By Spy Uganda
The Pan African Pyramid yesterday held its fifth edition of the Pan- African Pyramid Global Awards also commonly as PAP Global Awards at Fairway Hotel on 26th August 2022, attracting hundreds of Pan Africanists to celebrate their forefathers.
Among those that were recognized include Dr. Hasmukh P Dawda who scooped African Revolutionary Life Time Achiever award. We now dive into full details of why PAP recognized Dawda.
Dr. Hasmukh P Dawda is a distinguished regional businessman, entrepreneur, Industrialist and philanthropist in Uganda and Kenya. He is the proprietor of Britania Allied Industries (U) Ltd commonly as Splash and House of Manji
(Kenya).
Dawda was born in 1950s (72 yrs) to a family of modest means, with ten other siblings, in Ndere Village, Siaya County, Kenya. He attended Ndere Primary School, but dropped out of school at age 13, because of inability to pay school fees.
Forced to drop out of school, Dawda went into business for himself, beginning with hawking confectionery. An Indian shopkeeper offered him a job at KSh150 per month. He was able to save and raise about KSh2,000, by the age of 19. He put that money as a down-payment on a KSh5,000 pickup truck, paying the balance in installments. He also opened a retail shop in his home village of Ndere.
In 1970, he began processing molasses at rented premises, using equipment that he already owned. He began buying raw material directly from the farmers, with whom he had good relations. He also began trading in cotton and fresh fruit. Five years later, he built Uholo Factory, a jaggery (molasses factory) that runs to date. In 1985, he established Jambo Biscuits Limited, a confectionery maker, under the House of Dawda Group of Companies in Kenya. (https://artandhistory.org)
In the mid-1990s, he moved to Uganda and started Britania Allied Industries (U) Limited, a company that processes fresh fruits to make Splash fruit juice. They also manufacture tomato sauces and seasonings, bottled mineral water, confectioneries among others.
He has since established other companies both in Kenya and Uganda. In 2002, he used some of his assets in Uganda to buy House of Manji, a confectionery maker in Kenya which was collapsing. He pumped in money and experienced human capital and revived the business up todate.
Dawda also played a key role in the NRA struggle that produced Yoweri Museveni as president of Uganda, as he used to clandestinely support the food chain supply in the bush free of charge.
Infact, after the war, around 1989, Yoweri Museveni was moving in Soroti areas and saw a lot of abandoned fallen mangoes from the mangoe trees. Others were being wasted by birds. He then called Dawda who was in Nairobi at the time. They would later meet at Soroti Ginnery. Museveni then narrated to him that he had seen a lot of mangoes being wasted in Teso sub-region and that he was looking for an investor who could add value to the same by processing them into juice. Dawda immediately took up the idea and a few years later, Splash Mango was born! The first fresh fruit processing factory in Uganda-Britania Allied Industries Ltd. Dawda has added value to local fruits through production of; Mango, Passion, Apple, Pineapple, Guava, Strawberry, Pinacolada, Fruit-Cocktail and Tropical
Fruit-Punch splash.
Dawda has helped hundreds of Ugandan and Kenyan less privileged youth realize their dreams by sponsoring their Education, job opportunities, career guidance, hands-on skills among others.
Some of the vivid examples of his good hands is Mr Ambrose Onoria, the current RDC Kotido, formerly Ngora, Kakumiro, Amuria, Apach, Palisa and Kakumiro. The founding speaker of Pan-African Parliament and CEO Spy Uganda, Andrew Irumba Katusabe is also among the hundreds of African youth who passed through his hands.
Dawda has supported schools including Anaka Senior Secondary School where he donated bags of cement, hoes among others to Acholi community.
In Kenya, Dawda decided to build his home in Kenya’s biggest slam area, Kibera slams in order to closely monitor and empower the less privileged with development skills and humanitarian works like cleaning the slams, feeding street kids among others. Dawda is undoubtedly known for having championed the Industrial revolution in Uganda and Kenya. We believe it’s the above achievements and contributions to Africa that attracted PAP to recognized Dr.Hasmukh P Dawda in 2022 Global Awards.
