The tough cookie house that biscuit baron Manji built

Mandataly Manji with Sir Patrick Renison (centre) at the House of Manji factory along Likoni Road, Nairobi, 1962. [File, Standard]

Even business barons and billionaires were once youngsters who spent sleepless nights dreaming of cookies and candy, and also fantasised about expensive bikes and fast cars.

While some got derailed along the way by such luxuries, a few stayed the course and went on to build successful businesses.

Mandataly Manji is among the few. In 1940, Manji took a leap of faith and shifted his base from Karatina to Nairobi where he would build his empire that became known as The House of Manji. The journey was not smooth sailing, though. He had to contend with some conniving elders and military orders.

Manji had hawked needles, razor blades and pins during his lunch break in Karatina market to buy his first motorbike in Nairobi when he was 22. The purchase of the German bike at a princely sum of Sh800 coincided with the second world war, which interrupted his enjoyment.

Mzee Jomo Kenyatta with Madatally Manji, 1963. [File, Standard]

In Madatally Manji: Memoirs of a Biscuit Baron, the entrepreneur recalls how government agents pasted a notice on his precious bike, which he had been using to make blood-curdling stunts along the dusty Government Road, now Moi Avenue. The note ordered him to surrender the 500cc Zaundap motorcycle to a military deport. He had to wait a whole year to be compensated by the government with Sh750.

And this was not the only time he had to contend with hostile takeover of his toys and compensation at depreciated values.

A few years later, his dreams of owning a car came true after joining forces with a friend, Hassanali Nimji. They bought a four-door British made Austin at a reasonable sum of Sh250. Their plans for joint ownership, however, hit a snag because Hassanali’s father, Nimji Zaver, who was the chairman of Pioneer Assurance Society, had prohibited any of his children from owning a car.

When he learnt that his son had secretly bought a car, he unilaterally ordered a mechanic who was repairing its engine to sell it, recover his costs and distribute the balance to the two partners.

And the car the two youngsters had bought for Sh250 was sold for only Sh125, out of which Sh25 went to repairs. So they only had Sh100 to share. Despite these and many other setbacks, Manji triumphed to set up a bakery whose delicacies have been a permanent feature on millions of breakfast tables for more than 80 years. The house that Manji built is a tough cookie that does not crumble.