Ashish Thakkar

Abstract is: Ashish J. Thakkar is a Rwandan-based entrepreneur. He is the founder of Mara Group and Mara Foundation, and he is a co-founder of Atlas Mara Limited. Thakkar was born in the United Kingdom, but he moved to East Africa as a teenager before founding Mara Group, a Pan-African conglomerate, at the age of 15. Mara Group's operations and investments span 22 African countries. He is the author of The Lion Awakes: Adventures in Africa's Economic Miracle. Thakkar is a member of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders, and was included in Fortune magazine's list of the top "40 Under 40" in 2013. He was awarded the Base Leadership Award at the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards event. Esquire named him Middle East Man of the Year in 2016. In 2015, Thakkar was appointed Chair of the United Nations Foundation's Global Entrepreneurs Council and in 2017, he was appointed Chair of the Presidential Youth Advisory Group at the African Development Bank