Rasik Kantaria: From Running A Kiosk To Founding Prime Bank Kenya

Rasik Kantaria is the founder and chairman of Prime Bank Limited, one of the leading private banks in Kenya.

Having been founded in 1992, the bank has a network of 23 branches spread in different parts of the country.

The 80-year-old also co-founded First Capital Bank in Malawi, the first private bank and then a bank in Botswana.

But what is his story to the top? Here is what WoK has gathered about the same.

Kantaria grandfather relocated to Kenya from India in 1896 when he was just 16 years of age.

After his arrival in Kenya, the young man joined his brother, and worked in a small shop in Limuru, Kiambu County.

They later set up a sawmill then a charcoal business before they established a spare parts business in Nairobi.

“They started selling stuff in dukas to workers in factories around Redhill and then got into the timber business before moving to Nairobi to set up a spare parts business because they were operating logging tracks, hence the need for spare parts,” Kantaria said.

The business, Empire Auto Spares is among many other business that the two brothers went on to establish.

It included East African Building Society, an aluminum factory in Mombasa that they established in 1958.

“We started a chemical business that dealt with fertiliser. We also grew flowers. Of course, I started a financial company that later became a bank,” he explained.

Having grown around his grandparents, Kantaria had seen his family men build things with their hands.

He would help at the shop whenever he would find some free time.

In the same spirit, he went on to set up Prime Capital and Credit Finance company in 1988, which later became Prime Bank.

He also co-founded First Capital Bank previously known as First Merchant Bank Limited Malawi and Tausi Assurance Company Limited.

Kantaria holds a Bsc (Economics) degree from London.

He previously served as a director at the Deposit Protection Fund Board appointed by the Central Bank of Kenya.

He is chairman and director of many other companies in the tourism, real estate, and manufacturing industries.

Additionally, Kantaria is a long standing Rotarian and for his outstanding contribution towards humanity, he was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree by The United Graduate College & Seminary, USA.

Kantaria is a father of three children; two boys and one girl.

“My two boys are with me in the bank now. My daughter is an architect. She went around the world, returned, and settled down here

“She was the architect of the Radisson Blu Hotel. But all these are not things that should be given a lot of time because anybody with grit and hard work can build a business,” he said.

Kantaria also explained his commitment towards giving out to the less fortunate, noting that he learnt it from his father.

“My father always believed in doing things for people, not only for the Indian community or family but for people in the broader community

“He even hired lawyers for some of his workers detained during the Mau Mau uprising and bailed them out. He then gave them money to buy shambas,” he said.

He added that they are currently offering medical help to less fortunate children, especially those from the coastal region.

“We do a lot of work with organisations like Lion’s Hospital, where we donate. We have donated to MP Shah over the years.

“On Tuesday, I was there to see 200 children being attended to. Surgeons from the UK operated on 39 children with heart defects for free,” Kantaria stated.