Kenya's affluent individuals have had to contend with a tough year in the business world with a majority of them seeing a pile up in debt and fraud related cases affect their wealth.
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Kenya's big business winners and losers in 2017
The business sector has been affected by economic headwinds brought about by political uncertainty and a credit crunch.
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While this rough patch has raised the prospect of seeing them exiting the "super rich club", another bunch of business moguls elsewhere have not had a recession despite the economic headwinds brought by political uncertainty and a credit crunch.
Business Insider SSA looks at a list of Kenya's business winners and losers in 2017:
Losers
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Cyrus Jirongo
Politician Cyrus Jirongo, a former presidential candidate, was recently declared bankrupt after defaulting on a Sh700 million loan he owed to eight companies.
Jirongo's built his wealth from the 90's where he won multi-billion shilling construction deals having helped Daniel Arap Moi clinch the presidency seat upon the re-introduction of multi-party democracy in Kenya. He however lost most of his wealth after years of battles with creditors.
Atul Shah
Nakumatt CEO Atul Shah could be staring at one of the largest wealth resets in the country's history.
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The financial crunch facing Nakumatt stores, has seen it close a number of its stores in quick succession. As of December 2016, Nakumatt's debt stood at Sh 18 billion, having quadrupled from Sh4.7 billion in 2012.
He has recently pegged on the retailer's survival on a proposed merge with rival Tuskys supermarket, to save what remains of the retail giant he built in 25 years.
The retailer used debt to expand to prime locations and hence establishing itself as a premier retailer pushing Mr Shah's value to billions of shillings.
Zafrullah Khan
Former chairman of the troubled Chase BankZafrullah Khan faces the prospect of total assets seizure following the bank's sudden collapse last year in which he was accused of stealing Sh1.6 billion.
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Peter Munga
The CEO of Equity Bank , Africa's largest bank in terms of customer base, has also been involved in a number of debt cases arising from deals gone sour. In November, for instance, the multi-billionaire business man settled a loan with Jamii Bora bank to avert the auction of his Sh400 million properties.
Alnashir Popat
Former Imperial Bank chairman Alnashir Popat is set to lose his 14 per cent stake previously valued at more than Sh1.5 billion in the lender which collapsed under the weight of a Sh28.8 billion internal fraud.
Winners
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Adil Popat
Adil Popat together with his brother Alnasir have continued to expand their empires despite of the short term political headwinds brought by political uncertainty and credit crunch.
Adil, proprietor of Simba Corporation, a leading industrial company in East Africa with diverse interests in various sectors of the economy,recently acquired a 35 per cent stake in Hemingways Holdings. He is also set to acquire a 50 per cent stake in Associated Vehicle Assemblers (AVA) from Marshalls East Africa, giving Simba full ownership of the company.
Chris Kirubi
Billionaire businessman Chris Kirubi completed the takeover of Haco Tiger Brands East Africa to become the compnay's sole shareholder.
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This even after earlier being bullish with a proposed buyback of a 51 per cent stake in Haco Industries that he had sold to South Africa's Tiger Brands in 2008. The move was prompted by a rise in ownership in the acquisitive Centum Investment Company to 30 per cent.
Benson Ndeta
Businessman Benson Ndeta is also set to raise his interest in Savannah Cement to 74 per cent from 44.6 per cent, giving him control of the company.
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