The family of Africa’s youngest billionaire have offered a 1bn Tanzanian shillings (£330,000/ $436,000) reward for the safe return of Mohammed Dewji, who was kidnapped from an exclusive hotel gym in a dawn raid.
Dewji, 43, an industrialist and former politician known as Mo, was abducted by armed men as he arrived for his daily workout at the Colosseum hotel in Dar es Salaam at 5.35am on 11 October. The regional police commissioner said it appeared that Dewji – who has pledged to give away at least half of his $1.5bn (£1.15bn) fortune to charity – had been “kidnapped by whites [white people]”.
Dewji, who was the first Tanzanian to feature on the cover of business magazine Forbes, is thought to have fallen victim to a well-planned attack in the affluent Oysterbay neighbourhood of Dar es Salaam.
“The family is offering a reward of a billion [Tanzanian] shillings to any person who has information leading to the whereabouts of our son,” Dewji’s uncle Azim Dewji said at a press conference on Monday. “We want to assure anyone with the information about the whereabouts of our son to come forward and we will treat their information as secret.”
Mohammed’s company MeTL (Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania) tweeted details of reward and said it would pay out “for any tip that will help us find our MO!”.
“For every matter that you fear, God has his plans” MO#BringBackOurMO#MrudisheMoWetu#BringBackMo
— MeTL Group (@MeTL_Group) October 15, 2018
We are offering a reward of 1 billion TSHS for any tip that will help us find our MO! Please email tips to findmo@metl.net
The family promises to maintain secrecy pic.twitter.com/YHiSlVXuBX
Mohammed, who is married with three children, is widely known to travel without a personal security detail despite the heightened threat of kidnapping in Africa. Local media quotes one of his employees as saying he has a “huge celebrity status” in Tanzania.
Police said he was dragged away by masked armed men as he arrived at the luxury hotel’s spa and leisure complex in a black Range Rover with the licence plate “Mo 1”.
Paul Makonda, regional police commissioner in Dar es Salaam, said: “They fired a gun and then they opened the gate. Initial information indicates he was kidnapped by whites travelling in two vehicles. This kind of incident is new here”.
More than 20 people have been arrested in connection with the abduction. Tanzania’s home affairs minister, Kangi Lugola,said: “The police will never rest until the culprits are brought to book.” The hashtag #BringBackMo was trending in Tanzania.
#Tanzanian billionaire family offer close to half a million dollars for news leading to the return of @moodewji who was kidnapped a few days ago pic.twitter.com/HmZLS6FeMP
— supadada (@tulanana) October 15, 2018
Dewji was born in 1975 in a house built from mud and sand in rural Tanzania.
His father, Gulamabbas, transformed his mother’s shop into an import-export empire, which enabled Mo and his siblings to be sent to private schools and exclusive sports clubs. Mo showed an early flair for golf, and his father sent him to the Arnold Palmer Golf Academy in Florida. But, when it was clear he wouldn’t make it to a PGA grade player, he enrolled at Georgetown University, in Washington DC, to study international business and finance with a minor in theology.
On his return to Tanzania, Dewji joined the family business as chief financial controller and quickly set about expanded the operation. MeTLis now the country’s largest home-grown business employing 24,000 people and accounting for 3.5% of gross national product (GDP).
@BillGates please help us to make the world know that in #Tanzania we want the culprits to #BringBackMo
— Maria Sarungi Tsehai (@MariaSTsehai) October 12, 2018
We pray and demand the safe return of @moodewji
We know that you know him ☺️ pic.twitter.com/2Oj1C9ihDI
He has featured on the cover of Forbes three times, and is ranked by the magazine as Africa’s 17th-richest person with a $1.5bn fortune.
Dewji also launched a fizzy drink brand called Mo Cola to compete with Coca-Cola, and owns a majority stake in Simba Sports Club football team in the Tanzanian Premier League. The team, which was formerly known as Eagles and Dar Sunderland, has also tweeted calling for Dewji’s return.
Mohammed has said he is proud of his business success, but his real passion is in his commitment to giving away his wealth in order to help poorer Tanzanians. MeTL’s stated mission is to “ending poverty in Tanzania”.
Kwa mtu yeyote mwenye taarifa ambazo zitasaidia kupatikana kwa mwekezaji wetu Mohammed Dewji anaweza kuwasiliana na familia ya Dewji kwa namba 0755030014, 0717208478 na 0784783228 au kutuma barua pepe findmo@metl.net pic.twitter.com/oMz22cXnsm
— Simba SC Tanzania (@SimbaSCTanzania) October 15, 2018
“I have been blessed and I am very proud of the success of my company, MeTL, but with this success and the subsequent wealth comes responsibility,” Mohammed said when he created his Mo Dewji charitable foundation. “I believe in putting money back into my country first and foremost. When God blesses you financially, don’t raise your standard of living, raise your standard of giving.”
Dewji has signed up to the Giving Pledge, created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to call on the world’s richest people to give away at least half of their wealth to charity.
As well as running his company, Mohammed served in Tanzania’s parliament as a MP for the ruling centre-left Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party for 10 years until 2015.
