is the only Tanzanian billionaire who signed the giving pledge in 2016, promising to donate at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes.
MeTL Group has employed about 33,000 people and plans to employ about 100,000 people by 2025. Dewji served as Member of the Tanzanian Parliament for CCM from 2005 to 2015 for his home town of Singida.
With a passion in football, Mo Dewji is a major Simba Sports Club investor and serves as the Chair of the Board.
