Mohammed “Mo” Gulamabbas Dewji, popularly known as Mohammed Dewji, is a Tanzanian billionaire businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, and former politician.
Devji is the owner and CEO of Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited (MeTL Group), East Africa’s largest indigenous industrial company.
Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji is planning to expand his beverage business into Kenya with a KSh6.5 billion ($50 million) soft drinks plant in Mombasa through his MeTL Group.
The facility will produce a range of drinks, including Mo Cola, which he intends to sell at about KSh15 per 300ml bottle, well below the roughly KSh40 price of competing brands.
The move is designed to appeal to price-sensitive consumers and widen access to soft drinks for millions who see them as an occasional purchase.
Dewji is seeking to replicate the success of his low-cost model in Tanzania, where Mo Cola gained market share, and is positioning the Kenya entry to build volume through affordability while taking on established players like Coca-Cola.
Background
Mohammed Dewji was born in 1975 in Singida, central Tanzania, and comes from a family of Gujarati Indian origin from the Khoja Ithna-Asheri Muslim community. His ancestors migrated to East Africa in the late 19th century as traders.
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Dewji has in the past recounted being born in a mud house and facing life-threatening complications at birth.
“I was the second child out of six born at home with a midwife. They never had the ultrasound system and it was complicated because the umbilical cord was around my neck, and it took about 18 hours for me to make it through. The hospital was 60 miles away, but the road was terrible. I thank the Lord and my mom who struggled, but that is my history,” Dewji said in a past interview earlier.
His father, Gulamabbas Dewji, later built and expanded a small family trading business into a growing commodities enterprise.
Dewji started his education in Tanzania, attending school in Arusha and later the International School of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam.
He continued his studies in the United States, attending several institutions before completing a bachelor’s degree in international business and finance, with a minor in Theology, at Georgetown University in 1998.
Mohammed Dewji Business Career
Dewji returned to Tanzania after graduating and joined the family business, where he took on leadership roles, serving as Chief Financial Officer before becoming Chief Executive Officer.
Under his leadership, MeTL Group transformed from a commodities trading firm with about $30 million in revenue into a diversified company generating billions in annual revenue.
The group operates in several African countries, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique, and employs tens of thousands of people.
Part of Dewji’s strategy has been to produce affordable products that ordinary people, especially those with low and middle incomes, can easily buy.
This includes basic commodities such as cooking oil, sugar, flour, and beverages.
He also capitalized on Tanzania’s privatization drive in the early 2000s, acquiring underperforming state-owned companies at low cost and turning them into profitable ventures.
Dewji has always shared ambitions to grow MeTL into a global-scale African multinational while creating tens of thousands of jobs across the continent.
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Political Career
In addition to business, Dewji served in public office as a Member of Parliament for Singida Urban from 2005 to 2015 under Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
He was first elected at a young age and won a strong mandate from voters. However, he stepped down after two terms to focus fully on expanding his business empire.
Philanthropy
In 2016, Mohammed Dewji became one of the first Africans to join the Giving Pledge, committing to donate at least half of his wealth to charitable causes.
He established the Mo Dewji Foundation in 2014, which focuses on education, healthcare, access to clean water, community development, and support for entrepreneurship.
His philanthropic efforts have included building schools, funding scholarships, supporting healthcare initiatives, and providing disaster relief.
Dewji is also involved in sports and is a supporter and co-owner of Simba Sports Club, one of Tanzania’s most successful football teams.
Despite his wealth, he is known for maintaining a relatively low-profile lifestyle and frequently engages with young entrepreneurs through mentorship and public speaking.
Awards and Recognition
Mohammed Dewji was named Forbes Africa Person of the Year in 2015 and has appeared on lists of Africa’s most powerful and influential business leaders.
Dewji has also been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
In 2022, he received an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University and became the first Tanzanian to appear on the cover of Forbes Africa, further cementing his prominence on the continent.
