This was the year when a giant fell in Kenya, leaving behind a crater-like void in the political landscape that may never be filled. The death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga sent shockwaves through the political arena, and the economy will miss his input, for better or worse. Odinga was also an astute businessman who founded a manufacturing firm based on his belief in the power of value addition.
Other notable figures who also passed away include a giant of African literature, a prolific publisher, a consumer goods producer, an alcohol manufacturer, a stalwart of family law, and a housing finance mastermind. These are the trailblazers who left us in 2025.
Raila Amolo Odinga
Raila Odinga, who died in India on October 15, 2025, was a businessman and political leader. Beneath the mass rallies that defined his public life was a lesser-known story of a disciplined entrepreneur whose interests spanned manufacturing, energy, and real estate.
Long before he was known for his political career, Odinga gained experience in business, helping his family to run a bus company in Nyanza before venturing into manufacturing at a time when few Kenyans dared to do so.
Kenya's opposition leader and former Prime Minster Raila Odinga.
Photo credit: Pool
In 1971, the former Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader sold his Opel car to raise capital with which to co-found East African Spectre with his father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. The Nairobi-based firm became one of Kenya’s earliest manufacturers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders, driven by his belief that industrialisation could reduce reliance on firewood and charcoal.
Starting at the Kenya Industrial Estate with an output of just 30 cylinders a month, the company faced challenges, including the absence of local safety standards, forcing early clients such as Shell and BP to seek certification abroad.
Odinga is credited with pushing for the creation of local standards and with contributing to the establishment of the Kenya Bureau of Standards, where he later served as a senior manager. His colleagues remember him as an entrepreneur who preferred visiting factories to attending boardroom meetings.
Today, East African Spectre employs more than 150 workers and holds significant real estate assets. Another pillar of the family’s business empire is Be Energy, an oil marketing firm in which the Odinga family is a major shareholder. He left a legacy in business rooted in his belief that manufacturing was central to Kenya’s economic future.
Frank Ireri died on October 26, bringing to a close the life of a leader who believed that finance should bring Kenyans closer to home ownership, and who bore the burden of the sector’s upheavals with quiet determination. Ireri succumbed to cancer at the age of 63 after battling the disease for some time.
Appointed managing director of Housing Finance in 2006, Ireri set out to expand the mortgage specialist beyond its narrow niche. He diversified lending and backed bold funding initiatives, including corporate bonds. In 2014, he helped recast the lender into HF Group, a holding structure designed to turn it into a full-service bank.
HF Group managing director Frank Ireri at a past company event.
Photo credit: File | NMG
This ambition unfolded during a decade of rapid innovation and fierce competition in Kenya’s financial sector, and for a time, HF punched above its weight.
His later role as a non-executive director at Centum Real Estate reflected his enduring interest in property and affordable housing.
However, the tide turned after 2015. A cooling property market and the interest rate cap squeezed margins, and by 2017, HF’s profit had fallen to Sh126 million from Sh905.8 million a year earlier. Disclosures that Ireri earned Sh64.4 million that year —about half of the net profit — sparked debate over executive pay at struggling lenders, contrasting sharply with his reputation for prudence.
Francis Thombe (FT) Nyammo
Francis Thombe Nyammo died on his 86th birthday on September 28, and was cremated the following day in accordance with his wishes.
A towering figure, he had guided Longhorn Publishers for nearly 50 years before exiting the board in November 2024. Popularly known as FT, he had chaired the firm since 1977, overseeing its growth and eventual listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in May 2012.
Longhorn Publishers chairman Francis Nyammo at a past full-year earnings briefing in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
FT directly held a 5.88 percent stake in the publisher and also had a beneficial interest in Pacific Futures and Options Limited, which holds a 12.85 percent shareholding.
He was among the local investors who acquired shares in the company in 1993, when its previous owners, Longman UK, exited the Kenyan market.
Longhorn’s current chairman, Prof Githu Muigai, hailed Nyammo as a figure who was “more than a chairman,” saying that “every book we publish carries the weight of his passion for building brighter futures.”
“He was the guiding light behind Longhorn’s journey as a Pan-African powerhouse in educational publishing. As a founding pillar of our organisation, he championed innovation, agility and excellence, transforming Longhorn into a beacon of knowledge,” Prof Muigai said in his tribute.
Beyond publishing, Nyammo served as the Member of Parliament for Tetu Constituency between 2007 and 2013. He was also a founding member of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, a past president of the Rotary Club of Karen and a former managing director of Kenya Reinsurance.
Longhorn has undergone several board changes in the past year, including the appointment of Makenna Nyammo, his daughter, as a non-executive director, highlighting the family's ongoing influence on the publisher's leadership.
Judy Thongori
The renowned family lawyer and rights activist died in India on January 14 after a short illness. Judy had an established and formidable reputation as an accomplished and astute family law practitioner spanning more than 30 years.
She was accredited by the Judiciary’s Mediation Accreditation Committee and was a member of the Chief Justice’s committee that helped establish the Family Division of the High Court. She also served as a member of the Bar–Bench Committee.
Senior counsel and family lawyer Judy Thongori during an interview at her office in Westlands Nairobi on September 4, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
The Family Division of the High Court handles civil cases involving family and personal relationships, particularly those with significant legal or constitutional implications.
In essence, it deals with complex family disputes that fall beyond the jurisdiction of magistrates’ courts. Such include matters relating to marriage and divorce, child-related disputes, succession and inheritance, and matrimonial property.
It is also the forum where litigants can seek protection from domestic violence and obtain maintenance and dependency orders, as well as determinations on family matters related to mental health.
This was Judy’s forte. She represented members of some of the country’s most prominent families in high-profile succession disputes, including those involving former intelligence chief James Kanyotu and former Equity Bank chief executive John Mwangi Kagema. Other notable cases she handled include the contentious succession battle that followed the murder of Dutch businessman Tob Cohen.
Mohan Galot, who died in June at the age of 80, built a formidable business empire spanning textile manufacturing, alcohol production and real estate, while weathering—and often fighting through—multiple economic and legal battles.
One of the fiercest battles he waged was against some of his relatives. Galot was involved in a long-running dispute with his nephews over the control and management of companies under Galot Industries. The tycoon fought his nephews Pravin, Rajesh and Ganeshlal, who accused him of interfering with directorships and illegally removing them from the companies.
Billionaire industrialist Mohan Galot, owner of London Distillers and Manchester Outfitters Limited.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
Last year, a three-judge bench brought the dispute, filed in 2007, to an end, ruling that the removal of some directors was procedural since Galot had powers as governing director. Yet his legal troubles persisted.
A 33-year-old dispute between Galot’s firm and Standard Chartered Bank remains before the Supreme Court, involving loans secured in the early 1980s. In another case, he faced a dispute with Edermann Properties over alleged waste disposal into the Athi River.
Nevertheless, his business empire endured. Through London Distillers, Galot produces alcohol brands that compete with those of East African Breweries Limited.
Nareshchandra Malde
Popularly known as ‘Naresh,’ the founder of Pwani Oil died on October 25, 2025, marking the end of an era for one of Kenya’s most influential industrialists.
Malde was a quiet but determined entrepreneur who helped shape some of the country’s most successful homegrown consumer brands at a time when the market was dominated by multinational giants.
Together with his brother, Ramesh Kanje Malde, Naresh founded Pwani Oil in 1981, venturing into an industry controlled by global consumer goods powerhouse Unilever. It was an audacious move for a local family business, but one that would eventually pay off.
Gradually, Pwani Oil carved out space in the highly competitive fast-moving consumer goods sector, establishing strong household brands such as Fresh Fri, Sawa and White Wash.
The company’s journey began modestly as a small coconut oil mill on the Kenyan coast and evolved into the large-scale Jomvu Pwani Oil Products factory.
Under Naresh’s leadership, Pwani Oil expanded its footprint, investing in modern refineries, upgrading production processes and building a robust distribution network.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who died on May 28, 2025 at the age of 87, was widely regarded as one of Kenya’s and Africa’s most influential literary figures. His death marked the loss of a writer whose work spanned more than six decades and sparked debates on language, identity and decolonisation that transcended national borders.
Born James Ngugi in Limuru in 1938, he grew up under British colonial rule. He emerged as a writer during the late colonial era, publishing Weep Not, Child in 1964, the first English-language novel by an East African author. His early work explored the upheavals of Kenya’s struggle for independence and its aftermath.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o is widely regarded as one of Kenya’s and Africa’s most influential literary figures.
Photo credit: Joseph Nyagah | Nation Media Group
A turning point came in the 1970s when he abandoned English in favour of his native Gikuyu and Swahili. He argued that African writers should assert cultural autonomy through indigenous languages, a stance he articulated in Decolonising the Mind.
In 1977, he was imprisoned without trial for the play I Will Marry When I Want, after which he lived in exile. His works, including Petals of Blood, Matigari and Wizard of the Crow, left an enduring legacy in African literature.
