Ashish J. Thakkar. By Ojijo Ogillo

 

He is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company at the age of 15. Ashish considers himself a native son of Africa with strong Indian roots, of British nationality and a resident of the UAE. Ashish J. Thakkar emerged the first African ever to be named in Fortune Magazine’s prestigious annual 40 Under 40 list which features young hotshots around the globe who are leading businesses as diverse as air travel, natural gas, and genetic coding, as well as government. Born in the United Kingdom, Ashish and his family moved back to Africa after surviving the historic Rwandan genocide and generational exile of African families. He grew up in the UK and Uganda and now lives in Dubai.

Ashish devotes much of his energy to commercial and philanthropic initiatives in Africa. He has also been appointed on the advisory panels to several heads of state in sub-Saharan Africa and is also a team member of the Commonwealth Business Council and COMESA. Ashish has been profiled by several publications and media outlets including Forbes, The Economist, CNN, Africa Business Journal, Ventures Africa, San Jose Mercury, Reuters and the BBC.

 

The culmination of Ashish J. Thakkar's business achievements has been instituting Mara Foundation, the nonprofit social enterprise of Mara Group which focuses on emerging African entrepreneurs. The Foundation works to create sustainable economic and business development opportunities for young business owners via its Mara Launchpad incubation centres and Mara Launch Fund.

His company, Mara Group, a 16 year-old pan-African multi-sector business conglomerate with perations in 26 countries spanning four continents. Mara’s current businesses operate in a broad range of sectors including information technology (IT) services, business process outsourcing (BPO), a multi-faceted mobile-enabled online platform, agriculture, real estate, hospitality, packaging and asset management.

Mara Group has received global recognition for its achievements and contributions not only in Africa but also worldwide. In 2010, Mara Group was identified by the World Economic Forum as a dynamic high-growth company with the potential to be a driving force for economic and social change. Ashish J. Thakkar was appointed as a World Economic Forum Global Young Leader.

In the near future, Ashish J. Thakkar will represent East Africa on Virgin Galactic's mission into space, thereby making him Africa’s second astronaut.In 1996, Ashish borrowed $6,000 to start his first IT company whereby he bought and sold computers. Within a year, he transitioned from a high school student to a full-time entrepreneur.

Ashish J. Thakkar has earned an unprecedented amount of international press recognition in recent times for his remarkable business success and his work in grooming young African entrepreneurs. And he has a remarkable story. After surviving the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Ashish moved to Kampala, Uganda with his family. During High School in Kampala, Ashish began selling computers to his classmates and friends.

That computer trading business formed the earliest foundation of the Mara Group – a Pan-African conglomerate that is actively involved in everything from manufacturing to agriculture to property development and Information Technology. The group has total assets in excess of $1 billion and over 7,500 employees across 21 African countries.

The group’s charity arm, the Mara Foundation focuses on entrepreneurship and education. Among other things, the Mara Foundation provides comprehensive support services including mentorship, funding, incubation center workspace and business training to African entrepreneurs mainly in East Africa.

Ashish is truly putting Africa on the map and getting Africa recognized globally in a postivie sense.

(Ojijo is a lawyer, author, poet, pianist, business coach, career mentor, public speaker & strategic planning consultant:+256776100059: ojijo@allpublicspakers.com)