Billionaire Businessman Naushad Merali Dies at 70 – LitKenya

Leading Kenyan businessman Naushad Merali, who built his wealth from diverse investments, including telecommunications, manufacturing, agriculture, banking, and real estate is dead. He was 70.

A statement from Shia Ithna Ashri Jamaat Secretariat in Nairobi broke the news of his death on Saturday morning, 3rd July, without disclosing the cause.

“It is with profound grief and sorrow that we inform you of the sad demise of Dr Naushad Noorali Merali in Nairobi. He was a businessman and owner of Sameer Group,” read the statement.

Merali made his wealth by first purchasing unprofitable companies and turning them around in his formative days as an investor. He would then exit at a profit—sometimes attracting criticism when the new buyers failed to profit from the deal.

In 2015, Forbes ranked him as the third richest man in Kenya and 48th in Africa with a net worth of Ksh39.96 billion ($370 million).  

In recent years, he divested from ICT firms, including Swift Global, Kenya Data Networks, Airtel Kenya (formerly KenCell), and Spire Bank (then Equatorial Commercial Bank)—raking in billions of shillings in the process.

It is these major sell-offs that lifted his profile. That of KenCell and Spire Bank are among the many that stand out.

Merali owned 40 per cent of the Airtel (then KenCell Communications) jointly with its French partner Vivendi in 2000. Three years later, when the French firm decided it was time to leave Kenya, Merali used his pre-emption rights to play one of the smartest boardroom chess games that pitted a number of global telecoms giants –South Africa’s MTN and Celtel– against one another for Vivendi’s stake.

He bought the Vivendi stake in KenCell at $230 million and sold it to a new partner, Celtel International, the very same day for $250 million— earning a sumptuous profit of $20 million.

“I started doing buyouts long before the word became fashionable in Kenya,” he once remarked.

Philanthropy

Merali often shied away from the limelight but was rather proud of the Zarina and Naushad Merali Foundation, a charity he ran together with wife Zarina.

In his message of condolence to the family, President Uhuru Kenyatta eulogised him as a top industrialist whose businesses created thousands of jobs and helped stabilise the economy.

“Merali’s business acumen created thousands of direct and indirect jobs for our people and wealth that helped uplift many of our households from poverty. Alongside his celebrated business exploits, Mr Merali was a philanthropist whose generous giving earned him the ‘Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear’ state commendation,” the President said in a statement.

The businessman is survived by wife Zarina, and children Sameer and Yasmin.

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