From: To: "Jeffrey E." <[email protected]> Subject: FT TODAY Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 22:37:27 +0000 COO and #2 Terrified but need to do it High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&CS and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.corn/cms/s/0/3ab56de2-f35d-lle3-91a8- 00144feabdc0.html#ixzz35PQ1gsNk Ashish Thakkar: Bob Diamond's African partner By Javier Blas Author alerts g3,41- Thakkar Ashish is seen in a factory at the Ripley Packaging Limited in Uganda on May 24; 2014. °Isaac ICasamani Disruptive: Ashish Thakkar wants to shake up African banking but disagrees with criticism of his partner, Bob Diamond When he was 15 years old, Ashish Thakkar told his parents that he wanted to leave his school in Uganda to build a business. His family gave him a $5,000 loan, but he recalls receiving a stem warning from his father too: "If it doesn't work out within a year then you go back to school, but you'll be a year behind your friends." Mr Thakkar, now 32, never went back to study. Instead, the precocious young man spent the mid-1990s criss- crossing the continent to establish Mara Group, an African conglomerate that recently gained greater prominence by linking up with Bob Diamond, the former chief executive of UK bank Barclays. The teenage Mr Thakkar started out reselling computers, which involved flying to Dubai each weekend to buy motherboards and hard drives that he would shift to customers in Africa. Under his leadership, Mara subsequently diversified into a broad range of activities, including call centres, property and cardboard packaging. It has operations in 22 African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Rwanda. More ON THIS STORY Bob Diamond's Africa fund misses target Bob Diamond's Africa fund to tap investors The company's rise has made Mr Thakkar rich. He values his g