In 2015 when President Barrack Obama visited Kenya in what was the first visit to the East African nation by a sitting U.S. president, he stayed at the Villa Rosa Kempinski.
He would stay there again after leaving office, in 2018 when he visited Kenya to promote his half-sister’s charity.
Villa Rosa Kempinski would play host to yet another US government dignitary, First Lady, Jill Biden in 2023.
The five-star hotel is a popular Nairobi host to Presidents, Prime Ministers, Heads of State, Princes and Princesses, Sports Stars, Celebrities, and dollar-billionaires.
This is quite an achievement for a hotel that opened its doors to business just about a decade ago, entering a highly competitive market of Nairobi’s premium hotels.
Outside its 5-star status, Villa Rosa Kempinski is strategically located with ease of access to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) headquarters, the US Embassy, Kenya’s State House, and Nairobi’s Central Business District.
Having experimented with a few failed projects in the past, it was always Adil Popat’s dream to diversify his father’s Simba Corporation into the hospitality sector.
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Early Life and Education
Born and bred in Kenya, Adil Popat has an MBA from the Wharton Business School
(1984) and a bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Washington, Seattle (1980).
An avid golfer and confessed lover of traveling, single malt whisky, and Cuban cigars, Adil spent his early career in the US working at Deloitte Haskins & Sells.
He then moved to Europe where he worked in various hotels in Portugal.
One of his first attempts as a business owner in the hospitality industry was a Johannesburg-based Ocean Basket restaurant franchise which resulted in failure and loss of investment.
Adil would then join his father’s business, Simba Corporation rising to the rank of CEO when his father stepped down in 2007.
Source of wealth
Like many Asian-owned family businesses in East Africa, Simba Corporation started small.
Adil’s father, Mr. Abdul Karim Popat started the business as a used car enterprise called Deluxe Motors Ltd, based out of Nairobi’s Koinange Street in 1948.
The senior Popat’s breakthrough would come 2 decades later, in 1968 when he acquired a Mitsubishi franchise, becoming the sole distributor of Mitsubishi Motors in the Kenyan market.
Popat also invested in a commercial bank, the Imperial Bank to expand his capacity to extend asset financing opportunities to clients acquiring vehicles on credit.
The Popat family first diversified into hospitality thousands of miles from Kenya when they purchased and renovated the grand 17-floor Plaza 500 building located on West 12th, opposite the Vancouver City Hall in Canada.
The hotel, which was being managed by Abdul Karim’s firstborn son, Azim Popat, would close its doors to customers a few years later before being converted into a block of apartments.
Abdul Karim Popat’s normal life was briefly interrupted in a 1998 kidnapping scare, where he was held for 60 hours by kidnappers who demanded US$ 2m in ransom.
Fortunately, the police were able to trace the kidnapers’ movements to a rich Nairobi suburb and rescue Mr. Popat.
Continuing the Simba Corporation’s expansion strategy, Popat acquired the Fuso trucks and buses franchise in 2001.
2nd generation business
In 2007, the senior Popat stepped down from the CEO position handing the reigns to his last-born son, Mr. Adil Popat.
The young Popat went on an expansion overdrive, acquiring any car franchise he could lay his hands on.
He would in his first decade at the helm, acquire the BMW franchise in 2008, AVIS in 2010, Mahindra in 2012, and Renault in 2014.
This was followed by SAME in 2015, and a motor vehicle assembly plant, Associated Vehicle Assembly (AVA) at Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa in 2017.
Away from car franchises, perhaps one of his forward-thinking acquisitions was the Africa Fleet Management Solutions Ltd (AFMS).
Backed by Israel’s E-drive Technology Ltd, AFMS is a tech-based fleet management solution that provides GPRS internet data transfers, management information reports, and accounting reports.
The technology monitors movements and fuel consumption for many blue-chip corporations and freight company vehicles in the East African region.
Vehicle franchises and fleet management solutions aside, Mr. Adil spent his formative career years as a hotelier and this heavily influenced his expansion strategy.
He diversified the group’s portfolio into hospitality by establishing or investing in various 3/5-star hotels across the country.
These included the Kempiski franchise; Olare Mara Kempinski (2012) at Maasai Mara and Vila Rosa Kempinski (2013) in Nairobi.
Others were the Acacia Premier Hotel (2015) in Kisumu, a Western city in Kenya, and a 35% stake acquisition of the Hemingway’s Collection in 2017.
The Hemingway Collection consists of four iconic hotels – Hemingways Nairobi, Hemingways Ol Seki Mara, Hemingways Watamu, and Hemingways Eden Residence.
The hospitality bug has also seen the group venture into restaurants through Nairobi Street Kitchen and Fika Lounge.
Then there is a wine distribution franchise; Uva Wines, that deals in several Portuguese and Italian wines and spirits.
The group also owns 20th Century Cinema and is active in various real estate projects in Nairobi such as The Aspire Centre.
Much as Simba Corporation has diversified into hospitality, real estate, and power systems, its auto division still makes up 80+ percent of the company’s total revenue as of 2023.
Restructuring
In 2017, Adil stepped down as the CEO and became the Executive Chairman of the group.
The day-to-day operations were taken over by the current CEO, Mr. Dinesh Kotecha.
The Associated Vehicle Assembly (AVA) plant that Simba Corporation acquired in 2017 prides itself as a pioneer of Kenya’s fully assembled motor vehicles.
Some AVA-assembled vehicles include the Mitsubishi L200 Double Cab Pick Ups, the Mahindra Scorpio Pick Ups, and Malaysia’s Proton Saga saloon car.
Simba Corporation has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Kenyan government’s vehicle leasing program.
Its Mahindra Scorpio Pick-Ups are being used by the Kenya Police Service and the Proton X70 SUVs are being used by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID).
As of 2024, the group holds Kenyan franchises for Mitsubishi Fuso trucks, Mahindra pick-ups, Ashok Leyland trucks, Proton Holdings vehicles, Mitsubishi vehicles, SAME Tractors, Field King farm implements, OTMA farm machinery, and AVIS car rentals.
In 2018, the group lost the BMW franchise to London-based Inchcape Plc, after a 10-year run.
In an apparent succession plan, Adil Popats’s daughters joined the business with Alyssa Popat serving as the Head of Projects and Facilities, while Alyana Popat is the Chief Operating officer for Simba Hospitality.
The two daughters were instrumental in the establishment of the Nairobi Street Kitchen restaurant chain within the group.
Giving back
In 2016, Simba Corporation launched its corporate social investment platform, Simba Foundation.
In line with its auto businesses, Simba Foundation sponsors underprivileged Kenyan youth to technical colleges for training in automotive skills.
Succession battles
The death of the family patriarch, Abdul Karim Popat in 2013 exposed the family’s underbelly in a protracted battle that has taken over a decade of court proceedings.
The firstborn son, Azim Popat felt that his share of the inheritance was too small in comparison to that of the lastborn son, Adil Popat.
But another of Abdul Karim’s sons, Alnashir Popat was left out of the will altogether in a rare case of a father disinheriting his son.
The old man’s Will triggered an inheritance battle that pitted three brothers against each other.
