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.