One of Kenya’s most powerful individuals, WPP-Scangroup founder and Chief Executive Officer Bharat Thakrar seems to have lost his mojo as the major shareholder in the company he founded, WPP-ScanGroup PLC has decided to do away with him over issues ranging from financial irregularities, sexual scandals to stock market manipulation.
The move to remove Bharat caught even the market regulator unawares as they were just informed in the morning, minutes before the public was informed.
However, the departure of Bharat Thakrar together with Chief Financial Officer Satyabrata Das pointed to a problem of corporate governance and less of sexual misconduct, though it has been a serious issue at the leading PR, Advertising and Marketing Agency.
Following the suspension, the board delegated authority to an interim Chief Operating officer Alec Graham to ensure continuity.
WPP-Scangroup is a subsidiary of British communications agency, WPP . It is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and is the largest marketing and communication group operating a multi-agency model across multiple agencies in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Some of the WPP-Scangroup agencies are; Advertising Agencies Ogilvy & Mather, SCANAD and JWT; media firms GroupM, Mediacom Africa and Mindshare and digital companies OgilvyOne, Squad Digital and SCANAD Digital. The firm has a presence in 25 countries in Africa including Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi and Cameroon among others.
The firm has had serious dominance in the market with sometimes even taking 80 per cent of the PR, Advertising and Marketing business while undercutting or destroying competitions through poaching and blackmail. Senior staff members of WPP-Scangroup who have thought of leaving for rival agencies have had their careers destroyed through badmouthing or outright intimidation.
According to sources in the know, Bharat has been in a sexual relationship with two key ScanGroup employees ( Serah and Sheila ), both of whom he has extended favours to, including giving them irregular promotions while overlooking those who are qualified for the same. He has also used staff expense account to pay for the holiday of the duo in Kenya and abroad.
Of note is Serah Katusia whose star started to rise in 2011/2012 after getting into a relationship with Bharat Thakrar. With nothing more than a Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) certificate, she was deployed to Tanzania in 2013 to head the unit and replace Betty Radier who was moved back to Kenya.
Staff at WPP-Scangroup have not been happy that […]