Tajdin Hussain Jaffer, the founder and chairman of Sulfo Rwanda Industries, died on Friday last week aged 93, leaving behind a legacy that helped shape Rwanda’s manufacturing sector over more than half a century. Jaffer founded Sulfo in 1962, but his story in Rwanda dates back to the 1950s, when he first arrived in Kigali in August 1951. ALSO READ: Sulfo Rwanda founder Tajdin Jaffer dies at 93 Born in Masaka, Uganda, to Indian parents on December 6, 1932, Jaffer came from a family that had already established roots in East Africa. His grandfather, Jaffer Janmohamed, arrived from India in 1895, while his father, Hussain Jaffer, moved to Rwanda in 1938 and later established a trading business in Kigali. When Jaffer arrived in Kigali in August 1951, Rwanda was still a young country with little manufacturing activity. When people asked him why he chose to remain in Rwanda rather than return to India, his answer was simple. “This is all I have known. East Africa is where I was born,” he would say. But there was more to his decision to stay. Jaffer saw an opportunity in Africa that he believed many others were overlooking. “He used to say that the European countries have already been exhausted, but Africa is still a virgin continent with a lot of untapped potential,” Sulfo Managing Director Dharmarajan Hariharan told The New Times in an interview. “He was a visionary and he had faith in the country. He had a feeling that Rwanda was going to be the future,” Hariharan went on. That belief eventually became Sulfo. Having learnt soap-making from his uncle, he and his wife, Khatun Banu, began making soap by hand. ALSO READ: Sulfo’s Source du Nil wins international certification Jaffer would load the soap onto his pickup truck and travel around the country trying to sell it. “If they made Rwf100 in a day, they would close the shop happily and go play cricket because, at the time, that was a lot of money,” Dharmarajan recalled. The business did not grow without setbacks. In 1959 as violence unfolded in the country, Jaffer lost what he had built and had to start again, according to Dharmarajan. In 1962, Sulfo was registered, making it one of the first independent industrial companies in Rwanda. But Jaffer was already thinking beyond the small operation. In 1968, he travelled to Germany for a trade fair. What he saw there convinced him to expand. Despite the financial difficulties involved, he bought German machinery, and by 1972 Sulfo had opened Rwanda’s first automated soap factory. Over the years, the company expanded beyond soap, adding candles, sweets, water, Omo and insecticides to its products. Today, Sulfo focuses on water, different types of soaps and cleaning products, as well as cosmetics. A legacy built around people For Jaffer, building a company was only part of the work. He was also not someone who believed in making a show of giving. He used to say, “Your left hand should not know what your right hand is doing.” That approach extended beyond Sulfo. He supported schools, roads, mosques, contributed to community projects, and supported vulnerable children. He was also a founding member of the Association of Industries of Rwanda, and supported the development of the Golf Club of Rwanda. ALSO READ: What to know as govt sets deadline for factories to relocate to industrial zones He also believed workers should be paid promptly. “He liked to quote that a man should be paid before his sweat dries,” Dharmarajan said. While the law allows employers time to pay workers, Sulfo has tried to always pay employees on the first day of the month. For the workers who spent decades at Sulfo, his legacy is something they witnessed first-hand. Beatrice Mukaneza joined the company after high school and has now been there for 29 years. Her own family history is tied to the factory. Her father was among the workers who stayed behind during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and helped protect the machinery. Mukaneza remembers Jaffer as patient, innovative and a man with “so much love to give to others.” Jean Bosco Kabasha joined Sulfo in 1972 at the age of 18. Now 72, he retired but later returned because he did not want to sit idle. He now oversees soap production. “He did so much for so many years,” Bosco said. “Since it opened, imagine the families that have been sustained by the jobs it offered.” The factory itself also became part of Rwanda’s history. After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Sulfo’s generators were used to help bring electricity to the surrounding area. Away from the factory, Jaffer’s longest partnership was with his wife. He married Khatun Banu on September 29, 1951, both aged 18. They went on to spend nearly 75 years together, raising a family that grew to include children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “She has a very ambitious personality and he was more laid-back, but they complemented each other, Hariharan said.
