Zahra Bahlewa Moi is wife to the current Baringo county senator and KANU chairman Gideon Moi. The beauty was the face of Lady Gay lotion in the 90s. Here is the biography of Zahra.
Education
According to her linkedin account, Zahra attended the IMD Business School-a Swiss institution with ‘global reach’. She also lists the SolBridge International School of Business institution among the schools she attended. The institution is located in Daejeon, Korea’s Silicon Valley.
In 2015, she was awarded a Magna Cum Laude degree in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration by United States International University (USIU). A Magna Cum Laude is awarded to students with an overall GPA of 3.7 and above and is an equivalent to First Class Honor.
On its 38th graduation ceremony, USIU awarded doctoral degrees to 21 graduates for the first time ever. Zahra was awarded a Global Executive Master of Business Administration (GeMBA) in the ceremony which was presided over by Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi.
“GeMBA has prepared us for the global business arena as far as employment opportunities and business opportunities are concerned.
It is an excellent program that provides an enabling environment to study by bringing together professionals of diverse backgrounds,” she said partly after receiving the degree.
Family
The CEO has been married to Gideon Moi for over 15 years. Gideon Moi is the youngest son of the late honorable Moi and the late Lena Moi. Her husband won the senatorial seat in the 2013 general elections and just like his father, Gideon Moi also wishes to be the president of Kenya and he is the party leader of the KANU.
Zahra and Moi are blessed with three children namely, Lulu, Kimoi and Kigen.
Career
Mrs Moi is the Chief Executive Officer of The Lord Erroll Hotel. The hotel is named after a British aristocrat murdered in 1941 and buried in the graveyard of St. Paul’s Church in Kiambu.
The Lord Erroll Hotel has bagged several awards over the years. At the 2020 Haute Grandeur Awards, the hotel won excellence award for being:
- The best hotel for entertainment in Kenya.
- Most unique experience in Kenya
- Best Gourmet Cuisine in Africa
- Best Head Chef in Africa
In 2016, Zahra was appointed to the board of Tourism Research Institute. She went on to be re-appointed to the same position in 2019.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 53 (1) (h) of the tourism act 2011, the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife appoints- Zahra Bahlewa Moi to be a member of the board of the Tourism Research Institute, for a period of three years, with effect from 1st June 2019,” read a gazette notice.
Prior to this appointment, she had been nominated as a director at the Board of Management of Kenya Hospital Association, owners of Nairobi Hospital.
She, however, declined the offer stating that honored as she was by it she couldn’t accept. This is because the demands of her time could not allow her to efficiently be part of the hospital’s board members.
Before issuing her statement, some reports had alleged she had been barred from assuming office by the hospital’s board members.
Scandal
In 2020, a mainstream media station reported that the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) was probing an irregular tender worth Ksh3 billion, issued by the Kenya Ports Authority.
Gideon and Zahra Moi were fingered as the owners of a company with significant shares in a firm that was at the heart of the alleged inland container depot (ICD) scandal.
They said that money that was initially meant for the expansion of ICD was diverted by the Kenya Ports Authority, which later controversially lists private companies to offer peripheral storage facilities for inland bound cargoes.
One of the companies that allegedly benefited from the tender was High Trees Ltd. As reported by NTV, the DCI stated the company was owned by Gideon and Zahra Moi, each having 50% of the shares. Senator Moi denied the allegations linking him and his family to the company.
