Three billionaires emerge on Malawi Stock Exchange in 2025

At the start of 2025, the Malawi Stock Exchange told a familiar story for a small but steadily maturing African market. It was home to dollar multimillionaires, seasoned financiers whose wealth reflected years of patient capital and disciplined expansion. None, however, crossed the billion-dollar line. The closest was Indian-Malawian banker and financier Hitesh Anadkat, whose stake in Mauritius-based FMB Capital Holdings Plc was worth just over $350 million at the time. Twelve months later, by the close of December 2025, that picture had changed in a way few local investors would have predicted at the start of the year. The bourse ended the year having produced three billionaires, a first in its history, driven by an extraordinary re-pricing of banking stocks that turned long-held positions into fortunes measured in billions.

The shift was not gradual. At the start of 2025, the combined market value of the stakes held by Anadkat, Malawian banker and entrepreneur Thom Mpinganjira, and Kenyan banker Rasik Kantaria stood at MWK1.32 trillion ($763.3 million). By year-end, a surge in the share prices of FMB Capital and FDH Bank Plc had lifted that combined figure to MWK7 trillion ($4.06 billion). Shares of FMB Capital climbed 476 percent during the year, pushing its market capitalization to MWK7.86 trillion ($4.5 billion), while FDH Bank’s stock rose 304 percent, valuing the lender at MWK4.14 trillion ($2.4 billion). The result was the quiet arrival of three new billionaires on a market that, only months earlier, had none. Forbes has yet to reflect this shift, but by the numbers tracked on the exchange, the wealth is already there.

Three founders reap banking fortunes

For Hitesh Anadkat, the year capped a journey that began three decades earlier. He co-founded First Merchant Bank in 1995, which later became FMB Capital, and helped guide its expansion across Southern Africa. Today, the group runs banking operations in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, serving a broad base of corporate and retail clients. According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, Anadkat recorded the largest paper gains on the Malawi Stock Exchange in 2025. His 45.35 percent stake, representing 1,114,939,081 shares, rose in market value by MWK2.94 trillion ($1.69 billion) during the year. What was worth MWK618.8 billion ($356 million) on Jan. 1, 2025, stood at MWK3.56 trillion ($2.05 billion) by Dec. 31. The increase alone exceeded the market cap of FMB Capital just a year earlier, a reflection of how sharply investor sentiment turned in favor of the group.

Rasik Kantaria’s path to a billion-dollar stake ran alongside Anadkat’s, shaped by a major move in the mid-1990s. The Kenyan businessman, founder and chairman of Prime Bank Limited and Prime Capital Holdings, teamed up with Anadkat in 1995 to co-found FMB Capital. Kantaria’s bet on banking, made more than three decades ago, was rooted in seeing room for growth in local financial services and in building a platform that could expand beyond one market. In 2025, that conviction paid off. His 525 million shares in FMB Capital Holdings, equal to a 21.36 percent stake, rose by MWK1.4 trillion ($820 million) over the year. The holding increased from MWK291.4 billion ($167 million) at the start of January to MWK1.7 trillion ($1.01 billion) by the end of December, placing him firmly among the exchange’s biggest winners.

The third member of the trio, Thom Mpinganjira, built his fortune closer to home. A Malawian banker and entrepreneur, he is the founder of FDH Financial Holdings Limited, the parent company of FDH Bank. His 40.73 percent stake, amounting to 2.81 billion shares, rose in market value by MWK1.3 trillion ($750 million) in 2025. At the beginning of the year, the stake was valued at MWK416.5 billion ($240 million). By the time of drafting this report, it stood at about MWK1.7 trillion, or roughly $1 billion. The gain reflected a year in which FDH Bank’s stock became one of the most sought-after names on the Malawi Stock Exchange.

Bank earnings mint billionaires on the Malawi Stock Exchange

Behind the sharp rise in share prices was sustained buying interest in 2025, spurred by financial results that gave investors little reason to look away. FMB Capital Holdings entered 2025 on the back of a strong 2024. The group reported a full-year profit after tax of $103.5 million, up 13 percent year-on-year, and posted a 41 percent return on average equity. Four of its five banks delivered profit after tax in excess of $20 million, signaling consistent earnings power across its regional operations even as operating conditions remained demanding. FDH Bank’s numbers told a similar story. In 2024, it reported a profit after tax of MK74.06 billion ($42.6 million), more than double the MK35.64 billion ($20.51 million) recorded the previous year. Net interest income jumped 136 percent, supported by growth in the loan book, government securities and placements. Combined with higher non-interest income, total income rose 90 percent, thus giving investors clear evidence of balance sheet growth translating into earnings.

That pace carried into 2025. For the six months ended June 30, FMB Capital reported profit after tax of $72.9 million, a 56 percent increase from the same period in 2024, with a 12-month rolling return on average equity of 42 percent. Management pointed to continued balance sheet growth, steady margins and improved efficiency across its markets. FDH Bank, for its part, posted a consolidated profit after tax of MK60.28 billion ($34.7 million) in the first half of 2025, up 116 percent from MK27.94 billion ($16.07 million) a year earlier. Net interest income rose 92 percent as the loan book expanded 62 percent year-on-year, even as interest expense climbed on the back of stronger deposit growth and higher long-term borrowings.

Taken together, the numbers explain why investors stayed engaged and why valuations moved as they did. What stands out is not only the speed of the wealth creation but where it occurred. The Malawi Stock Exchange, often overlooked in conversations about Africa’s capital markets, closed 2025 having produced three billionaires in a single year. For Anadkat, Kantaria and Mpinganjira, the gains were the result of long-held positions meeting a year of exceptional market recognition. For the exchange itself, 2025 will be remembered as the year stocks rewrote expectations and placed Malawi, decisively, into discussions about Africa’s billionaires.