The founders of the Pevans East Africa, which pioneered betting in Kenya with the SportPesa brand are smiling to the bank with dividends earnings totaling Sh7.6-billion ($65.2-million) in the four and a half years to June 2019.

Among those who scored big are foreign and local entrepreneurs including Asenath Wachera Maina, Guerassim Nikolov, Paul Ndungu, and Ronald Karauri, according to Business Daily.

Maina and Nikolov earned Sh1.6-billion ($13.7-million) each, based on their stakes of 21 percent each in the company.

Ndungu, on the other side, walked away with Sh1.3-billion ($11.1-million) while Karauri got Sh535-million ($4.6-million). Pevans started paying dividends in 2015 when it made a distribution totaling Sh1.57-billion ($13.5-million), Business Daily reported.

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The shareholders had a particularly good year in 2016 when the firm paid a record dividend of Sh4.3-billion ($36.9-million).

The company paused operations in 2019 after the government restricted its operations over alleged non-payment of taxes that Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) last quoted at Sh95-billion ($815-million).

As a result, other founders transferred the SportPesa brand to another company called Milestone Games Limited. This company started operating in October 2020. This caused legal fights among founders who were excluded from the new operation.

Milestone’s operations have been halted because of a case filed by Maina who wants the SportPesa trademark to be tied to Pevans.

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Maina says that when the other founders transferred the trademark to a new company they didn’t consult or get the approval of the board and the other shareholders. 

She asked the court to order the rectification of the trademark register by reinstating Pevans as the registered proprietor of trademark No. 74874 under class 41 known as Sportpesa, according to Business Daily.

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