Indian-origin billionaire survived 9 days in captivity. His roots lie in a small shop
Mohammed Dewji's family began with a small retail shop in Tanzania, selling everyday essentials in affordable quantities. Generations later, he transformed the family trading business into MeTL Group, a diversified African conglomerate spanning manufacturing, food processing, textiles and other industries.
Before Mohammed Dewji became one of Africa’s richest businessmen, his family sold everyday essentials from a small shop in Tanzania. His grandmother bought goods such as sugar and divided them into smaller quantities that customers could afford. His father, Gulamabbas Dewji, later expanded the operation into a trading company. When Dewji joined the family business in 1999, he saw an opportunity to take it further.
Instead of importing finished products, he wanted to manufacture the goods Tanzanians were already buying. That decision helped transform MeTL Group from a trading operation into a diversified conglomerate spanning soap, flour, edible oils, beverages, textiles and other industries. 1 billion in October 2026, although his wealth is distinct from the revenue and value of the family business. The story began generations earlier, when his ancestors migrated from Gujarat to East Africa in search of better opportunities.
The family’s progression from retail to trading and eventually manufacturing laid the foundations for the business Dewji helped expand across African markets. From Gujarat to Zanzibar in Tanzania Dewji has traced his family’s roots to Gujarat, in western India. In an interview with Tharawat Magazine, he recalled that his great-great-grandfather sailed from India in a dhow and arrived in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous island region of Tanzania.
“We are originally from India,” he told the publication. In a 2024 interview with African Business, Dewji described how members of his family settled in Zanzibar and mainland East Africa before moving inland to Singida, a town in central Tanzania. Picture credit: LinkedIn His grandmother established a small retail business selling everyday goods in affordable quantities. His father, Gulamabbas, subsequently expanded the operation into an import-export trading house.
MeTL’s own history also traces its early operations to trading before the company moved more heavily into manufacturing. Dewji therefore inherited an established family enterprise rather than starting a business from scratch. His contribution was to change its business model and expand its reach. The $30 million business he returned to Dewji studied finance and international business at Georgetown University in the United States, with a minor in theology.
He returned to Tanzania in 1999 and joined the family business, which had annual revenue of about $30 million, according to the World Economic Forum. “Trading makes a decent amount of money, but I’ve always felt it is too passive. We were importing soap, which to me was ridiculous. Why import soap? Why couldn’t we manufacture the soap ourselves?” he told Forbes. The company already had commercial relationships and distribution networks.
Dewji saw an opportunity to use that foundation to produce goods locally instead of relying on imports. Picture credit: LinkedIn In an interview with BBC, he explained the thinking behind the shift: households needed everyday products such as soap, flour and cooking oil regardless of their purchasing power. “Somebody wakes up in the morning. He wants to shower. He needs to use soap. So I started manufacturing soap,” he said.
MeTL subsequently expanded into grain milling and edible-oil refining, among other activities. The strategy was to manufacture products that consumers already bought regularly and use the company’s existing distribution network to bring them to market. This changed MeTL’s role in the supply chain. Instead of earning money primarily by sourcing and selling goods, it could invest in factories, control production and develop its own products.
How manufacturing transformed MeTL Group MeTL’s expansion coincided with changes in Tanzania’s economy. According to the company’s official history, it increased its focus on local manufacturing and regional trade in the late 1990s. Acquisitions in the early 2000s helped it expand further as the government privatised some state-owned enterprises. The group diversified into food processing, textiles, beverages, agriculture, energy, petroleum and logistics.
The financial figures illustrate the scale of its growth. The World Economic Forum reported that MeTL’s revenue increased from $30 million in 1999 to more than $2 billion in 2022. In a 2024 interview with African Business, Dewji said the group expected revenue to reach $3 billion in 2023. That was a reported expectation, not an independently verified result. MeTL says it employs around 37,000 people.
The figure should be treated as a company-reported estimate, as workforce numbers can vary by reporting period and source. Picture credit: LinkedIn Diversification has allowed the group to operate across multiple industries, but it also brings challenges, including managing supply chains, regulations, capital requirements and market conditions across countries. Its original trading business provided knowledge of local demand and distribution.
Manufacturing enabled it to take a greater role in supplying that demand. Politics, a kidnapping and a commitment to philanthropy Over time, Dewji expanded his career from business to politics. He served in Tanzania’s Parliament from 2005 to 2015, representing Singida-Urban, and established the Mo Dewji Foundation in 2014. The foundation focuses on areas including education, healthcare and access to clean water.
In October 2018, armed men abducted him outside a hotel in Dar es Salaam. He was released nine days later. Dewji later described the ordeal in an interview with African Business. “I was blindfolded for nine days with two people and there were times that I thought I was going blind or crazy,” he said. He has also spoken about the need to improve access to essential services. In an interview with MarcoPolis, he recalled seeing an elderly man collecting yellow water for drinking in Singida.
The encounter made him think about how he could support services that reached more people. In 2016, Dewji signed the “Giving Pledge”, committing to donate at least half his wealth to charitable causes during his lifetime or through his estate. How a family business became an African conglomerate Dewji’s journey spans several generations. His ancestors migrated from Gujarat to East Africa, his grandmother built a small retail operation, and his father expanded it into a trading company.
Dewji then used that foundation to grow the business through manufacturing, processing and distribution. The defining shift was his decision to produce goods the company had previously imported. By focusing on everyday consumer needs and using an established distribution network, he helped turn a family trading business into a diversified industrial group. His business journey ultimately shows how an established family enterprise can change its direction across generations, using existing commercial relationships to enter manufacturing and expand into new markets.
