Thom Mpinganjira

Thomson Mpinganjira trained as a chartered accountant and spent years in banking — with the Reserve Bank of Malawi and then in senior positions in commercial banking — before leaving to start his own business at a point when Malawi's financial sector was almost entirely foreign-owned and the idea of a Malawian-founded bank was close to theoretical.

First Discount House opened in 1999 as a discount house, dealing in government paper, which was the only opening available to a local entrant without a banking licence. From there he built outward into money transfer, insurance, pensions, stockbroking and eventually full commercial banking, and FDH Financial Holdings acquired the state-owned Malawi Savings Bank in 2015, taking on its branch network and its very large base of ordinary depositors.

FDH Bank plc listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange in 2020, in one of the largest public offerings the exchange has handled, and is now among the biggest banks in the country by customers. It is the largest financial institution founded and owned by a Malawian, and it made him the country's best-known businessman and among its largest private employers.

He has also funded schooling and health projects at scale, and the group's foundation is a significant presence in Malawian philanthropy.