Ruto Rehires Billionaire Narendra Raval As Egerton University Chancellor
Raval will serve at the helm of one of the country's leading and oldest tertiary institutions for five years, effective September 16, 2024.
Viral Tea Ke Writer 
Billionaire steel industrialist and philanthropist Dr Narendra Raval, the executive chairman of Devki Group has made a comeback to Egerton University after President William Ruto reappointed him as its Chancellor.
According to a Gazette notice published on Friday, Raval will serve at the helm of one of the country's leading and oldest tertiary institutions for five years, effective September 16, 2024.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 38 (1) (a) of the Universities Act, 2012, I, William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, re-appoints Narendra Raval (Dr) as Chancellor of the Egerton University, for a period of five (5) years, with effect from September 16, 2024," the notice read in part.
Entrance to Egerton University. /EGERTON UNIVERSITY
The appointment was made in line with the Universities Act 2012, which grants the President powers to appoint a Chancellor of a university.
Narendra Raval was first appointed as the Chancellor of Egerton University by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2019. he took over from Shem Oyoo Wandiga who was appointed in 2013.
Popularly known as 'Guru', Raval has investments in steel, aluminium and cement. Born in India, he served as an assistant priest at a Swaminarayan temple before relocating to Kenya as a teenager to serve in another temple.
He was expelled from the sect when he married a Kenyan woman and decided to take up a job in a small steel factory where he learnt steelmaking. In 1986, pulling together his savings, he started a small steel processing and trading outfit with his wife in downtown Nairobi.
That small operation has grown into Devki Group, the largest manufacturer of steel products in East and Central Africa, which manufactures cement, reinforcement bars, and barbed wire. The group would go ahead to establish subsidiaries in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The group's cement division, National Cement Company, manufactures Kenya's bestselling Simba cement. Raval, a devoted philanthropist, supports a string of orphanages.
He has minimal interests in aviation. Raval as a man who grew up in priesthood is also an astrologist and owns a company that manufactures oxygen which he gives to hospitals for free.
According to Forbes, his company generates revenue worth Ksh64.3 billion while his net worth is estimated at an average of Ksh51 billion.
