Madatally Manji

Madatally Manji (1918-2006) was a Kenyan industrialist and entrepreneur, best known for founding the House of Manji, a food manufacturing company and a household name in East Africa.

Madatally Manji was born in Karatina, a small town in the Rift Valley. He left school early, and worked for some years in a grocery shop, before going into business in his own right in 1941. In the subsequent decades his business interests were dominated by food manufacturing. Although best known for biscuits (in 1986 the "Sunday Times" dubbed him "Kenya's Biscuit Baron"), he also manufactured Weetabix and Buitoni pasta (both under licence), sweets and, in the early days, bread. Although Kenya was always his base, he also developed businesses in Tanzania, Pakistan and the UK and had a continuing interest in property development.

His approach is best described in his own words, from his autobiography, "Memoirs of a Biscuit Baron" (published 1995): "When I reflect on my life, I realise that it is very much interwoven with the history of Kenya. I am a self-made man who started his career without the benefit of much formal education, or much capital. For many years I had to work for an average of 16 hours a day, always driven by the unquenchable desire to succeed in life and in business and, above all, to use the independence that success in business would give me to enable me to chart my own course in life".

He had a tremendous joie de vivre. He and his wife, Fatima Manji, were renowned for their parties. Every momentus episode of his business life was accompanied with pomp and celebration, including variously Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Prince Aga Khan III, Karim Prince Aga Khan IV, most the British Governors of Kenya, Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi. At the House of Manji's Silver Jubilee celebrations, President Moi and most of the Kenyan Government was in attendance.

As a member of the Ismaili Muslim community, Madatally Manji served in a number of Ismaili institutions, as well as other charitable and civil organisations, such as a the League of Friends of Kenyatta Hospital, of which he was a founder member, the Police Service Commission and ICPE, Management of Science for Development in Africa. Although less high profile, he was, throughout his life, always inclined to help others to achieve their goals, whether by providing material support or the advice of a mentor.

In 2003 he was decorated by the President of Kenya, who created him an Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear (EBS) for his contribution to the economic development of Kenya.

Madatally Manji died on 9 September 2006, leaving his wife, Fatima, his children, Julie, Salim and Firoze, his grandchildren, Ambreena, Zia, Ahsan, Tehmeena, Kainde, Sembene, Feisal and Tasneem, his great grandson, Rafik.

References

*http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/28122003/Comment/Comment281220032.html