Fallen Tanzanian billionaire, business mogul, author and philanthropist Reginald Mengi, will be buried today at his home in Machame.
The 76-year old business magnate died last week while on vacation in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. In 2014, Forbes estimated his wealth at $560m (Sh56billion).Thousands of mourners paid homage to Mengi whose body was flown back to his country on Monday. His 39-year-old widow Jacqueline Mengi led family and dignitaries in receiving the tycoon’s remains at Julius Nyerere International Airport.
Just as he drew crowds while alive, mourners lined up the streets of Dar es Salam to pay their last respect.
After the procession, his body was preserved at Lugala Hospital and later taken to Karinjeem Hall where Tanzania’s President Magufuli led other top government officials and the public to mourn the fallen businessman.The tycoon is survived by a wife, Jacqueline Ntuyabaliwe-Mengi and two sons.
Mengi at a glance
Reginald Mengi was born 76 years ago to a peasant family in Tanzania. He rose from the humble beginning and finished his education in Scotland.When he returned to Tanzania, he briefly worked as an accountant before he started his business empire, a ball-point pen assembly plant.
He owns local English and Swahili TV stations, ITV and Capital TV, as well as the English-language daily Guardian newspaper.His IPP Group conglomerate also manufactures one of Tanzania’s best-known brands of bottled water and is moving into smart-phone and tablet manufacturing.In a past interview with BBC, he was quoted to have said he has ‘made enough money’
In 2018, he authored an autobiography ‘I Can, I Must, I Will’.
By Odero Charles
