Mohammed Dewji, President, MeTL Group
Mohammed Dewji is a businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former politician. He serves as the President of MeTL Group, a Tanzanian conglomerate founded by his father in the 1970s, where he is the majority owner of the business. Mohammed is single-handedly responsible for increasing MeTL’s revenues from $30 million to over 2 billion between 1999 and 2022. Currently, MeTL group has investments in textiles, energy, petroleum, agriculture, insurance, mobile telephony, transport and logistics, trading, real estate, and food and beverages (edible oils, milling, carbonated soft drinks, water). The group conducts business in 8 countries and employs over 34,800 people. To date, MeTL’s operations contribute ~3.3% of Tanzania’s GDP. Mohammed served as a Member of Parliament from 2005 – 2015 for his home town of Singida, after which he resigned from politics. In 2022, Forbes listed him as the 15 th richest person in Africa, with an estimated net worth of US$1.5 billion. Forbes also described him as the youngest billionaire on the continent for 6 consecutive years. Further, Mohammed was the first Tanzanian billionaire on the cover of Forbes Africa magazine in 2013, and in 2015 was named Forbes Person of the Year. In 2021, Mohammed had the honor of once again being featured on the cover of Forbes Africa for its 10-year anniversary special issue. That same year, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Mohammed to serve on the investment advisory council for the Republic of South Africa, a position Mohammed still holds. In addition to his many endeavors in business, Mohammed has demonstrated an exemplary record of contributing to the well-being of the people of his country via the Mo Dewji Foundation, which he established in 2014. The scope of his contributions covers education, health, community development, water accessibility and gender empowerment. In 2016, Mohammed joined the Giving Pledge – an initiative started by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. This pledge aims to address society's most pressing problems by inviting the world's wealthiest individuals and families to commit over half of their wealth to philanthropy either during their lifetime or after. Mohammed is the first Tanzanian and one of few Africans to have made the pledge. He is now a part of a community of 150+ Giving Pledge billionaires, some of whom include Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg. Mohammed is also an investor in football, with a 49% stake in Simba Sports Club, the largest and most popular sports club in Tanzania. Since his USD$ 20 million investment 4 years ago, the club has made it to the quarterfinals of the African Champions league, and is now ranked one of the top 20 clubs in the continent.