Ayisi Makatiani

Posted on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:39pm.

Ayisi Makatiani is the Managing Partner and CEO of Fanisi Capital Ltd., which manages the Fanisi Venture Capital Fund for investing in East Africa (Kenya,Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda). Makatiani holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Minor in Economics with a thesis done at the Sloan School of Management.

Mr. Makatiani, is perhaps best known as co-founder of one of Africa’s first and biggest Internet service providers, Africa Online.  Ayisi was born in western Kenya to middle class parents.  He was eventually sent to the U.S. for college.  It was there at the Ivy League Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that he started an online mailing list with some Kenyan friends to keep each other updated on their social plans. The mailing list developed into a key news source for Kenyans living in the U.S.  When he returned to Kenya he and his partner turned the company into a multinational Internet Service Provider.  Africa Online eventually grew into an eight country operation.

Ayisi sold most of his shares to European owned African Lakes Corporation PLC and stepped down as CEO of Africa Online in 2000, reportedly retaining a stake in the company worth about $10 million.  It was at this stage in his life that he took the leap from entrepreneur to investor.  He and his new partners set out to raise 300m rand ($44 million) to launch Gallium, a private-equity fund for the Africa region.  Unfortunately, they were unable to raise enough money.  It was while he was soliciting funds from the World Bank that they recruited him to run AMSCO.  Ayisi, a well respected manager across Africa with experience serving on numerous boards would lead the IFC organization for several years before leaving to start his own East African Equity Fund Fanisi Capital Ltd.

Since 2005, Ayisi Makatiani has been an adviser to the President of the Republic of Kenya, as a member of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC). He currently sits on the boards of Kenya Airways and Ogilvy & Mather (East Africa).  Makatiani has in the past been adviser to the UN Secretary General (Kofi Annan on ICT) and been on the board of Barclays Bank, Kenya, and on the advisory board of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) E-Magazine, Paris, France; as well as been a former executive director of African Lakes Corporation PLC - London Stock Exchange listed.

Mr. Makatiani has been featured in The Economist, Fortune (magazine), CNN, NHK, BBC, Financial Times (London) and has been voted several times by his peers as the most respected CEO in East Africa granting him the status of both a Global Leader for Tomorrow and Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.