Asian businessmen have dominated the busines landscape in East Africa for a long time and have progressed up the corporate ladder through their enterprise and hard work. Aly-Khan Satchu, a Kenyan-Asian financial analyst believes that Asian-owned companies have been embedded in the African ecosystem for more than a century.
“For example, my family came to east Africa in the 1880s. This longevity has given
Asian businesses an advantage in what remains
an asymmetric African landscape,” he says.
Africa is witnessing a second wave of Asian investments such as Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel that took over the sub-Saharan African assets of Kuwait-based mobile company Zain.
According to Satchu, one of the reasons behind the success of Asian businesses is their ability to leverage family human capital effectively. “I also think Asian businesses have a ‘live meagre, dream big’ philosophy as Kenyan industrialist Manu Chandaria once put it,” says Satchu.Here are a few outstanding African businesses with Asian roots.
Naushad Merali
Kenyan businessman Naushad Merali (d. 2021) founded the Sameer Group, a major conglomerate with interests in agriculture, construction, IT, and finance. His entrepreneurial journey began at age 24 in the 1970s when he purchased and transformed Ryce Motors. A landmark achievement was co-founding mobile provider Kencell with French giant Vivendi; its 2004 sale to Celtel netted him a $20 million profit. Merali also held a major stake in Bharti Airtel Kenya until 2014. With a $370 million net worth in 2015, Forbes ranked him Kenya’s third-richest man. His other massive investments included the Grand Regency Hotel, Kenya Data Networks, and multiple regional processing plants.
Sudhir Ruparelia
Sudhir Ruparelia is the founder of the Ruparelia Group, Uganda’s largest and most diverse conglomerate. He entered the business world by importing beer and salt from Kenya, later transitioning into the lucrative foreign exchange market with Crane Forex Bureau. This massive success led to the 1995 establishment of Crane Bank, which quickly became one of Uganda’s top financial institutions. Organizing his expanding real estate, banking, and hotel ventures under the Ruparelia Group allowed for rapid growth. Valued at an estimated $1.2 billion, he is widely recognized for profoundly impacting Uganda’s economy and education sector.
Mayur Madhvani
Mayur Madhvani leads the Madhvani Group, Uganda’s largest sugar producer, which generates over $500 million in annual revenue. The family’s flagship enterprise, Kakira Sugar Works, produces 165,000 metric tonnes of sugar yearly—accounting for 47% of Uganda’s total production. The group also owns the country's second-largest producer, Kinyara Sugar Works. Under Mayur’s innovative guidance, the conglomerate has heavily diversified into power generation (including a 52-megawatt co-generation plant at Kakira), ethanol distillation, hotels, resorts, and security services.
Dhiren Chandaria
Following 24 years in North America, successful Kenyan entrepreneur Dhiren Chandaria returned home to acquire Orbit Chemicals, which is now Kenya’s largest contract manufacturer. Orbit serves top-tier multinational clients, including Unilever, Colgate, Reckitt, PZ Cussons, and L’Oreal. Chandaria also owns Ariel Foods, a premier manufacturer of therapeutic food for malnourished children. With advanced facilities in Kenya and Nigeria, Ariel Foods stands out as a major supplier of ready-to-use therapeutic food to the World Food Programme.
Sunil Vaswani
Born in Jaipur in 1963, Nigerian billionaire Sunil Vaswani is the chairman of the Dubai-based Stallion Group. Taking over his family’s Nigerian trading business at age 21, Vaswani expanded it into a massive global enterprise. Today, the group generates $4 billion annually, operating across the automobile, food, and petrochemical sectors throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Despite facing legal challenges in 2003, his immense success continued; Forbes estimated his net worth at $1.6 billion in 2020.
Narendra Raval Guru
Narendra “Guru” Raval is the founder of Devki Group, East Africa’s largest steel and cement manufacturer. Moving to Kenya as a teenager, he launched his steel business in 1986 and rapidly expanded into multiple industrial sectors. By 2015, his success earned him recognition from Forbes as the 2nd richest Kenyan and the 46th richest African, with the Devki Group valued at $650 million. Beyond his business empire, Raval is a deeply committed philanthropist who has pledged to donate half of his wealth to charitable causes.
Bhimji Depar Shah
Born in Cairo in 1931, Bhimji Depar Shah is the founder of Bidco Africa, one of East Africa’s foremost manufacturing groups. Starting with a single petrol station in Kenya, Shah shifted into soap production and later edible oils. By 1991, Bidco had aggressively expanded into a variety of consumer goods. Today, the conglomerate generates over $500 million annually with operations spanning 13 African countries. In 2015, Shah’s net worth was estimated at $700 million, officially making him Kenya’s wealthiest individual.
Manu Chandaria
Nairobi-born Manu Chandaria (b. 1929) is the senior member of the Comcraft Group, an industrial powerhouse valued at $2.5 billion. Operating in over 40 countries, the conglomerate produces steel, plastics, and aluminum products across 16 African nations and employs an international workforce of over 30,000. Chandaria’s monumental success in business is equaled by his philanthropic legacy. He has received numerous accolades for his work, most notably being awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003.
Ramesh Hathiramani
Ramesh Hathiramani is the founder of the Dana Group, a leading Nigerian conglomerate with prominent interests in aviation, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, and automobile distribution. Beginning his entrepreneurial journey in general merchandise during the 1970s, Hathiramani successfully pivoted into pharmaceutical manufacturing by the mid-1980s. Today, the group's automotive arm, Dana Motors, serves as the exclusive distributor for Kia vehicles in Nigeria. Furthermore, the Dana Group owns the popular commercial airline Dana Air.
Bashir Currimjee
Bashir Currimjee is a central figure in the Currimjee Group, a diversified Mauritian conglomerate founded in 1890 by his grandfather. Evolving from a small livestock feed and commodity trading business, the family empire now spans telecom, IT, real estate, hospitality, and energy. The Currimjee Group's major assets include Emtel, the island’s second-largest mobile telecom operator, and MC Vision, the country’s leading digital pay-TV provider, solidifying the family's enduring regional influence.
Vinay and Ratan Mahtani
Brothers Vinay and Ratan Mahtani lead the Churchgate Group, founded in 1968 by their father, Ishwardas Mahtani. Originally a dominant textile manufacturer, Churchgate strategically pivoted in 1995 when the Nigerian government lifted protections on local textiles. Ceasing textile operations, the brothers focused on leasing their extensive warehouse properties and spearheading real estate development. Today, Churchgate is a premier real estate firm celebrated for projects such as The World Trade Center in Abuja.
Vivian Reddy
South African businessman Vivian Reddy founded the Edison Power Group, one of the nation's largest electrical engineering service providers. Growing a small firm into an industry titan, Reddy secured massive municipal contracts, including a landmark deal with the City of Johannesburg. He has since built a diverse empire encompassing property development (such as Durban's multimillion-dollar Ocean Mall), casinos, healthcare, and financial services. Reddy remains a highly influential economic figure and a dedicated philanthropist.
Ylias Akbaraly
Ylias Akbaraly chairs Groupe Sipromad and serves as President of Thomson Broadcast. Over the last 20 years, he transformed his family’s business into one of Madagascar’s most influential companies, growing its workforce to over 3,000 employees. The group operates in renewable energy, real estate, aviation, tourism, and finance. Acquiring Thomson Broadcast in 2018 solidified his global reach across countries like France and Ghana. Akbaraly aims to build the Indian Ocean's tallest tower to cement Madagascar as an economic hub.
Amirali Karmali
Amirali "Mukwano" Karmali (d. 2019) was a trailblazing Ugandan industrialist who founded the Mukwano Group of Companies in 1986. Generating over $230 million annually, the East African conglomerate spans banking, real estate, plastics, logistics, and FMCG manufacturing. His flagship Mukwano Industries dominated the market with cooking oils, soaps, and detergents. A major landowner with 17,000 acres in Masindi, Karmali was awarded Uganda’s prestigious Order of the Nile in 2011 for his enterprise development.
Ramesh Valechha
Ramesh Valechha chairs the Milan Group, a business conglomerate he founded in Nigeria four decades ago. Originally a simple commodity trading firm, it has evolved into a diversified multinational corporation operating across Africa, Dubai, India, and the UK. The Milan Group's extensive portfolio covers automobile and tire distribution, shipping, consumer goods, and real estate, notably owning the prestigious Lagos Continental Hotel. Recently, Valechha’s empire faced a major setback when AMCON initiated bankruptcy proceedings against him in 2024.
Iqbal Survé
South African billionaire Iqbal Survé chairs Sekunjalo Investment Holdings. Founded in 1997, the group boasts over 200 investments across Sub-Saharan Africa in sectors like energy, healthcare, and financial services. Survé also chairs Independent Media, one of the country's largest media houses. With a personal fortune estimated at $1 billion, his career has seen high-profile disputes, notably with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). He is widely recognized for his philanthropy, supporting disaster relief and black-owned businesses.
Benoy Berry
Benoy Berry founded the Contec Global Group in 1984, establishing it as a pioneer in security technology and biometric identification. Through a long-standing partnership with the Nigerian government, Contec developed secure technologies for passports and resident cards. Berry oversaw Nigeria's 1999 Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien Card project. A naturalized Nigerian citizen, Berry has aggressively expanded Contec’s portfolio to include major ventures in hospitality, agriculture, and alternative energy infrastructure.
Raj and Alok Gupta
Brothers Raj and Alok Gupta lead African Industries, a premier Nigerian conglomerate heavily invested in mining, chemicals, real estate, and steel manufacturing. Recognized as Nigeria’s largest steel producer, the company employs over 4,000 people from more than 10 countries. Guided by the mentorship of their father, Pk Gupta, Chairman Raj and Managing Director Alok successfully drove the conglomerate's international expansion, resulting in massive growth in both revenue and corporate assets.<
