It is show time for Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited (KFHL) shareholders, some of whom have become instant zillionaires as CEO Nigel Chanakira finally takes over as the substantive boss of the United Kingdom Meikles Africa Limited (KMAL) group.

Chanakira's consortium had a 56 % majority vote at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held at the five-star Meikles Hotel in Harare on Tuesday morning. The meeting was attended by Tanganda Limited, Kingdom and Meikles Africa Limited shareholders.

"I thank the Lord for his blessings and he is continuing to smile on me," Chanakira told The Zimbabwe Gazette in an exclusive interview immediately after the votes has been cast. "The Old Mutual consortium had a 44 % vote which was below that of the combined efforts of Kingdom, Meikles Africa Limited, Tanganda Limited and the Cotton Company (Pvt) Ltd."

Together with his friend Strive Masiyiwa at Econet Wireless Holdings Limited, Chanakira owns one third shareholding of the united group which includes Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) boss, Callisto Jokonya, Susan Bango, Econet's douglas Mboweni, and executive director, Zach Wazara on its board of directors.

Former Meikles chairman, John Moxon now becomes substantive chairman of the combined entity, which will be known as the Kingdom Meikles Africa group with Chanakira as chief executive officer.

The ZSE was a hive of activity as shares swapped were over the counter on Tuesday. Kingdom and Tanganda shares, which had been trading at around $300 000 three weeks ago, were going for more than $1,2 million each, making shareholders instant zillionaires in the worthless Zimbabwe currency.

KFHL is capitalized to the tune of $371 trillion on the ZSE, while Meikles is capitalized to the tune of $1, 1 zillion. Tanganda was capitalized at around $138 trillion as of Tuesday while Econet Wireless was worth $1, 1 zillion. Masiyiwa immediately contacted Chanakira and congratulated him for the success, said Chanakira.

"Thank God we have won the battle," Chanakira told us yesterday. "I am now going into the banking halls to see what is going on as far as the currency is concerned. We need to move fast as we have become a group that is a force not only in Zimbabwe but internationally."

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