Suleman Verjee

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Mukhi Suleman Verjee
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  • INDIAN SETTLERS IN AFRICA THE LEGACY OF SULEMAN VERJEE AND SONS BY DR KAS JAMAL SULEMAN VERJEE. NEW KINDLE EDITION : March 2021
Place of longest stay
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  • Dukawalla Merchant
  • Trader
  • Entreprenuer
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Born in Dui

Initially Suleman Verjee could not afford a shop. He was very poor and had actually borrowed the money for the fare to Africa and the family's upkeep in India. He had borrowed 350 rupees initially in Diu and again 2000 rupees in Mumbai before they sailed from there.(The house that Suleman Verjee lived in still stands).

His 3 sons Jamal, Kassam and Alibhai came with him from Diu in India, where the family had eventually settled after Shivji's death. His other three sons Madatali, Hussein, Nurmohamed, wife and two daughters came later.

Rattansi Virji whom he met when he landed in Mombasa.

Rattansi's wife was impressed that he had made the trip with such young children and she really liked Kassam. They took him under their wing and took Kassam as an apprentice. They had no children.

Suleman started making sweetmeats on the veranda of Rattansi's small shop. From this, he expanded, opened a store, and tended to their customers. The debts were paid off, family gradually brought over, business expanded.

Suleman Verjee set up ninteen trading posts between Mombasa to Nairobi. The Country was wild, opportunities abounded. They survived the climate and man eating lions.

Community and Religion were a major driving force for Suleman.

During those early years, Kassam was the brains of the enterprise and worked very hard.The Boys were hard workers. They had big dreams and ambitions.They fulfilled a lot of Suleman Verjee's dreams. Gradually they started importing other goods.

Suleman Verjee's Obsession with Education and school building is the least known part of his legacy, and the most Important.

Suleman embraced change. Every change is an opportunity, he used to say.

It was our Khoja custom to build properties for communal benefit and religion even in India, way before we came to Africa.

In Indian tradition, the concept of seva goes all the way back to the Vedas.

The First Jamatkhana that Suleman Verjee built was Kuze JamatKhana in Mombasa, in conjunction with the Ismaili Community and the Aga Khan's blessing. It was uncharted territory. Rather than extol its virtues, I will let you look at the pictures. Saves me writing a thousand words. It was built in 1888. This is the oldest Ismaili center in Kenya. It is a grand structure. The heavy carved wooden doors, designs, Calligraphy. His sons learnt about construction. It was the first jamatkhana (JK) that I went to as a child. Suleman Verjee had prospered by the time it was built. He served as the first Mukhi from 1888 to 1892.

Hussein sacrificed his work, money and took on the task. It was his personality and ability to find solutions in a war ravaged Country. He immersed himself in the project from morning to night. It was the Darkhana (Main) Jamatkhana for Ismailis for years. Architect K. Virjee Nanji, etc. Suleman Verjee and sons built a stone building in Indian Bazaar across from our main Khoja Mosque on Bazaar Street.

On the downside, Suleman Verjee was very headstrong.There is an old Gujarati saying in East Africa. “Verjee ni chokri levi nai, ne Verjee ne chokri devi nai It meant that “one should not marry a Verjee girl or marry your daughter to a Verjee.” because they are so headstrong and difficult.

On a positive note, Suleman Verjee had business acumen to understand what was happening, and make the correct decisions to make the family flourish.

His children played a big part in his success and fulfilled his dreams. They followed the Railway with its dangers and forged a living. He put up 19 stores between Mombasa and Nairobi. The trio Kassam, Hussein and Madat were Suleman Verjee and Sons.

[1]

Another notable case is that of Suleiman Virjee & Sons. Members of East Africa’s Ismaili community, the firm’s founder Suleiman Virjee arrived in Mombasa in 1880. He worked in the shipping business and later set up a firm dealing in imports and exports as well as distribution and retail. By the early 1900s, the firm had opened shops in Voi, Kibwezi and Makindu, supplying a variety of building materials, produce, and imports including “native cloths, twines, and provisions of all kind[s],” according to a family member. They also marketed themselves as “safari outfitters.”

The firm expanded briefly into cotton ginning, buying up mills in the Masaka region of Uganda. However, when the First World War broke out, the venture shut down due to the impact of new textile imports on the local market. “Demand for low price clothing increased [among African consumers] and had a very bad effect on the [sale] of [our] high price[d] goods,” the family’s oral history notes. (Presumably, the high priced goods were intended for a European, Indian, or high-income African consumer market that never materialized.)

New tariff rules and market changes led to a substantial dent in the business across all merchandise classes, so much so that by the end of the war, the firm had even foregone paying a 20 percent custom duty to release goods from a Mombasa warehouse. “As [there was] no therefore be very grateful to you if you will please see to immediate restoration of allowance and arrange to get me Rs. 15,000/- from the receivers to enable me to square up with my creditors here. Of course this amount can be recouped by deduction of half of allowance every month and I have already addressed to receivers in this behalf.” 52 From Ross Christie to Daly & Figgis, on 26th February 1932, Seth Bernarisidas Nanumal v. Gulamhussein Mulla Jeevanji et al, 1932, UONL RAC DF, Series 1, File. No. 155.

As Ross Christie, lawyer for one of the Jeevanjee sons, Gulam Hussein, writes, “In the meantime, we may say that we are having the usual difficult of obtaining assistance from these clients, and so far we have not been able to arrange a meeting with them. To make matters worse, we are informed that Mr. Taibali Mulla Jeevanji intends to return to Nairobi to-day, and as you are aware, his brother, Gulam Hussein, usually professes complete ignorance of these matters, so that we anticipate considerable difficulty in conducting the case.” sell[ing],” the family’s written oral history states, “there was no point of releasing[ing] the goods and pay[ing] the duty.”53 The firm would eventually downsize further during the interwar period.

Following the dissolution of the family partnership in 1927, Madatali took over the Nairobi store from his brother Hussein and continued management on his own. However, the family had accumulated considerable wealth from real estate investments in central Kenya and on the coast. According to Daly & Figgis files, one of Suleiman’s sons, Kassambhai, drew up a will for the distribution of his estate before he passed away in 1918. That estate included no less than twenty properties in Nairobi and Mombasa, which were evaluated at half a million shillings and provided Ksh 3,660 in annual rents. It also included three mortgage bonds valued at Ksh 152,000 (see Appendix 2).

According to their file, the estate sponsored family and community events, including a wedding as well as donations to Aga Khan schools and the Diamond Jubilee Celebration—one of the many celebrations held by Ismailis to mark the Aga Khan’s anniversary as their Imam. Family records also show donations to a gymkhana (recreational club) and the Nairobi Ismaili Jamatkhana (congregation and prayer hall). (See below.)

Another beneficiary took out a Ksh 30,000 loan against the estate to fund law studies in England.54

While the partnership did not last into the postwar period, the family had succeeded in accumulating significant wealth, with which it supported community networks and other resources. Table 2.2. Virjee Family Donations (1900-1945)55 53 Written materials were provided to me during conversations with the Virjee family on 8th of August, 2015, Nairobi.

One descendant described the firm's forays into the native cloth business as such. “Madatali decided to import clothing for the Uganda market. Expensive material costs approx. 20/ a yard. [But] this material [was well] liked by Uganda[n] women...His success [encouraged] him to import large consignment worth some million of [sic] shillings. Custom ware house goods were stored unpaid custom duty. After 1914/1918 was Japanese clothings [sic] imported by other and sold material from one shilling a yard to 10/ a yard.” 54 In the Matter of the Estate of Kassam Suleman, 1918, UONL RAC DF, Series 5, File No. 2. 55 Virjee Family Papers, Nairobi, 2015. Written materials were provided to me during conversations with the Virjee family, 8th August 2015. Year Organization Sultan Mohamed Shah Imam 1900 Aga Khan School City Asset type Amount Mombasa Suleiman Verjee Gymkhana, 1917 Parklands 1919 Aga Khan Club, Parklands Nairobi Nairobi 1920 Dharkana (Town) Jamatkhana Sultan Mohamed Shah Imam 1927 Aga Khan School Aga Khan III Diamond Jubilee 1945 Celebration Nairobi Mombasa Cash donation Rs. 100,000 15 acres of land, furniture, sport ground construction Rs. 150,000 Land Rs. 100,000 Cash donation, construction supervision Rs. 1,500,000 Land, school building Shs. 350,000 Nairobi Cash donation Shs. 300,000

[2]

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  1. INDIAN SETTLERS IN AFRICA:THE LEGACY OF SULEMAN VERJEE AND SONS, By Dr. Kas Jamal(SULEMAN VERJEE).New Kindle Edition:March 2021.(Location 518-521)
  2. KENYA ‘SAMAJ’: INDIAN MERCHANTS, COMMUNITY LIFE, AND URBAN SOCIETY IN COLONIAL EAST AFRICA, C. 1890-1980 By Misha A. Mintz-Roth: A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements forthe degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland May 2019