Jonathan Somen

Jonathan Somen is a Second Generation African, and an entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Access Kenya Group alongside his brother, David Somen.[1]

Jonathan Somen
Born (1969-06-27) 27 June 1969
Nairobi, Kenya
NationalityKenyan
Alma materUniversity of Bristol
OccupationBusinessman & Entrepreneur
Years active1994 – present
Known forCo-founding:

Early life

The Somen family emigrated to Kenya in 1923 when Israel Somen relocated from South Africa to work in government.[2] Jonathan Somen was born on 27 June 1969 to Michael and Vera Somen. His father was an advocate while mother a medical doctor.[3]

He attended Banda School in Nairobi for his early education before joining Epsom College in Surrey for his secondary education. He later enrolled University of Bristol to study Economics and Accounting.[3]

Career

Upon completing his studies, Jonathan returned to Kenya and worked as a tour guide for Rhino Safaris and Abercrombie & Kent. He later joined Kilimanjaro Water Company as its Chief Operations Manager.

In 1994, Jonathan and his elder brother founded Communication Solutions Limited (Commsol) off his apartment in Westlands, Nairobi with Jonathan as CEO.[3] In the same year, the brothers co-founded LCR Telecom Group, a company focused on providing cost-effective data and telecommunications solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises in The United Kingdom, France, Spain and Belgium, with David as CEO[4] and Virtual Technology Group a telephone call-back services in Africa and dial-through telephone services in the UK.[5] In the year 2000, they sold off LCR Telecom Group to Primus Telecommunications Group (now HC2 Holdings Inc) for about $105.3 million in stock.[6] In the same year, Commsol was rebranded to AccessKenya Limited. At this point the company was the leading Corporate ISP in Kenya.[7]

In 2007, Jonathan led AccessKenya to list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange after a successful IPO making it the ICT company in the region.[8][9] In 2013, AccessKenya Group was acquired by Dimension Data Holdings[10] and delisted from the Nairobi Securities Exchange.[11] Jonathan remained the CEO of the Group until mid 2015.[12]

Other activities

Jonathan takes part in the Rhino Charge off-road event[13] and mentions that his best way to relax is by flying.[14]

References
  1. Mulupi, Dinfin (26 January 2015). "Jonathan Somen's journey of building and selling a multi-million dollar IT business". How we made it in Africa. Maritz Africa. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  2. "Somen, Israel". Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  3. Waithaka, Wanjiru; Majeni, Evans (2012). Written at Westlands. A Profile of Kenyan Entrepreneurs (2014 ed.). Nairobi: Kenway Publications for East African Educational Publishers. pp. 301–310. ISBN 978-9966258274.
  4. "Company Overview of LCR Telecom Group PLC". Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  5. "Virtual IT". Virtual IT. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  6. "COMPANY NEWS; PRIMUS TO EXPAND IN EUROPEAN MARKET WITH ACQUISITION". NY Times. 9 February 2000. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  7. "About AccessKenya Group". AccessKenya Group. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  8. "Sh2.1 Billion Refunds for AccessKenya IPO Investors" (Issue no 356 ed.). Balancing Act. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  9. Maina, Wangui (30 April 2007). "Dealers: AccessKenya IPO a success". Business Daily Africa. Nation Media Group. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  10. "Dimension Data offer to Access Kenya Group Shareholders" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  11. AccessKenya exit leaves NSE shy of Sh2 trillion mark
  12. Okuttah, Mark (11 June 2015). "End of an era as AccessKenya MD Somen steps down". [Business Daily Africa]]. Nation Media Group. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  13. Okeyo, Denis (22 May 2012). "Oil firm gives Sh725,000 to fuel Rhino Charge". Daily Nation. Nation Media Group. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  14. Mulupi, Dinfin (13 July 2012). "Meet the Boss: Jonathan Somen, MD, AccessKenya". How we made it in Africa. Maritz Africa. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
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