Mohammed Dewji, the richest man in Tanzania, has been named the ‘Person Of The Year’ by Forbes Africa, a licensed franchise of Forbes.
The annual Forbes Africa Person of the Year Awards was inaugurated in 2012 and seeks to honor the individual who, for better or worse, has had the most influence on business on the continent. Since its inception, some of the individuals who have won the award include James Mwangi, the CEO of Kenya’s Equity Bank; Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank; and Africa’s richest man, Nigerian cement tycoon Aliko Dangote.
Dewji, 40, is the fourth man to be named Person of the Year. He clinched the honor after beating other nominees, who included Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the wife of South Africa’s President; Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari; Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Arumna Oteh, a Nigerian technocrat and Vice President of the World Bank.
Mohammed Dewji, popularly known as Mo, is the CEO of Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania (MeTL), one of the largest industrial conglomerates in East Africa, with interests in manufacturing, distribution, trading, haulage, storage and real estate. The company was founded by his father, Gulam Dewji, in the 1970s as a commodities trading house, but when the younger Dewji returned to Tanzania after pursuing a business degree in the United States, he joined the business. He bought government-owned manufacturing facilities in the textiles and edible oils industries and built METL into a $1.2 billion (revenues) company. The company is now active in East, Southern and Central Africa.
While accepting his award at a ceremony which was held last Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dewji dedicated the Person Of The Year Award to his employees and to Tanzania’s youth.
“This is not my award; it is neither for my wife, father, mother or any member of my family, but for Tanzanians who have been employed in my company or are working in my farms,” he said.
Dewji was formerly a member of parliament in Tanzania but retired from active politics in early 2015 after serving for two terms. He is the founder and financier of the Mo Dewji Foundation, a philanthropy that provides scholarships for poor Tanzanian children.
Dewji is worth $1.1bn according to FORBES’ recent list of Africa’s 50 Richest People.