Alibhoy Mulla Jeevanjee

Alibhoy (also Alibhai) Mulla Jeevanjee (* 1856 in Karachi , Pakistan ; † 1936 ) was an Indian businessman and entrepreneur and at the same time a Kenyan politician , whose work was closely connected with the establishment of the British Protectorate of East Africa .

Origin and youth

Jeevanjee was born in Karachi, then part of India . His family belonged to a Shiite group of Islam , the Dawudi Bohras , a community that consisted of mostly conservative and tradition-conscious small traders. Jeevanjee grew up in the community of a large family association, as quickly emerged with several generations of polygynous family structures. The children's education was particularly focused on religion and tradition. The family earned their modest livelihood with a horse-drawn carriage company. Jeevanjee's father died early in an accident and left six young children, the eldest of which was Alibhoy Jeevanjee, who from then on lived in the uncle's family. As was usual for boys, the young Alibhoy also left home and looked for future opportunities far away. He toured India and Australia , keeping himself afloat with small trade deals.

The rise to a large entrepreneur

Around 1880, Jeevanjee teamed up with his younger brother Tayabali. Together, the two young men built in the 1880s, a huge trade, transportation and job placement company in the then Bombay and her hometown of Karachi on AM Jeevanjee & Co . Jeevanjee came to Mombasa in 1890 . During his stay in Australia he was fluent in English, which he benefited from when he signed a contract with the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) to supply craftsmen and police officers to British East Africa. He opened a branch in Mombasa and cooperated with the IBEA as an employment agency. He lived in a luxurious villa in what was then the capital of the Protectorate and associated with a cosmopolitan upper class of Mombasa, which consisted of Arab, Indian and European merchants and members of the administrative elite.

In 1895 he concluded a contract with the newly created Protectorate of East Africa on the placement of Indian workers for railway construction , all preparatory work such as earthworks and rock blasting, the construction of railway buildings and catering for the workforce for railway construction. When the railroad reached Nairobi in 1901, Jeevanjee was one of the protectorate's closest confidants. Almost all the buildings in the booming capital Nairobi were built under his direction as a building contractor.

His villa was a meeting place for the upper class of the newly formed settler colony. In 1901 he founded the country's first non-European (and now the most important) newspaper, the African Standard , and created a shipping line between Bombay, Aden , Mombasa and Mauritius .

Social and political engagement

In addition, he was involved in social areas. In 1904 he had a park named after him in Nairobi and financed the construction of the public market. He supported sports clubs and various religious associations. Because of a generous donation, he was the only non-European member of the Nairobi Club, an exclusive club of white settlers.

At the same time, however, he also campaigned for the rights of Indian immigrants. In 1909 he became the first and until 1919 the only Indian member of the Legislative Assembly of British East Africa. He initiated the East African Indian National Congress in 1914 and became one of its leading speakers in the debates about the colony's political future in the 1920s. As he turned to politics, his wealth gradually dwindled. His brothers also contributed to the dismantling of his empire. Jevanjee lost his fortune during the Great Depression in the late 1920s. The man who two decades earlier had been one of the richest men in East Africa died penniless.

Commemoration and reception in Kenya

Jeevanjee is seen as one of the fathers of the anti-colonial resistance movement in Kenya. The park he created, Jeevanjee Garden , in the business district of Nairobi, is the only building that reminds of him. Since the 1990s, the city of Nairobi has made various attempts to build on the park. All plans to build a parking garage, toilet blocks or commercial buildings there have so far been prevented by public protests.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zarina Patel: Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee . Nairobi, 2002, pp. 1-5.
2. ^ Robert G. Gregory: The Rise and Fall of Philanthropy in East Africa: The Asian Contribution . 1992, p. 52.
3. ^ Robert G. Gregory: The Rise and Fall of Philanthropy in East Africa: The Asian Contribution . 1992, p. 53.
4. ^ Zarina Patel: Challenge to Colonialism. The Struggle of Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee for Equal Rights in Kenya . 2002.
5. ↑ Morton Saulo: Face-Off As Trustees Resist Jeevanjee Garden's Facelift , East African Standard, October 7, 2008