Narendra Raval built Kenya's biggest cement and steel empire but tax battles and political scrutiny are testing his limits
Billionaires Africa | 27.06.2026 14:11
Narendra Raval arrived in Kenya in 1978 as a teenage temple assistant from Gujarat with no money and no connections. He left the temple in 1982 to work in a steel mill. When that factory closed in 1990, he borrowed money, opened a small hardware shop in Nairobi's Gikomba Market with his wife, and started rolling steel in Athi River two years later. Today, Devki Group generates more than $1 billion in annual revenues, employs 14,000 people, and controls the largest shares of Kenya's steel and cement markets. The story of how Raval built that empire is one of the most remarkable in East African business history. The story of where it stands now is considerably more complicated.
