Africa lost one of its most vocal business voices over the weekend as Mr. Ali A. Mufuruki, 60 is one of Africa’s richest business moguls. A Tanzanian entrepreneur, philanthropist, public speaker and leadership coach succumbed to death in a South African hospital. Mufurki, who is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute Class of 2001 co-founded the Africa Leadership Initiative in 2002 with mission is to engage the energy and talent of emerging leaders in Africa in order to release their potential to build a good society for their nations. Mr. Mufurki is the owner, Chairman and CEO of Infotech Investment Group LTD, a family business that has interests in ICT, media, telecoms, private equity, retail and real estate across a number of countries in Africa and beyond.

Mr. Mufurki is the owner, Chairman and CEO of Infotech Investment Group LTD,

He is also the co-founder and chairman of the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania, a policy dialogue forum that brings together more than 100 CEOs of leading companies in Tanzania. This group engages regularly with the senior government leadership of Tanzania to find solutions for the country’s economy.

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Ali Mufuruki is currently Chairman of the Boards of Msingi LTD (Kenya), Legacy Capital Partners Ltd (Tanzania); Trademark East Africa (Kenya), Chai Bora Ltd (Tanzania) and Vodacom Tanzania Ltd. He serves as Director on the boards of BlueTown Holdings Ltd (Denmark) and AMSCO (Netherlands).

Chairman of Vodacom Tanzania PLC,Chairman of Board of Trustees – National Environment Trust Fund, Tanzania, Chairman of Chai Bora Limited, Tanzania, and Co-Founder – Legacy Capital Partners LTD,Trustee – ATMS Foundation, Netherlands, Member of the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC), Director of BlueTown ApS, Copenhagen, Denmark.

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He has previously served as Chairman of The CEOs’ Roundtable of Tanzania, Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Tanzania Central Bank Board, Member of the Board of Directors Technoserve, Inc. of Washington, DC, Chairman of Wananchi Group Holdings Kenya,Chairman of Mwananchi Communications LTD,Chairman of Air Tanzanian Co LTD,Co-Chairman, UK Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into impact of UK Aid for Africa Free Trade Initiative (AFTI). He is also a Policy Fellow Resident at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre 201. He previously sat on the Board of the Tanzania Central Bank where he was elected the first ever independent chairman of the Audit Committee. He also served on the Board of Directors of Technoserve, Inc. of Washington, DC and Nation Media Group of Kenya.

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Mr. Mufurki has been at the forefront of promoting entrepreneurship in Africa, and he is a firm believer that Africa has all it takes to grow the continent into an economic powerpouse. At the Great Africans Getaway” hosted by Strathmore Business School this year, with the theme Transforming Leadership: What Africa needs. The event the first of its kind held by the Business School at the Great Rift Valley Lodge as part of an effort to bring together great Africans comprised of fellow Alumni, Business Executives, Governors and Senators to a fun filled golf tournament weekend held to partake in knowledge sharing and building strong networks.At the event, was able to share in his vast experience on what he thinks are Africa’s top 5 needs which can be executed if Africa has the right discipline.

He pointed out that Africa needs to believe/imagine something incredible almost impossible that can be done with confidence and with a plan which requires discipline, knowledge and collaboration. Mr. Mufuruki primarily attributed his talk to the ‘Venus and Serena’ film , which takes an unfiltered look into the remarkable lives of the greatest sister-act professional tennis has ever seen. In a sport (Tennis) where they were not welcomed, the indomitable Williams sisters faced the opposition with grace and courage not only breaking new ground for female and African American athletes everywhere, but dominating the women’s game for over a decade. The film tells the inspiring story of how these two women, against all odds, but the help of visionary parents, made it to the top.

Firstly Imagination: Africa needs to have a boundless vision of a future that is fantastic to the point of being crazy leading us to strive to be like the rest of the world if not better. Africa has what it takes to be a great continent all that is needed is to imagine ourselves as being great. We need to not limit ourselves but to let ourselves dream big.

Self-confidence: Africans should have the confidence to do things by itself other than delegate. Africa has a billion people and more reasons to be confident; it has more land and water than any other continent more minerals more bio diversity and more young people what then keeps us from being confident? For what we hold as a continent the world needs. Confidence is precious but then again very fragile and can be broken quickly.

Thirdly a bold Plan: It is great to invest in visions such as vision 2030 or even a greater vision 2050 that together as continents we can build our GDP. For no single country can make it by itself. Therefore Africa needs to make an impact, to plan together with all 54 countries to craft a plan for Africa and come up with ways to grow ourselves

Execution discipline: Africa needs to work hard, sacrifice have discipline. As a continent we need to avoid excuses and looking for ways to say that we can’t make it. In the end Africa needs to stop looking for ways to attain instant gratification all our effort must be put in for the goof of the continent.

Lastly “we need stay motivated and focused to understand the world around us to find direction to stay the course in the face of challenges, to seek perfection in everything we do to win”. Africa he said needs individuals to master the use and application of these tools. Not ordinary people but enlightened value driven extraordinary effective leaders. The continent still has enormous potential, and business leaders have a big role to play in unlocking it a lot of lessons could be learned from successful business leaders in Africa. “We therefore as a continent need to choose the best among us to lead developing more business leaders is crucial to Africa to address its big challenges” he said. He noted that the continent needs more specialized business schools such as Strathmore Business School; develop these kinds of leaders. African enterprises and business leaders should therefore be the part of the catalysts in developing business schools that not only expose executives to international best practices, but also adapt these to African business realities”.

Mr. Mufurki’s death has been variously described as a huge loss not only to Tanzania, Africa, but to the world. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Mechanical Design Engineering from Reutlingen University, Germany in 1986 and lives in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania with and his wife and four children.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry