Some of the family businesses that have collapsed in Kenya

Kenyans have witnessed several cases where the first generation builds an enterprise from scratch, and the second generation propels it like a meteor, only for the third generation to quickly extinguish it.

Here are some of Kenya’s big family businesses that have collapsed in the recent past.

Tuskys Chap Chap on Muindi Mbingu Street closed. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

1. Tuskys

• Founded by Joram Kamau, now deceased
• The retailer, once a success story, crumbled as debts, family feuds and mismanagement took a toll on the business
• Covid-19 only served to make a bad situation worse, making Tuskys shut branches and lay off workers to remain a shell

2. Nakumatt

• Founded by the Atul Shah family
• Grew into one of the most profitable supermarkets in Kenya
• Gross annual revenue was about Sh48.5 billion in 2015.
• Mismanagement, debt and uncontrolled expansion sank the retailer

Employees of Nakumatt Supermarket in Eldoret ponder the next move after the workers found the doors of the building premises closed in the morning without notice on November 4, 2017. [File, Standard]

3. Akamba Bus

• Founded by Sherali Hassan Nathoo
• Nathoo died in 2000 and his shares were bequeathed to his wife and two sons
• Sibling rivalry, debt and mismanagement drove the company into trouble
• Its properties, including buses, were auctioned to pay debts

4. ARM Cement

• Founded in 1974 by Harjivandas J. Paunrana, now late
• Was one of East and Central Africa’s largest cement producers with operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa
• Pradeep Paunrana took over from his father and embarked on expansion
• Debt and mismanagement drove ARM into administration in August 2018

Compiled by The Standard Checkpoint.