KCB VENTURE 1 final

Extent of
KCB Bank
financing
They knocked on KCB Bank’s
door and asked for Sh650
Million loan. The Bank
obliged. They signed up a
management contract with
a company from India called
Sarovar Hotels after opening
the doors to the hotel on the
1st of November 2009.
KCB Bank also provided a
dollar based facility ($21
million) for phase two of the
project. “One of the basic
things is that KCB Bank
agreed to give us the money
in US Dollars which was very
appropriate for us in terms of
offering a bit of a relief on the
way our projections would
work.”
650m
The first loan from
KCB Bank for Phase
one of the Ole
Sereni hotel project
his Johnnie Walker Black and
groaned: none of them had any
hotel experience. What did they
know about running a hotel?
This was mad, gentlemen. But
they are businessmen, selfmade
men, risk takers, their
hearts bled for adventure and
enterprise. So just like that
they agreed to start a hotel.
Ole Sereni Hotel was born.
They knocked on Kenya
Commercial Bank’s door and
asked for Sh650 Million loan.
The Bank obliged. They signed
up a management contract
with a company from India
called Sarovar Hotels after
opening the doors to the
hotel on the 1st of November
2009. They only had 45 rooms
for a start. The gym was not
ready, the salon was not ready,
the specialty restaurant was
not ready. Things didn’t pick
immediately but pick they
did. Now they are at 84%
bed occupancy and almost
about 96% on revenues versus
budget.
Does having four directors
who are friends coming to
run a business complicate
things? “Not at all,” Nazir
stresses. “The relationship
between us four people is a
very strong relationship. We’re
from different backgrounds,
different religions but before
this, we’d already known
each other for 30 years.
We’re friends, yes but when
it comes to business, it’s a
totally different ball game,
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