Billionaire George Soros Shuts Offices in 6 Nations, Spares Kenya
A foundation founded by the American-Hungarian billionaire George Soros did not close its offices in Kenya as part of a campaign to close its offices across Africa.
Bloomberg first reported on Thursday that the Open Society Foundation (OSF) sent a letter to employees of several African offices informing them of its intentions to close some of the offices.
Kampala in Uganda, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Cape Town in South Africa, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Abuja in Nigeria are the six affected cities on the African continent.
However, offices will continue to operate in Kenya, Senegal, and Johannesburg, South Africa.
In a letter to the staff, OSF’s Vice President of programs, Binaifer Nowrojee, noted that despite a 40% reduction in staff, it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain operations across its offices.
“With the decision by the board in June to cut the staff by more than 40 percent. our staffing size and footprint by necessity need to diminish,” read the email from Nowrojee.
“We no longer have the bandwidth to operate multiple small offices and thus the decision to further reduce our locations.”
In a separate statement, Africa Executive Director Muthoni Wanyeki expressed regret for the occurrence.
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“I’m very sorry that it’s turned out this way. It’s obviously not what any of us expected and I am also very sorry that I didn’t have the information on this earlier,” she noted.
The foundation is proud to donate Ksh148 billion annually to charity, of which Ksh15 billion is allocated to causes on the African Continent.
Over the past three decades, the foundation, which is managed by Soros’ son, has distributed over 50,000 grants and Ksh2.8 trillion.
“The Open Society Foundations are active in more than 120 countries around the world, using grant-giving, research, advocacy, impact investment, and strategic litigation to support the growth of inclusive and vibrant democracies,” reads a description of the foundation on its website.
Soros, who amassed a fortune through the sale of stocks and currencies, established the foundation in 1979 after surviving the Holocaust, which claimed over 500,000 lives.
When he wagered against the British pound and made over $1 billion (Ksh148 billion) in profits, he became famous for his successful investments. He has contributed Ksh4.7 quadrillion of his personal wealth to OSF causes around the globe.
Billionaire George Soros Shuts Offices in 6 Nations, Spares Kenya
