Jimnah Mbaru: Calculative Billionaire Who Bid One Bob For A Multimillion IPO Transaction Advisor

In 2006, the Kenyan government was offloading KenGen shares through an IPO and it wanted a transaction advisor. Many banks submitted multimillion bids.

But Jimnah Mbaru through Dyer and Blair submitted a Ksh 1 bid. (Some reports indicate it was in fact less than that). While he won the bid, colleagues accused him of undermining the profession.

Mbaru's idea was not about the short term gains. It was about building his banking empire and propelling it as a reputable financial firm.

By successfully managing the landmark $110 million KenGen IPO in 2006, the bank positioned itself as a credible partner in the capital markets.

And it paid off - Dyer and Blair secured even more lucrative deals, including the Safaricom IPO in 2008 where 10 billion shares were sold, each for Ksh 5 (Total Ksh 50 billion).

Talking of the Nairobi Securities Exchange, there is no one who can claim to have transformed it better than Jimnah Mbaru. He saw it morph from an informal entity, to a digitised one.