Naushad N. Merali, CBS (2 January 1951 – 3 July 2021) was the founder of the Kenyan mobile service provider Kencell along with French media giant Vivendi.
[2] Merali became famous in an almost folk tale for a corporate boardroom manoeuvre that earned him a $20million dollar profit in one hour thanks to pre-emptive rights of his stake in private Telecom company Kencell Kenya in 2004.
[2] Merali would transfer ownership only an hour later to Celtel for a $20 million profit,[2][10] while owning 5% of Bharti Airtel's Kenyan wireless phone operations.
[2] The Sameer Group is a conglomerate of 15 Kenyan companies that range from financial services to agriculture and even information technology.
[11] Merali's purchase of the Grand Regency Hotel during that year caused a lot of controversy in the Kenya area.
[13] As of September 2011, Kenya Data Networks – one of his business ventures – was facing financial problems and the shareholders were ready to cause a shakedown in the entire management team.
[15] Two of Merali's former firms, Kenya Data Networks and Swift Global were in the process of being merged into Great Britain's Liquid Telecoms as of February 2013.
[18] In September 2016, another company controlled by Merali which was then Kenya's sole tyre manufacturer announced it would cut more than 600 jobs following closure of its factories in favour of imports from China.
[19] In December 2016 Merali invested $4 million in a macadamia plant in Kiambu through another of Sameer group's listed subsidiaries that is one of the largest producers of coffee in Kenya.
His mother's maiden name is assumed to be Patel; a surname occupied by famous Indian businessmen and 33% of all American mid-sized hotel owners.
[26][27] During his lifetime, Merali received coveted Kenyan state commendations of Chief Order of the Burning Spear (CBS.)