Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji eyes regional growth and industrial expansion

Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji met with Nedbank Group Chairman Daniel Mminele in Dar es Salaam to discuss ways African lenders and private companies can work together to fund cross-border business expansion and job creation.

The talks, held at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre, centered on expanding access to commercial credit for local enterprises operating across sub-Saharan Africa. 

“We exchanged perspectives on investment, access to capital and the role of strong African institutions in supporting businesses that create jobs, build industries and drive long-term economic growth,” Dewji, the executive chairman of MeTL Group, said in a statement on social media on Aug. 18.

Strategic bilateral talks target industrial liquidity

The meeting followed Dewji’s keynote address at the Standard Bank Africa Unlocked Conference in Cape Town, where the industrialist urged founders and executives to form cross-border commercial alliances.

“There is something powerful about meeting like-minded individuals, sharing experiences, exchanging ideas and finding practical ways to unlock more opportunities for African businesses,” Dewji said.

While the executives did not announce a formal financing deal or joint venture, the talks highlight how major corporate groups are working directly with regional commercial banks to fund heavy industrial projects. Mminele leads the board of Nedbank Group, one of South Africa’s four largest financial institutions by assets.

African conglomerate drives industrial expansion

Founded as a trading enterprise in the 1970s by Dewji’s father, Gulamabbas Dewji, MeTL has grown into one of East Africa’s largest private conglomerates, operating across agriculture, food processing, logistics, energy and manufacturing. Since Dewji took over daily operations in 2005, the group’s annual revenue has climbed from $30 million to more than $2 billion.

The conglomerate is now putting capital to work in natural resources and consumer goods. In Cape Town, Dewji outlined a $250 million plan to build a graphite processing plant in Tanzania. The facility is scheduled to open within the next year, with an initial output target of roughly 50,000 metric tons annually at 95 percent purity.

MeTL deploys $50 million bottling plant

MeTL is also committing $50 million to set up a soft-drink bottling plant in Mombasa, Kenya. The site will produce its flagship brand, Mo Cola, taking on established global suppliers Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. in the East African packaged-goods market.

“Success on this continent is rarely about finding the path of least resistance,” Dewji told delegates in Cape Town. “It is about having the courage to keep building, the resilience to keep adapting and the discipline to keep moving forward, long before the results are visible.”