Key Factors
- Tanzania’s financial system is booming, with GDP anticipated to develop 6% in 2025, pushed by infrastructure tasks, personal funding, and a powerful tourism rebound.
- Mohammed Dewji, Tanzania’s richest particular person, leads MeTL Group, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate spanning agriculture, manufacturing, and finance.
- Mohammed Dewji, Rostam Aziz, and Mentioned Bakhresa lead Tanzania’s industrial growth, shaping key sectors like manufacturing, telecom, and power.
Tanzania, East Africa’s second-largest financial system, is experiencing a interval of fast progress, pushed by a mixture of private-sector growth and main government-led infrastructure tasks.
Whereas usually in comparison with its regional counterpart, Kenya, Tanzania is charting its personal course, attracting international capital into key sectors like manufacturing, banking, telecommunications, agriculture, and tourism. The nation additionally holds a novel distinction—it’s residence to East Africa’s solely greenback billionaire, Mohammed Dewji, whose MeTL Group spans industries from agro-processing to client items.
Regardless of financial challenges—from lingering post-pandemic results to fluctuating commodity costs—Tanzania’s financial system has remained resilient. GDP is anticipated to develop by 6 percent this year, supported by a rebound in tourism, large-scale infrastructure developments, and rising personal funding in finance, power, and agribusiness.
Behind this financial upswing are the nation’s wealthiest people—industrialists, financiers, and entrepreneurs who’re shaping Tanzania’s future. Mohammed Dewji, Africa’s youngest billionaire, continues to dominate manufacturing and commerce by MeTL Group’s huge operations. Rostam Aziz, identified for protecting a low profile whereas making high-impact investments, has expanded past telecommunications into power, mining, and actual property, solidifying his affect in Tanzania’s industrial sector.
The monetary panorama can be evolving, with digital banking and fintech improvements making monetary providers extra accessible. Platforms like NALA are streamlining transactions, whereas the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), now valued at Tsh19.22 trillion ($7.38 billion), stays a key driver of capital progress and wealth creation.
As Tanzania’s financial system strikes ahead, its strongest enterprise leaders are on the helm—steering investments, reshaping industries, and driving long-term growth. Billionaires.Africa has compiled a definitive rating of the ten richest people in Tanzania, highlighting their investments, affect, and position within the nation’s ongoing transformation.
- Mohammed Dewji
Web Value: $2.2 billion
Mohammed Dewji, CEO of Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania (MeTL) Group, is Tanzania’s richest man, with a net worth of $2.2 billion. He owns a majority stake in MeTL, one among East Africa’s largest industrial conglomerates, working in 11 nations throughout sectors starting from agriculture to monetary providers. Below his management, MeTL contributes 3 p.c of Tanzania’s GDP and generates greater than $2 billion in annual income.
Past enterprise, Dewji is a devoted philanthropist. By means of the Mo Dewji Basis, he funds scholarships and social packages aimed toward bettering schooling and healthcare. In 2023, he launched a $4-billion agriculture undertaking, backed by growth banks, to strengthen Africa’s meals safety. The initiative, which might embody soybean and sugar plantations, goals for long-term returns whereas serving to the continent turn out to be extra self-sufficient in meals manufacturing.
Dewji’s journey to changing into Africa’s youngest billionaire, as named by Forbes in 2015, started with remodeling MeTL from a buying and selling agency into a producing powerhouse. Right now, the group owns property like twenty first Century Textiles, East Coast Oils and Fat, and A-One Merchandise and Bottlers, cementing his legacy as one among Africa’s most influential enterprise leaders.
- Rostam Aziz
Web Value: $700 million
Rostam Aziz, Tanzania’s first billionaire, has constructed a various empire spanning telecoms, power, aviation, media, and mining. After promoting his 35% stake in Vodacom Tanzania for almost $500 million, he turned his focus to increasing his holdings by Selous LLC, his Dubai-based household workplace.
His telecom property embody MIC Tanzania, a three way partnership with Malagasy businessman Hassanein Hiridjee’s Axian Group, giving him stakes in Tigo Tanzania and Zantel. In power, he owns Taifa Fuel, the nation’s largest LPG distributor, with operations in Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan. He additionally controls Caspian Restricted, Tanzania’s dominant mining contractor, and has pursuits in media, aviation, and conservation. Aziz owns Swahili-language writer New Habari (2006) Ltd., Coastal Aviation, one among Tanzania’s high safari airways, and Wembere Searching Safaris, which manages elite personal searching concessions.
Within the manufacturing sector, his $25-million Taifa Leather-based manufacturing unit in Morogoro is Tanzania’s largest leather-based processor. Whereas he retains a low profile, his strategic investments proceed to form Tanzania’s financial system. Although Forbes final estimated his net worth at $900 million in 2015, Billionaires.Africa now values his fortune at $700 million.
- Mentioned Bakhresa
Web price: $400 million
Mentioned Bakhresa, one among Africa’s most profitable industrialists, constructed his fortune from humble beginnings. He began with a small restaurant within the Nineteen Seventies and regularly expanded right into a enterprise empire that now spans greater than 40 corporations throughout East and Southern Africa.
His flagship firm, Mentioned Salim Bakhresa & Firm Restricted, dominates Tanzania’s wheat milling and logistics sectors. He additionally owns Azam TV, a serious competitor to MultiChoice within the pay-TV market, and AzamPay, a fintech firm driving digital funds in East Africa. His pursuits lengthen to hospitality with Resort Verde Zanzibar, in addition to marine and aviation transport by Azam Marine and Azam Aviation.
Forbes last valued his net worth at $600 million in 2015, however Billionaires.Africa now estimates it at $400 million. Regardless of the shortage of a current Forbes replace, Bakhresa stays a serious drive in Tanzania’s financial system.
- Jacqueline Mengi
Web price: $300 million
Jacqueline Mengi, widow of the late media tycoon Reginald Mengi, is Tanzania’s richest lady and a strong drive in enterprise. After her husband’s passing in 2019, she took over an unlimited empire spanning media, bottling, mining, and manufacturing.
IPP Media Group, one among Africa’s largest media conglomerates, operates newspapers, radio and tv stations, and digital platforms. Bonite Bottlers, the unique Coca-Cola bottler in northern Tanzania, and Kilimanjaro Water, the nation’s best-selling bottled water model, are key components of her portfolio. Her mining firm, IPP Sources, has pursuits in gold, uranium, copper, and coal.
Past enterprise, she is understood for her philanthropic efforts and advocacy for girls’s empowerment. She continues her late husband’s legacy, overseeing tasks like a stem cell analysis middle and an car meeting plant. Her web price, inherited from her husband’s estate, is estimated at $300 million.
- Ally Edha Awadh
Web Value: $180 million
Ally Edha Awadh, the founder and CEO of Lake Group, has turned his firm into one among East and Central Africa’s fastest-growing power and logistics conglomerates. Beginning with a small gasoline distribution enterprise in 2006, he has since constructed a diversified industrial empire.
Lake Group is a serious participant in petroleum buying and selling, storage, and distribution, with operations in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi. The corporate owns over 400 tankers and strategically positioned oil storage terminals, reinforcing its affect within the area’s power market.
Past power, Awadh has expanded into the liquefied petroleum gasoline (LPG) sector with Lake Fuel and ventured into manufacturing with Center East Prepared Combine LLC and a metal manufacturing plant. His enterprise pursuits additionally lengthen internationally, with investments within the UAE and Canada. From flipping burgers as a pupil in Canada to main a billion-dollar firm, Awadh’s success displays his sharp enterprise acumen.
- Edha Nahdi
Web Value: $120 million
Edha Nahdi, the Managing Director of Amsons Group, has constructed a strong fame in East Africa’s enterprise world, main one of many area’s most diversified conglomerates.
His journey as an entrepreneur began early—at simply 19, he based Camel Oil Tanzania, a petroleum firm that turned the muse for what would later develop into an unlimited enterprise empire. Through the years, he expanded Amsons Group into petroleum, cement manufacturing, actual property, and logistics, turning it into a serious drive in East Africa’s financial system.
A defining second in Nahdi’s profession was the $182-million acquisition of Bamburi Cement, Kenya’s largest cement producer. The deal not solely strengthened Amsons Group’s presence within the development supplies business but additionally strengthened Nahdi’s affect within the area’s industrial sector. By taking on Bamburi, the corporate secured a dominant place in East Africa’s cement market, benefiting from elevated manufacturing capability and an in depth distribution community.
With Nahdi on the helm, Amsons Group continues to develop, utilizing its numerous enterprise portfolio to broaden throughout a number of industries. His capacity to navigate complicated markets and execute main acquisitions has established him as one among East Africa’s most influential enterprise leaders.
- Seif Ali Seif
Web Value: $90 million
Seif Ali Seif, the reclusive Tanzanian tycoon behind Tremendous Group, has constructed a sprawling enterprise empire with annual revenues exceeding $200 million. Although he avoids the highlight, his affect is felt throughout a number of industries, together with sugar manufacturing, logistics, and manufacturing.
His firm, Kagera Sugar Restricted, is Tanzania’s third-largest sugar producer, whereas Mtibwa Sugar Property is one other key participant out there. His logistics agency, Famous person Forwarders, operates a fleet of over 200 vans, guaranteeing a powerful presence in regional commerce.
Seif additionally has a stake in manufacturing, proudly owning Superdoll Trailer Manufacture, Pipes Industries Co. Ltd., and Superretread Tyres Co. Ltd. His low profile contrasts along with his far-reaching impression on Tanzania’s industrial panorama.
- Michael Shirima
Web Value: $45 million
Tanzanian entrepreneur Michael Shirima is the founder and key shareholder of Precision Air Companies, one of many nation’s main airways. He began the corporate in 1993 as a small personal constitution service, regularly increasing it right into a full-fledged business airline. Right now, Precision Air connects main cities in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and past, enjoying a vital position in East Africa’s aviation business.
Because the airline’s largest particular person shareholder, Shirima holds a 42.91% stake. Whereas the corporate has confronted challenges, together with fluctuating gasoline costs and regulatory hurdles, it stays an important a part of Tanzania’s transport community, serving each enterprise and leisure vacationers.
Past aviation, Shirima has prolonged his investments into the economic sector. He owns a 2.92 p.c stake in TOL Gases, Tanzania’s main producer and distributor of business and medical gases akin to oxygen, nitrogen, acetylene, and carbon dioxide. The corporate provides important gases to hospitals, beverage corporations, and manufacturing industries, making it a key participant within the nation’s healthcare and industrial sectors.
By means of his ventures in each transportation and industrial manufacturing, Shirima has established himself as an influential determine in Tanzania’s enterprise panorama, contributing to the nation’s financial progress and infrastructure growth.
- Ketan Patel
Web Value: $25 million
Ketan Patel, a Tanzanian gold magnate, has established himself as a serious drive in East Africa’s mining business. He’s the founding father of Shanta Gold Restricted, a London-listed gold producer with a powerful foothold in Tanzania’s mineral-rich areas. Since its launch in 2001, the corporate has secured exploration licenses protecting 1,100 sq. kilometers, making it a key participant within the nation’s gold sector.
Patel owns a 4.22 p.c stake in Shanta Gold, totaling 44,274,017 shares, with an estimated market worth of $8.33 million. His affect within the business is anchored in Shanta Gold’s flagship operation, the New Luika Gold Mine in southwestern Tanzania, which has constantly delivered tens of 1000’s of ounces of gold yearly. The corporate has additionally expanded its footprint with the Singida Gold Undertaking, additional strengthening Patel’s presence within the sector.
Regardless of market fluctuations, Patel stays a driving drive in Tanzania’s mining business, leveraging his experience and strategic investments. Past gold, he has diversified into actual property and personal fairness, additional rising his wealth. With a web price of $15 million, he’s amongst Tanzania’s most outstanding enterprise figures.
- Patrick Schegg
Web Value: $20 million
Patrick Schegg, a former hedge fund supervisor, is without doubt one of the most influential buyers on the Dar es Salaam Inventory Trade (DSE). With a pointy eye for market alternatives, he has constructed a powerful portfolio by strategic stakes in Tanzania’s high monetary establishments, making him a key participant in East Africa’s inventory market.
Schegg owns a 1.94 p.c stake in CRDB Financial institution, amounting to 50,754,057 shares with an estimated market worth of Tsh38.07 billion ($14.61 million). CRDB, one among Tanzania’s largest banks, has seen robust progress lately, pushed by an increasing banking sector, elevated digital adoption, and regional growth efforts.
Along with CRDB, Schegg holds a 0.99 p.c stake in NMB Financial institution, one other main monetary establishment in Tanzania. With these two main holdings, his whole portfolio is valued at $23.5 million, reinforcing his standing as one of the important personal buyers on the DSE.
Although he retains a low public profile, Schegg’s funding strikes replicate a deep understanding of Tanzania’s monetary sector. His confidence within the nation’s banking business speaks by his holdings, positioning him as a serious drive out there.
