Despite being an anti-social person, billionaire businessman and entrepreneur Paul Ndung’u is considered one of the most respected billionaires in Kenya. His outstanding achievements have shown that his road to acquiring such massive wealth is a long time coming.
The 52-year-old billionaire earned his bachelor’s degree from the United States International University in Kenya and has public wealth of over $422,367.
Paul Ndung’u started his first job at Uchumi Supermarkets in 1991 as an accountant, a position he held for two years before joining Pioneer Assurance, formerly known as Pioneer General Assurance.
There he held two positions as chief accountant and investment officer and honed his skills as a stock picker.
He is among the top shareholders in KenyaAirways, Kenya Re, Home Afrika, Crown Paints, Real Estate Finance, Uchumi Supermarkets, Olympia and has interests in other public companies. At one point in the 2000s, his portfolio on the NSE peaked at KSh 4 billion.
Kenya’s move to fully liberalize the foreign exchange market in 1994 prompted Ndung’u to embark on the next 1995. After visiting Uganda and finding that the foreign exchange trades were generating large profit margins, Ndung’u started as the owner of a newly established forex office on Kimathi Street in Nairobi up to 15 percent in trades.
He owned two other offices and circumvented the Central Bank’s law prohibiting forex offices from opening branches.
In 2001, he teamed up with a partner to form Mobicom, a merchant that spent a decade riding Safaricom’s wave of success. With 42 outlets nationwide, Mobicom quickly became one of Kenya’s leading telecommunications companies, offering retail and wholesale scratch cards, phones and other accessories.
During his time at Safaricom, Mr. Ndung’u has been to number of countries and recognized the growth opportunities in the mobile industry, highlighting the cases of Egypt and Uganda which were well ahead of Kenya in mobile telephony at the turn of the century. When the service opened in Kenya, Safaricom was able to penetrate most parts of the country with its services and products, increasing its subscriber base and revenue.
However, his biggest moneymaker was on the NSE. The deals that made him a billionaire happened in the early 2000s. He had bought and sold shares and booked profits on the transactions at a time when the daily price movements at the NSE were unlimited.
Sometime in 2002, Mr Ndung’u decided to place a large bet on Kenya Power shares, which were trading at KSh 1 per share. He felt it was an undervaluation of the company and bought a huge chunk of a million shares. A year later he sold them at a price of 6 KSh each, allowing for 6 KSh. He then combined these earnings with bank loans to make an even larger leveraged bet on Kenya Airways, buying 16 million shares each at a cost of around KSh 6 in 2003.
The price of the stock has skyrocketed between 2005 and 2005, and in 2006 Mr. Ndung’u started selling at around KSh 120 each. From the start of his investment in Kenya Power to his exit from Kenya Airways, his portfolio grew to KSh 2.1 billion.
However, not all of its stock market investing commodities are so profitable. He was a shareholder of CMC Holdings where the boardroom nearly brought the company to a standstill through disputes, corruption and improper accounting. In 2014 he and other investors were bought for 7.5 billion KSh.
In addition, Paul Ndung’u has invested in eight private companies. Private businesses he has founded, acquired or bought include a sports betting company (SportPesa) and G-North & Son, and an agricultural and hospitality equipment dealer he bought from the Philip Ndegwa family.
Speaking about his political views, Mr. PaulNdung’u said he is a businessman and not a politician and it is sad when legitimate business takes place in a political circus. But he certainly has connections to wealthy politicians who he said never helped him land lucrative deals. It was recently alleged that a life care medic at his company was paid KSh 201 million by the Ministry of Health for supplies.
Whether for good reason or out of sheer luck, Mr. Ndung’us fortune has allowed him to form a circle of powerful and high-profile friends, including the family of retired President Mwai Kibaki and current President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Eventually, his unconventional thinking helped him break into the job market, making his businesses lucrative and successful.