Ketan Somaia

Entrepreneur

Ketan Somaia is a successful businessman, political figure and entrepreneur who presently lives in London in the United Kingdom.

Ketan was born in Kenya during 1961 and is well-known for building Block Hotels, one of Africa’s most successful hotel chains, which would later help to create the Dolphin Group, a large corporation consisting of Somaia’s other companies and organizations.

Everything began in 1989 when Ketan Somaia founded and chaired Marshalls Ltd, a motor company based in Kenya that distributed Peugeot, Honda and Tata vehicles across the area. It quickly gained recognition and became one of the most popular distributors of quality vehicles.

He also became the founder of other companies including the Mivani Sugar, a large sugar producing organization, as well as International Casino, a gambling chain in Mombassa and Nairobi and Dolphin Leisure Club Ltd., one of the largest members-only leisure clubs in Africa for which he also worked as a chairman.

In 1992, Ketan Somaia founded Block Hotels a luxurious hotel chain and worked as the chairman of the company until 2010. Block Hotels is very successful and owns twelve of Kenya’s biggest hotels and gaming establishments, including the prestigious Treetops Lodge, Nairobi’s Landmark Hotel and the Samburu Lodge.

Somaia later founded the Dolphin Group, an umbrella group for the majority of his businesses and companies, with main headquarters in Dubai and offices stretching across the rest of the world. The group consists mainly of leisure, tourism, banking, media, automotive and trading companies. The group later changed its name to Dolphin Holdings.

Due to its recent successes, Block Hotels, part of the Dolphin Group, was bought by Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. during April, 2011. The company is one of the world’s largest hotel and leisure groups and there are high hopes from everyone involved that the acquisition will work to boost Kenya’s tourism industry. The good news also comes at the same time as one of Block Hotel’s biggest renovation and refurbishment programs.

Ketan Somaia also donates money to various good causes, including the Presidential Bursary Scheme for bright children from needy families, which helps children get a good education, as well as the Hawkers Fund and The Aga Kan hospital. Somaia is also keen for children to learn about their culture and heritage and spoke about this extensively at the Kenya National Theatre. A great deal of Somaia’s work is dedicated to enhancing the country of Kenya through donating to charities and improving the tourism industry.

Due to his business successes and contributions to the country, Ketan Somaia is considered a very well-known and successful African businessman and public figure. He won an E.B.S, one of Kenya’s highest business achievement awards and was also named the N.R.I’s international businessman of the decade during 1992.

In his spare time, Ketan Somaia is also a keen badminton player and enjoys travel and cooking.