J.W.Ladwa (1977) Ltd Information

Registered in 1977, J.W.Ladwa (1977) Ltd was the first local Tanzanian company to qualify as a Class I private company. The company’s very first project was building a bridge of 100 meters connecting Tanzania and Malawi. At the time, the World Bank and the Swedish consultants, SWECO, discouraged the Tanzanian Government from promoting a Tanzanian company to be the main contractor as the company had little prior experience in the industry at large - let alone from building bridges. The President of Tanzania at the time, Mwalimu Nyerere, simply said – Then teach them. So the story began of Mr. J.W.Ladwa, who with no formal education, and no capital, started the first class I contractor of Tanzania. Over the next four decades, SWECO, the World Bank and other multilateral and multinational companies, worked with J.W. Ladwa (1977) Ltd within projects valued at over USD 700 Million. The story of the three brothers is intimately linked to the development of Tanzania as a nation. By 1982, the Ladwa brothers, JW, CW and DW were building five major power stations, three airports, over 2000 kilometres of road, and national projects including defence and strategic hydro power projects. The tremendous growth of the company during a short timespan was the result of one man’s efforts to disprove the colonial overhang that only foreign companies can build Tanzania, and at the same time to better the lives of his family. JW started a real estate business, motor trade, hotels and land banks. He grew his net worth from 1977 at USD 1 to USD 400 Million in 2014. While JW, CW and DW Ladwa all remain involved in the company, the next generation of Ladwa brothers, Bhavesh Ladwa, Aatish Ladwa, Nilesh Ladwa and Jitesh Ladwa have taken over the daily running and management of the company today.