Inside Nicholas Biwott’s Business Empire, Properties Owned by His Family

 

Before he died in 2017, he was ranked among the richest Kenyans with investments across diverse sectors. Ventures Financial magazine ranked him among Africa's top 50 billionaires. During the KANU era under the late president Danie Arap Moi's leadership, he was nicknamed Total Man and wielded immense power.  How did Nicholas Biwott accumulate his wealth? 

The Total Man served as a member of parliament for 28 years. He also held different ministerial roles, having been appointed minister in the Ministries of Trade, State, Agriculture, Energy, Home Affairs and Treasury. According to his website nicholasbiwott.com, his business empire began in 1969 when he acquired the Eldoret Town International Harvester (IH) at 29. At the same time, he acquired the Kipsinende dairy farm. During the same period, he built a real estate portfolio in Rift Valley and Nairobi and invested in wheat and maize commercial farming. "He started an import-export food and agriculture business in 1972, bought two wheat farms in 1974 (one of which was the locally renowned Karo Farm), and acquired a small safari aircraft operator in 1977, which became Air Kenya," his website stated. In the 1980s, he had interests in the manufacturing, oil, and banking sectors. 

What did Nicholas Biwott own? Kenol-Kobil shares (now Rubis Energy) Biwott was one of the largest shareholders of the oil marketing company Kenol-Kobil, which was purchased by Rubis Energy in 2019, as announced by the Competition Authority of Kenya. He bought shares at Kenol in 1981, which at the time was an insolvent publicly listed oil firm. For 38 years before local and international investors took over, he rebuilt and slowly grew the company to one of Africa’s largest downstream oil companies. HZ Company Business Daily reported that Biwott owned HZ company which monopolised road contracts in Kenya. According to the publication, he used his government's connections to bag huge tenders. Using the company, he invested in construction and property development. Other companies owned by Biwott Business Today noted that the wealthy politician owned over 30 companies. These included: Premier Group of Companies. Pete Aviation and Electronics Ltd. Ziba Management & Services. HZ Group of Companies in Israel. Lima Kenya   BY TUKO NEWS