It was by chance that Richard Evans, popularly known as Dicky Evans came to Africa when his boss fell sick just before he was supposed to investigate a dam project in Uganda, sending Richard instead.
An engineer by training, he landed a job with the World Bank and the United Nations where he specialised in Dam design and construction, a matter that sent him to East Africa when his boss couldn't make it for a dam inspection project.
A turn of fortunes, however, came when Idi Amin overthrew Milton Obote's government and in his brutal regime, executed three of his friends, forcing him to go back to Europe for a while before he returned to Kenya.
In Kenya, he settled in Watamu and took to up rugby, a sport that saw him captain Kenya and East Africa teams when the sport was still in its infancy in the 70s and also played for the Nondescripts, popularly known as Nondies.
What Richard Evans is well-known for, however, is the Hemmingways group of hotels, which he started after he reportedly convinced a British war veteran to sell him 22 acres where Seafarers Hotel, then famous among locals, stood.
According to the hotel's website, the original Hemingways opened in November 1988 in Watamu and was named after the famous author, explorer, and fisherman, Ernest Hemingway, who travelled throughout Kenya in his exploration duties.
The Collection was expanded in 2012 with the addition of a luxury boutique safari camp, Ol Seki Hemingways in the Mara, and then again in 2013 with the opening of the collection’s flagship property, Hemingways Nairobi – a 5-star luxury boutique hotel in Karen, which is now considered one of the finest hotels in Africa.
In 2018, the Watamu branch hotel reopened after undergoing an 18-month rehabilitation at a cost of Ksh1.38 billion that saw the hotel reduce the number of rooms from 74 to 39.
Apart from hotel rooms, Hemingways Watamu now consists of 21 luxury apartments of one, two and four bedrooms, selling at Sh45 million to Sh140 million.
Throughout Dicky Evans' tenure in Kenya, he has held numerous representative appointments including representing the private sector on the Moi Presidential Economic Commission in the 1990s working with the IMF and the World Bank for which he was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya (OGW) in 1996.
In 2004 he was voted one of the top ten Most Respected CEOs in East Africa, an award by Price Water House Coopers (PwC).
Below are more photos...
