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He was born in Kera, Kutchh in 1851 and came to Zanzibar
by a sailing vessel in 1863 at the age of 12 years. He
proceeded to Bagamoyo to work as an assistant to Sewa
Haji Paroo (1851-1897). After having earned enough
money, he began to organize caravans for domestic
travelling. His business expanded, at first slowly but
later more quickly. He had extended his operations all
along the caravan route, opening branches of operations
of his firm in Dar-es-Salaam, Sadani, Tabora, Ujiji and
of Kalima and Tindo in the Belgium Congo.
In the formative stage, he purchased cloves, wax, ivory,
etc. from the native people in the villages and towns
around Zanzibar instead of cloth, salt, grains, etc.
Soon afterwards, he ventured in the trade of ivory on
large scale and made rapid progress. The European
travellers visited the north of Kenya to hunt and
collect ivory. Varas Alidina was also solely given the
contract to provide packed foods to the hunters.
In 1885, he joined Nasser Virji and had a chain of
stores between Bagamoyo and Ujiji having bought the
business of Sewa Haji Paroo (1851-1897) with several
branches. After the death of Sewa Haji Paroo on February
10, 1897, he took over his caravan trade, thus
upbringing it to a logical conclusion of what Sewa Haji
had started by expanding it as far as Uganda, Kenya and
parts of Congo Free State and Southern Sudan. He moved
beyond trade into other businesses, and towered his name
as the “King of
Ivory” in Africa.
In 1888, he focussed his attention to British East
Africa and opened many stores along the railway line in
Uganda. He was permitted to install canteens at every
station. He also obtained the contract of paying the
railway workers their salaries as well as providing
funds to the railway authority. By 1904, he began
working with governments to expand businesses and
develop agriculture. In conclusion, he built over 70
branches, a vast commercial empire, stretching from the
wilderness of Kenya and Uganda.
He had several dhows and a small steamer on Lake
Victoria and a well-organized transport service from
Mombasa to Uganda with one telegraphic address all over
pagazi, meaning transporters. He had seven large
plantations, mainly planted different varieties of sugar
cane and rubber with experimental plots of grams,
fruits, flowers, tea, and cotton. He employed a fleet of
over 3000 workers for his projects. He also owned
several ginneries, the first of which was opened at
Entebbe in 1910. He purchased raw cotton in Uganda and
processed in his ginning factories and shipped the pure
cotton by railway for Mombasa to be exported in Bombay.
A model migrant, Varas Alidina Visram was also a model
businessman. Indeed, his success seems to have been the
product not only of a keen business sense, but also of
the good reputation he enjoyed. Around 1907, he became
the close friend of Kings, Kabakas, Chiefs, Ministers,
Envoys, Generals and Admirals
Varas Alidina Visram was reputed for his open heart and
generous hand. He donated a massive sum for the
construction of the first Jamatkhana in Kisumu in 1905,
which was inaugurated by the Imam. When the Imam visited
Kisumu, the jamat prepared a special cart of four
horses. Varas Alidina and Mukhi Varas Hashim Jamal
(1880-1970) and two other Ismailis relieved the horses
and joined themselves with the cart to pull it. The Imam
asked its reasons amazingly. Varas Alidina Visram said,
“Mawla! It is our desire to pull the cart like your
horses from here to the Jamatkhana.” The Imam said,
“I accept your ardent
zeal, which should not be demonstrated in this manner.
You are my spiritual children. Varas Ismail Gangji had
removed off the slogan, Khoja! lift the load (khoja
uthao boja). Now I will never allow you to
lift this load. Come out of it and join the horses. You
come and sit with me in the cart.”
He was also one of the founder members of the Ismaili
Council for Mombasa, which was established on November
4, 1905 with President Mukhi Ibrahim Nanji.
It was in 1905 that the Imam advised him to invite the
indigent Ismailis of Kathiawar and help them settle down
in Kenya and Uganda. He and Mukhi Valji Hirji of Mombasa
invited a bulk of Indian Ismailis to the African
continent.
With the help of Mukhi Varas Hashim Jamal, he assisted
new immigrant Ismailis to settle in Kisumu and other
parts of Kenya in 1911. He established small provision
stores, which sold sesame seeds, beans, peanuts, rice,
jiggery, ghee, and much later hides and skins. These
immigrant Ismailis settled in Homa Bay, Mumias, Sio Port
and other small towns.
He was bestowed the title of
Varas for his
invaluable services. It must be recorded that he was the
first titleholder of
Varas in Kenya and Uganda. When the Imam was
gracing didar
in Nairobi in 1914, he was sitting on the floor beside
the chair of the Imam. He at once saw the tears bursting
out of the Imam’s eyes. It perplexed him so emphatically
that he also wept. Soon after a short while, he dared to
ask the Imam its reason. The Imam said,
“My followers in the
world are so visible in my sight as the lines in your
palm. I am now looking at my followers of Kutchh, who
are the impoverished peasants. I am ruffled to see their
deplorable conditions.” To this, Varas said,
“May I do something for them?” The Imam said,
“You can do everything
for them. You arrange to bring them and allot 10 acres
land to each of them. I will send them in Africa on my
expenses.” He agreed and made a plan with his
Assistant, Rashid Khamisa. It however took him little
time, but became successful and brought many Indian
Ismailis in Africa. They first joined as employees and
later they started their own shops. It is said that the
90 percent of the Ismailis, who attained their
prosperity in Kenya and Uganda, owe their settlement to
him. They came as his employees and later established
their own business.
And no doubt his reputation was enhanced by the
substantial fund he donated to Namirembe Cathedral, to
the Red Cross and to a hospital in Kampala.
He lived to see 65 years of hard life bring prosperity
in Africa, and made regular annual visits to every main
branch of his vast business empire. On one of his
routine trips to branches in Congo Belgium to recover
the outstanding amount from the petty merchants, he
failed to get it. He was highly shocked, hence
contracted a cold fever while he returned and died very
soon in Mombasa on June 30, 1916.
His son, Varas Abdul Rasul (d. 1923) built a High School
in Mombasa to commemorate the name of his father. A
memorial bronze of Varas Alidina Visram was presented by
Rajab Ali Hasham Paroo, his life-long associate and his
General Manager, and was unveiled in Mombasa on
September 9, 1937 by the governor of Kenya. This school
stands as a remnant of his numerous pioneering feats.
Varas Alidina was certainly an Asian who pioneered the
East African economy, and helped the British Government
in all possible ways in development issues.
Dr. Cyril Ehrlich writes in
"The Uganda Economy
1903-1945" (p. 18) that, "Perhaps the most
important individual in the early history in East
Africa, Seth Alidina Visram was responsible for laying
the firm foundation not only of trade in Uganda but of
such industries as cotton, sugar, rubber, tea and
various other agricultural products as well as of
shipping across Lake Victoria." According to
“Oriental Nairobi”, “An
interesting point is that the Khoja community was in
East Africa even before the foundation of Nairobi, the
merchant, Prince Alidina Visram, also known as the
Uncrowned King of Uganda, extended his activities on the
mainland from Mombasa to the lower reaches of the Nile.”
Sir Frederick Jackson, the governor of Uganda described
him as "a charming old gentleman, respected by everyone
in the country, high and low, white or black."
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