Draft:Nikesh Madhvani

Nikesh Pratap Madhvani (Born December 1972) is a Ugandan businessman, entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist. He is the son of Pratap Muljibhai Madhvani and the grandson of Muljibhai Madhvani  He is a Director of the Madhvani Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Uganda as well as Managing Director of Makepasi Match Limited, the largest manufacturers of safety matches in East Africa.

Background
Nikesh was born in December 1972 following the Expulsion of Asians from Uganda to Pratap (the third son of Muljibhai Madhvani,the family patriarch who founded the Madhvani Group in 1930) and Kalpana Madhvani. Due to the expulsion, the Madhvani family lived in Kenya and the United Kingdom. Nikesh spent his early childhood in Mombasa, Kenya and went on to attend boarding school at The Dragon School, Oxford as well as Kent College.

Nikesh returned to Uganda with the rest of Madhvani Family in 1985 and in 1991 started to assist the family with rehabilitating it's assets which were left in ruins following the rule of Idi Amin and the expulsion. He was first tasked with rehabilitating Jinja Sailing Club, a property which sits on the shores of Lake Victoria and opposite the famous Rippon Falls Hotel.

In 1997, he was sent to Zambia to run Northern Breweries, a struggling business. He developed and successfully marketed Rhino Lager, a new entrant to the beer market, providing significant competition to the then already well established Castle Lager. The sales of the brewery increased fivefold during this period. In 1997, Northern Breweries was listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange and is now known as Zambian Breweries.

In the early 2000's he was in charge of the Mwera and Nakigalala Tea Estates and steered the company into record production and sales, producing over One Million kilograms of Tea from both estates for the domestic and international Tea market.

He appeared on BBC Panorama in 2004 to speak about the future of the Ugandan economy following Idi Amin.

He then went on to rehabilitate the Associated Match Company (AMCO), a business set up in the 1960's by the late Jayant Madhvani, the firstborn son of Muljibhai Madhvani to manufacture Safety Matches. The factory once produced wooden matchsticks under the name 'Three Cranes' which represents the Crested Crane, the national bird of Uganda.

Together with his son. Eshan Madhvani, they steered the company out of ruin and into the largest producers of safety matches in East Africa. AMCO was rebranded into Makepasi Match Limited. The company now employs over 1,000 people and produces 60 million individual matchboxes per month made of wax coated paper. Nikesh and Eshan oversee the manufacturing side of the business which accounts for over 90% of the Ugandan market for safety matches and exports across East Africa. It has expanded into three Match factories in Jinja and produces Krishna Matches, the leading safety match brand in the East African region.

The Company is also the largest employer of People with Disabilities in Uganda and carries out regular wheelchair donations, Makepasi holds the record in Uganda for the single largest donation of wheelchairs in Uganda with a total of 32 individual wheelchairs being handed over in one day.

Personal Life
In 1991, Nikesh met Diviya Motwani, a Hong Kong born Sindhi, they married in June 1997 and live between Uganda and the United Kingdom. Together they have two children, a son, Eshan and a daughter, Natalya.

Nikesh is a Freeman of the City of London, an award which he received in 2023 as well as a Lions Club member and Melvin Jones Fellow.