JAMIE PUJARA

Entrepreneur Jamie Pujara joined EO’s Global Board as a director in July 2022 after seven years of membership and leadership service to the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s (EO) community in Africa. Since joining EO Kenya in 2015, he has been integral to EO’s growth in the Middle East, Pakistan, and Africa (MEPA) region, steering its members through the turmoil of the Coronavirus pandemic and remaining an optimistic voice for entrepreneurship on the continent today.

Born and raised in Nairobi but of Indian and Chinese descent, initially pursued careers in teaching in Tokyo, then film production in New York. His entrepreneurial journey began when he returned home to Nairobi to run the oldest Chinese restaurant in the city, Tin Tin, founded by his grandfather. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Jamie’s business, which lost 90 percent of its revenue, motivated him to take a greater leadership role in EO so he could support fellow entrepreneurs across the region. As regional chair from 2019-2021, he helped unite disparate chapters across a vast geographical and cultural landscape and built cohesiveness that fostered pride and a sense of belonging. His dedication to helping fellow EO members through the pandemic earned Jamie EO’s prestigious Mark Lincoln Volunteer of the Year Award in 2021.

In his own business, Jamie made multiple pivots to adjust to changing times: first, transforming his family’s restaurant fledgling catering division into its core offering, then turning his attention toward real estate. In 2012, he founded buyrentkenya.com and grew it into Kenya’s number one property portal before selling it in 2017. Buoyed by his success, he ventured into real estate development, breaking ground on his first project in 2020. Despite the pandemic, Aspire Heights, a 65-apartment building aimed at Nairobi’s growing middle class, was completed in 2023.

Jamie points to participation in EO’s Regional Leadership Academy as pivotal in his own growth journey, as it inspired him to volunteer for progressively influential leadership positions in the organization. He says EO has helped him become not only a better entrepreneur, but a better father and husband to his wife and their two sons. He is enthusiastic about food, sports and education and the belief that an entrepreneur’s role is to help change the world for the better.