Recognizing her entrepreneurial contributions to the socio-economic development of her country, the African Leadership Magazine, UK-based pan-African publication, honoured leading Kenyan businesswoman and Chief Executive Officer of SAMCHI Group Kenya, Dr Esther Muchemi, with the African Business Integrity Award as one of the magazine’s Africa Top 50 Business Integrity Leaders, at The Africa Summit 2020, which took place virtually on Thursday, June 25, 2020.
Muchemi’s leadership of Samchi Group of Companies, a diverse Kenyan conglomerate, spans telecommunications, microfinance, hospitality, real estate, restaurants and ICT. For a period of 16 years, dating back to 1984, Muchemi was employed in the accounting industry as an auditor. In 2000, she quit her regular employment and opened a retail shop on Koinange Street, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, selling Safaricom sim-cards and airtime. Over the years, she slowly expanded her empire into an investment group with nearly a dozen businesses, which include Samchi Telecommunications Limited.
In line with its focus on celebrating achievers and enablers in Africa, the African Leadership magazine, therefore, endorsed Muchemi, from a shortlist of nominees, with the African Business Leadership Award, and voted her company, Samchi Group of Companies in its editorial listing of Top 50 Africa Business Integrity Champions 2020, in celebration of her commitment to integrity, innovation and excellence in business. The magazine highlighted her significant contributions to the transformational growth and development of Kenya’s blossoming telecommunications sector, and her many individuals and corporate efforts in engendering progress in Kenyan communities, especially in the face of the novel Covid-19 pandemic, as the basis for this award.
“I wish to thank the Board and management of African Leadership Magazine for bestowing on me this great award. This gives me even a greater opportunity to continue my contribution to economic development, employment and the overall entrepreneurship innovation and growth in Africa and beyond”, Muchemi said in her acceptance speech. “My company Samchi Group and I are proud to be associated with Africa Leadership Magazine. I am particularly humbled to accept this award, Africa Business Leadership Award as one of the Top 50 Business Integrity Leaders, from this great organization. I am truly delighted and honoured to be here today on this virtual award ceremony.”
The Africa Summit, which had always held in London, United Kingdom took place virtually, this year, as a response to the debate on resetting Africa’s development priorities, post-COVID-19 and to celebrate outstanding organizations and individuals who are leading the recovering process. The 2020 Africa Summit, tagged- COVID-19: Pathways to Africa’s Economic Recovery and Growth, witnessed over 300 registered active participants from the business, political and diplomatic spectrums, and a social media live-streaming to a larger audience, across Africa, United Kingdom and the United States.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland QC, Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, Liberian Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor, and Lord Dollar Popat of UK House of Lords delivered keynote addresses during the virtual summit.
Other speakers in the summit include Senator Manqoba Khumalo, Minister of Commerce, Industry & Trade, Eswatini; Hon. Hamat NK Bah, Minister of Culture & Tourism, The Gambia; Senyo Hosi, CEO, Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors & Managing Partner; Dr Christian Lindfield, Managing Partner, Africa Advisors, Germany; Dr Victor Oladokun, Former Director of Communications, African Development Bank; Saul Frazer, CEO & Founder, Global Properties, The Gambia; and Prof. S.G. Edoumiekumo, Vice-Chancellor, Niger Delta University Nigeria.
About African Leadership Magazine:
The African Leadership magazine is published by African Leadership (UK) Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom. The magazine focuses on bringing the best of Africa to a global audience, telling the African story from an African perspective; while evolving solutions to peculiar challenges being faced by the continent today.
Since its maiden edition, African Leadership Magazine has grown to become a leading Pan-African flagship leadership-focused publication read by over 1, 000, 000 targeted international investors, business executives, government policymakers, and multilateral agencies across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Europe, and the US. It is distributed at major international and African Leadership events around the world. The magazine has over 900,000 subscribers/Followers on Facebook and a virile readership on other social media platforms. It is a niche and unbiased African voice born out of a desire to ameliorate a lot of Africans by focusing on individuals and corporates that are known for their legacy-based approach to leadership.
By Boma Benjy – Iwuoha
