For Mrema, it was never too late to work

Arusha. Mr Meleo Mrema (pictured), an Arusha billionaire, who died in South Africa on Sunday, knew too well why chief executive officers in Africa needed enough time to concentrate on their work for high productivity.

“In Africa, working in the daytime is quite challenging. You have so many visitors and for good reasons. In such circumstances, you can hardly concentrate on work,” he said a decade ago.

This has made Mr Mrema, who owned a chain of hotels and other properties in Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions, quite a character at the height of his businesses.

He would not refuse visitors to his office whether they were potential business associates or partners as well as ordinary people seeking his advice and support. They were all welcome.

But for those in a hurry had to turn up at his Impala Hotel office not earlier than 7pm. Those interested in the comfort of relaxed discussions over a cup of coffee were at liberty to see him from 10pm.

“I don’t come to work during the day time. Sometimes, there are a lot of people queueing to see me. How do I concentrate on work in such a circumstance?” he asked, when interviewed by a foreign TV network some years ago.

This does not mean he was against visitors. As manager of his properties in and outside Arusha he needed some time to take stock of the operations of his businesses and the best time for this was at night!

Although he was a high profile property owner, he was heard more than been physically seen. Why? He would report to duty at about 7pm or 8pm at the earliest and continues almost throughout the night. For most of the day he would take a nap at his posh residence in the leafy suburb of Arusha, close to the rear gate of the East African Community (EAC) headquarters.

“My normal working hours are at night because this is the time I can concentrate more,” he told an interviewer, noting that day time was also noisy.

That was the character of one of the most successful businesspeople in Arusha, who rose from a humble beginning of a peasant son in Rombo in Kilimanjaro to own several expensive properties.

This has made the prominent hotelier too elusive. He is hardly seen in public places and high profile functions in Arusha even during events held at his hotels.

He would report at his main office at Impala Hotel office in the evening for brief administrative work. His office also served as a bureau de change and shared two hotel employees.

From 10pm he would move with all files and documents to the restaurant on the first floor to continue working for the rest of the night before heading home at dawn. The media has not been spared by difficulties in meeting the leading local investor, especially some years back when he was putting up a lot of investments. Some local journalists, keen on seeing him for updates on investment trends, would be put off when told to turn up for the requested interview at 10pm or 11pm. The Citizen once wanted to profile him, but flatly hit a rock.

There is little information about his background. However, people, who knew him said he settled in Arusha probably in the 1960s and laid hands on different types of small businesses.

Mr Juma Bakari, 59, one of his closest friends, who worked with him for more than 30 years told The Citizen yesterday that Mr Mrema reached Arusha a poor young man and literally started from scratch to become a billionaire.

“He started from scratch. He confessed he came from a poor family in Rombo and this could not enable him to get good formal education,” he said, while at Mr Mrema’s residence.

After doing some petty businesses, he started a company called Northern Cabs probably in the late 1980s as he took advantage of the liberalised economy and rising influx of tourists to proper.

Prominent among his hotels in Arusha are the flagship Impala, which opened its doors in the early 1990s. With 160 sleeping rooms, at one time, it was the leading hospitality outfit in town.

This was to be followed 10 years later (in the early 2000) by the famous Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, some 27 kilometres east of Arusha. Mr Mrema, who died, while in his late 60s, had not disclosed its cost.

The 300-room outfit was famous for hosting many high profile international and regional conferences, including several EAC summits, at least five of them.

He occasionally dismissed speculations on the source of his abundant wealth and whether he had some local or foreign partners in his chain of businesses.