Mayur Shah. He is co-founder of and a senior executive director at Nairobi-based KenAfric Industries Ltd, manufacturers and exporters of confectionery, food, footwear and stationery.

Last year, he won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Master Category for Eastern Africa, considered the most prestigious global recognition for business people in the region.

He went on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Award this July in Monte Carlo, Monaco against 55 other country winners. He was runner-up and was inducted into the EY Hall of Fame.

Mr Shah was born in 1961 in Karatina, a town in the highlands of central Kenya, to first-generation Indian parents who migrated from Gujarat to Kenya. The family moved to Nairobi to get a better education for their four children and operated a wholesale and retail shop. He graduated with an MBA from the University of Wichita in Kansas, US in 1986.

The family lost its investments when their shop was looted during the 1982 attempted coup in Kenya. The lesson he learnt then shaped his corporate strategy of diversified investments. Thus the various business units of KenAfric Industries.

Mr Shah is a strong advocate of Kaizen Lean Production, a school of continuous business improvement originating from Japan. He believes continuous improvement applies to a person as well, and therefore takes time to learn from renowned life coach Tony Robbins.

As a child, he revelled in the sport of table tennis, and at 13 years old he was the youngest player to represent Kenya in the All Africa Games in Egypt in 1974, and he went on to play internationally, becoming the US national champion while he was a student there. One of his best memories from childhood, however, was meeting Kenya’s founding father and first president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in 1978.

Although he no longer wakes up before dawn for sports practice, he is still an early riser and uses the quiet time of the morning for daily exercises. He is married to Daxa Shah and has two daughters.

--------------------------------------------

If you hadn’t turned into who you are now, what would you be?

I would probably work for some multinational company. Also I might be doing something in management training.

What’s your off-duty passion?

I enjoy reading books on personal development. But one of the things I’ve changed in my lifestyle is spending more time with the family, especially on weekends.

Where are you most likely to be whiling away your time on a Saturday?

With the family. I do what they like, I try to travel with them to their favourite destination, which is Maasai Mara, a wonder of the world and it’s in Kenya. I feel about supporting our local industries. Our company slogan is Kenya Juu.

Describe your best destination yet in East Africa?

That’s a tough one because every country has its attractions. I like Mt Kenya and Sweetwaters Camp [Ol Pejeta Conservancy] which is beautiful. I also like Uganda and they have very good fish.

What do you see as East Africa’s greatest strength?

People come from other countries to multinationals that are headquartered in Kenya or East Africa. What’s the reason? It’s the talent and the pool of great people. I think East Africa has just woken up. We are going from good to great. In a few years’ time, Africa will take the lead. And it is now time for Africa. In the World Cup [2014] the welcome song was, It’s Time for Africa.

Why are you so passionate about the youth?

The biggest obstacle here in East Africa is unemployment and that really bothers me. The amount of CVs we are getting and people knocking on our doors from the universities is immense. I feel very emotional because I was once a student. They have studied very hard and the parents have put in all that money and the effort. We must encourage entrepreneurship and allow our young people to grow.

Can you pinpoint a time in your life that really impacted you?

The 1982 coup happened when I was a student in US. We lost everything and money was coming very slowly. That really gave me a wake-up call. My heart was really beaten down and I didn’t know my destination. I said, I have to do something. I have to pay back to my parents and show them that I am made of something. My supervisor in the US patted me on the back and said, ‘You’re going to be a great person one day.’ That gave me real encouragement that was lasting. Just a pat on the back.

Your last great read?

I like many books. I read Antony Robbins, Stephen Covey and such.

Which movie had an impact on you?

I can say that I like those movies and TV shows where I can learn something. Things like Bloomberg TV and TED talks. For relaxation, I watch action movies although my family prefers romantic stories.

What’s your favourite sport?

I enjoyed table tennis when I was younger. I used to wake up at 4.30am and go for table tennis practice before going to school. I also like to watch cricket.

Your favourite website?

I like to look at the Disneyland website and also websites of various pharmaceuticals. These are great companies and very successful businesses.

Which people have given you most support personally and professionally?

I attribute my success to my family and my wife — they have never questioned me. My parents taught me about hard work and giving back to society. Now it is part of my DNA.

Is there anything you would do differently?

My elder daughter questioned me when she was 14 years. She said, ‘Dad, it’s high time you were at home.’ I got emotional and it really hit me later on after I reached my office. She was right because I used to get home at 10pm, and she was asleep, and when I left in the morning at 6.30am she was getting ready to go to school. If I could rewind the clock, I think I would have spent more time with the family.

What personal ethics would you pass onto the younger generation?

I would tell the youth that money isn’t made overnight. You have to work hard, you must have integrity, discipline and patience. Mistakes will happen and things may go wrong, learn from them. And also that the key is the staff. It’s not about “I”, always it is “We.” I worked alone in the 1990s as a one-man army, because we didn’t have money. But our success is not about me, we did it as the family of KenAfric.