<PAGE>
                                                                   EXHIBIT 31.1

                                 CERTIFICATIONS

I, Nimrod T. Frazer, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive
Officer, certify that:

    1.  I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of The Enstar Group,
Inc.;

    2.  Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly
report;

    3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

    4.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14) for the registrant and we have:

            (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
        such controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision to
        ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including
        its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within
        those entities, particularly during the period in which this quarterly
        report is being prepared;

            (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
        controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
        about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
        of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
        evaluation; and

            (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
        internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
        registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected,
        or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
        control over financial reporting;

    5.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of
directors (or persons performing equivalent functions):

            (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
        design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting which
        are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to
        record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

            (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
        other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
        internal control over financial reporting.

                                       By:         /s/ NIMROD T. FRAZER
                                          --------------------------------------
                                                     Nimrod T. Frazer
                                            Chairman of the Board of Directors
                                                 and Chief Executive Officer

Date: August 9, 2004




                                      25