Naushad N. Merali CBS

The leading Kenya Industrialist was born in 2 January 1951, Nairobi County. He’s behind the successful Sameer Group of Companies (SGC), a conglomerate of companies with huge investments in all sectors of the economy. The company engages in agriculture (Sasini Tea and Coffee Ltd), energy, construction, transport (Sameer Africa Ltd), financial services (Commercial Bank of Africa), Export Processing Zone (EPZ), and information technology (Kenya Data Networks).

He attended Highway Secondary School for his high school and currently serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sameer Group of Companies. He is also the Director of Sasini Ltd. He founded the Kenyan Mobile service provider Kencell (a big rival of Safaricom in its inception) in 2000, along with the French media company Vivendi. He also has a 5% stake of Bharti Airtel’s Kenyan wireless phone operations.

He will be remembered for the boardroom events of 2004, where his business acumen earned him a whooping $20 million profit in an hour. This was after he convinced Vivendi to sell its 60% stake in the company for $230 million and an hour later, he had Celtel buying it for $250 million.

He has previously served as the:

Chairman of the Board and Director of Eveready East Africa Ltd.

Director of Ryce Motors

Director of Celtel International B.V

Director of Zain Africa B.V

He is a member of the:

Kenya Export Promotion Council

The National Investment Council

The World Economic Forum (WEF), Switzerland

The Conference Board, New York

The International Who’s Who of Professionals

He has had the following presidential appointments:

Part of the Committee to review Terms & Conditions of Service for Civil Servants 

Member of the National Poverty Eradication Commission

Member of the Presidential Committee on Employment

He has been criticized to have benefitted from contract secured under Moi’s regime in which he supplied Daihatsu vehicles to state corporations.

Merali is a philanthropic man committing himself through the Zarina and Naushad Merali Foundation. In March 2012 his foundation extended Ksh 100 million donation to the Kenyatta National Hospital Day Care Centre. The foundation also pays bursaries for orphans and needy students notably the Starehe Boys Centre. He is also part of the Asian Foundation Kenya. His wife Mrs. Zarin Merali, who is in the Director Advisory Board of Kenya Paraplegic Organisation is the co-founder of their foundation.

He was awarded with the “Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS).”

In 2011, he was among the ‘10 African Millionaires To Watch’, according to Forbes Magazine.