MOHAMMED Dewji: wins Africa CEO of the year.

MOHAMMED Dewji, Group CEO of Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited (MeTL) has taken home this year’s prestigious CEO of The Year award.

Mr Dewji, Africa’s youngest billionaire, becomes the first Tanzanian to win the coveted Africa CEO of the Year Award issued by African CEO Forum, which held its two-day annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

He beat off competition from business heavyweights across the continent, which brought in compatriot Said Salim Bakhresa, to take home one of the biggest awards in Africa’s private sector at a gala dinner on the first day of the Africa CEO Forum.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Dewji thanked the organisers and jurors saying he was “humbled and honoured for this fantastic recognition”. He also thanked President John Magufuli for his relentless fight against corruption.

Dewji, the 20th richest man in Africa, is responsible for increasing MeTL’s revenues from $30 million to over $1.4 billion between 1999 and 2016. The firm has investments in manufacturing, agriculture, trading, finance, mobile telephony, insurance, real estate, transport and logistics, and food and beverages.

The group conducts business in eleven countries and employs over 28,000 people with the aim to target over 100,000 people by 2021. Dewji also became the first Tanzanian on the cover of Forbes Magazine in 2013 and has been featured on three separate occasions.

In November 2015, he was recognized as the Forbes African Person of the year. A Senegalese, Anta Babacar Ngom Bathily, was crowned ‘Young CEO of the Year’ in Africa for her remarkable leadership skills as Executive Director of Sedima, Senegal’s leading agribusiness group.

This category was created at last year’s Forum, to recognize a promising young African business leader under 45 years old. Receiving the award, Ms Ngom Bathily dedicated her award to “all women and young women” as well as to her father, who was present at the ceremony.

Egypt-based Elsewedy Electric received the African Company of The Year award, and African Bank of the Year award went to Morocco’s leading Attijariwafa Bank, ranked Africa’s fourth largest bank. The Private Equity Investor of the Year award was given to AfricInvest, a Tunisia-based firm dedicated to the international expansion of French SMEs in Africa.

The International Corporation of the Year Award was jointly won by German insurer Allianz and Portuguese company Mota-Engil, which has been working in Africa for over two decades.

Each year, the Africa CEO Forum is attended by more than 800 people in total, including over 500 CEOs from all four corners of the continent, 100 bankers and financiers, and 200 prominent African and international figures.

Written by :DAILY NEWS REPORTER