Kenya’s billionaire’s club is largely dominated by known family names such as the Kenyatta family, Chandaria family and Moi family among others. Beyond such known names, Kenya is also home to little-known families that own vast business empires. Here are three ghost billionaire families that are controlling Kenya’s economy in silence.
Kenya’s billionaire’s club is largely dominated by known family names such as the Kenyatta family, Chandaria family and Moi family among others. Beyond such known names, Kenya is also home to little-known families that own vast business empires. Here are three ghost billionaire families that are controlling Kenya’s economy in silence.
The Merali Family
For decades, the Merali family has maintained a strong investment portfolio in banking, hospitality and manufacturing. Since the family is rarely seen flashing on social media, they are little-known among most Kenyans.
While the Merali family operates through company holdings, they rarely appear on Kenya’s list of richest families, even though they possess massive wealth. The family is even hailed for lending money to the government of Kenya.
The Ndegwa Family
Philip Ndegwa is the late governor of the Central Bank of Kenya. Though he passed away years ago, his sons own a defining stake at the NCBA Bank. One of his sons, James Ndegwa is the Bank’s board Chairperson. James is also a major stakeholder at Unga Group, owning 50.9 percent stake of the company.
Surprisingly, even though this family also owns prime real estate projects in Nairobi and a large shipping company, they rarely appear in Kenya’s headlines.
The Kinyua Family
This family runs extensive business ventures including logistics and clearing & forwarding agencies at Kenya’s Mombasa port. Despite remaining low-key, especially on social media, the family is said to ship high-value containers through the port, where the family controls most of the shipping lines.
While typical Kenyan billionaires keep exposing their fortunes to the public, these three families continue to enrich their investment portfolio in silence. Perhaps they subscribe to the adage that, ‘Wealth is similar to a secret, the more it is known, the harder it is to keep.’