Twahir Shiekh Said, one of Kenya’s most prominent businessmen, is dead.
According to a report by The Star, the Mombasa-based businessman, who was popularly known as TSS, died on Tuesday at Milpark Hospital in South Africa while undergoing treatment for an undisclosed illness.
Twahir Sheikh Said was the founder of Tahir Sheikh Said (TSS) Unga Millers, one of Kenya’s leading flour milling companies. He was also a prominent philanthropist in Mombasa and helped send hundreds of poor Kenyan children to school.
Said had been going through a rough patch in his business as at the time of his death. Kenyan media reported last year that Said and his companies had non-performing bank loans to the tune of $80 million. In July, the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Kenya’s biggest bank by capitalization, took over a milling company owned by Sheikh Said citing his default on a $10 million loan. The bank also seized a prime piece of land in Mombasa which the Kenyan mogul owned. Kenyan media often called Twahir one of the largest land owners in Kenya, but last year the Kenyan government cancelled title deeds to huge tracts of land in Lamu county that were owned by the tycoon. Some of the affected land was reportedly used to secure loans in excess of $50 million from local banks, and the banks had taken him to court in a bid to seize his other assets.
The tycoon’s body is expected to arrive on Wednesday for burial in Mombasa.
Sheikh Said’s son did not respond to a text message requesting for comment.