Naina Andriantsitohaina is very much the modern entrepreneur. Born in 1963, he likes to drive around Antananarivo on a motor bike. In 2009, he took over the family business from his father, Jean-Charles Andriantsitohaina, and today heads companies in a variety of sectors, supported by family members and long-standing collaborators. These companies include printers NIAG, chemicals distributor Prochimad, the BMOI bank and the Ultima Media press group. Like his father before him, he has dealt regularly with successive governments as official representative of the Malagasy business community, most notably as chairman of the employers' organisations, SIM and GEM.
He served briefly as adviser to prime minister Jacques Sylla from 2002 to 2004 but, since then, has avoided taking political sides too openly in public. He has not forgotten the problems encountered by some businessmen who fell into disgrace during the presidency of Marc Ravalomanana. In public, therefore, he is discreet and cautious on political issues but can nevertheless make use of his press group to settle scores.
His father and he were initially pleased by the election of Ravalomanana, a businessman like themselves, to the presidency in 2002. After the latter's first term, however, they became disappointed with the way he exercised power and, in 2008 and 2009, Naina Andriantsitohaina began working in the shadows with other businessman in Antananarivo for political change.
As chairman of GEM, he nevertheless kept his distance from transition president Andry "TGV" Rajoelina, who held against him his refusal to support the general strike organised against Ravalomanana in early 2009. Since then, Andriantsitohaina's business affairs have prospered quite well and he has kept up close links with Mamy Ravatomanga, who had become TGV's unofficial adviser. Even so, in 2012, he ran into dispute with the transition authorities, who made him close his radio station, Taratra 105.6 FM.