Coast businessman with heart of gold spent billions per year on the poor

Industrialist and philanthropist  Hasmukh Patel alias Hasu might be gone, but his contribution to transforming lives will remain etched in the minds of residents.

To some, the owner of Mombasa Cement was an ordinary businessman who was keen to contribute to the economy but to most residents, he was an uncelebrated hero who was the hope of many people.

At the Sahajanand Special School Mr Kahindi Kenga, 66, appears in an ambivalent state. He is a student with a rare neurological condition called microcephalus.

However, he is fortunate to be alive. In 2006, Kenga was rescued from a gang of youth that was baying for his blood after drought ravaged Kilifi, according to the officials at the special school.

“In the Chonyi sub-tribe, children born with this condition are believed to be a bad omen. Some are used in an old tradition of cleansing widows,” said Mzee Kennedy Mokoli in an interview.

He is among thousands of residents who have benefitted through the contribution of Hasu to the community.

Established in 2006, the school has over 100 students with the microcephalus condition. This includes Kenga who was banished from his village in the late 1990 by the villagers, including his close relatives.

Microscopically is a neurological condition that impairs the development or growth of the body. Those with the condition also suffer from the down-syndrome condition resulting in a smaller head.

One can easily mistake Kenga to be a six-year-old boy. He also suffers from dwarfism but his small stature and charming personality make him popular among students in the institution.

Besides microcephalus students, this school has over 1,500 learners with special needs. It draws its students from as far as DR Congo, Burundi, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, and all parts of Kenya.

“It’s the biggest school for the disabled in Africa,” the owner, industrialist and philanthropist, Mr Patel Hasmukhbhai Kanji Patel, told President William Ruto in December 2022.

Mr Patel died last Thursday and today (Sunday) he will be cremated at Buxton Crematorium in Mombasa, family spokesman Mr Imtiaz Sayani told the Sunday Standard yesterday.

The body will be moved from Pandya Hospital mortuary and transported to Samaj Temple along Haile Selassie Avenue Opposite Royal Court Hotel, where he fed the poor and gave them cash donations every day.

“The body will be taken to New Cutch Leva Patel Samaj links road behind Shree Swaminarayan Academy and SOS school for viewing between 12 .00 am and 2 .00 pm," said Sayani.

Mr Patel lived a quiet life but his work spoke volumes. In his admission, Patel, popularly known as Hasu, told Ruto “I’m a low-profile guy and I don’t think many people knew my face”.

However, Mr Patel was philanthropist to the core. In the same function, Patel revealed that he spends a whooping Sh300 million monthly on his Corporate Social Responsibility CSR, translating to Sh1.6 billion per year.

In Mombasa and Kilifi the marks of Patel’s forms CSR are all over. Other than the school for the disabled, he runs the arguably largest primary in the country with 3, 212 pupils from poor families.  

Most evenings, he would sit outside Samaj Temple along Haile Selassie Avenue to talk to common people seeking financial help. He would then instruct his employees to give the masses food and Sh100.

“I also have the second largest secondary school in Coast and largest primary school in the country with 3, 121 pupils,” Patel, who described himself as a low-profile guy told the president.

Mr Patel lived a quiet life but his charitable works spoke volumes. However, he was loved by multitudes but also loathed by some politicians in Mombasa and Kilifi who felt threatened by charity work.

In May last year, Patel threatened to transfer all the beautification status from Mombasa to Kilifi after a memo from Mombasa County directed Coast General Hospital not to accept direct cash donations.

Later, Mombasa County officials clarified that the directive was meant to streamline the payment of hospital bills for patients to stop corruption at the hospital.

Four years ago, some politicians and the Kilifi County Government laid claim to part of Patel’s Sh68 million land in Vipingo despite a verdict from the National Land Commission NLC that it belonged to the tycoon.

Mr Julius Ogogoh, a human rights activist who was a close confidant of Patel, said most politicians tried to frustrate the tycoon because he was apolitical and never financed any of them.

“There were fears that he may turn the multitudes that turned up for food donation and employment into a political movement. Unlike other tycoons, Patel never financed politics,” said Ogogoh.

He paid hospital bills for the poor and fed them. He fenced hospitals, churches, mosques, and police stations. However, the most visible charitable works are the beatification exercises.

At the Kibarani causeway, the road into Mombasa island, the choking stench, acrid smoke, and scavengers that turned the area into an eyesore for 50 years are no more thanks to Mombasa Cement.

In their place is bubbling life after it was turned into a recreational facility. 

The Makupa roundabout, which was equally neglected, is decorated with elephant sculptures, making it a must-visit site for most revelers in Mombasa. The same is to roundabout at MacKinnon Market.

Estimates by the Shahajad Feeding Centre indicate that the tycoon provided meals for hundreds of thousands per day in various places in Mombasa and Kilifi counties.

A spot check at the Samaj Temple along Haile Selassie Avenue Opposite Royal Court, where he used to sit every evening to listen to the problems of the poor, revealed that the place id deserted.

We found, Ms Halima Rashid from Kwale who was unaware of the demise of Patel. She had arrived earlier armed with the fee structure of her daughter who was chased from school because of a fee balance.

"I had come to collect my hospital bill. He promised last week to clear it for me and handed him the fee structure," said Halima, who was devastated by the news of the demise of the tycoon.

Meanwhile, it is not clear what Patel’s net worth. He owns Mombasa Cement in Kenya, reportedly with an annual capacity of 1.8 million metric tonnes and 1m metric tonnes clicker.

“I also own Tororo Cement in Uganda, and we’ve directly employed 1,086 people,” said Mr Patel, whose message to President Ruto was that the government must deal with grand graft.

Mr Patel’s family is among the Asians that relocated from Uganda during the reign of dictator the late Idd Amin Dada, fearing persecution, to Kenya.

He went to Aga khan Secondary School in Mombasa before proceeding to the UK for further studies before he returned to join his family’s business

In 2007, he established Mombasa Cement which is estimated to control 20 percent of the local market.  In Mombasa, he has also been an anti-graft crusader.

“We started with Toa Kitu Kidogo (TKK), again we moved to Toa Kila Kitu (TKK) but know we should settle on Twende Kazi Kwanza (TKK),” said Mr Patel.

Recently, Mombasa Cement Company, through its subsidiary Nyumba Foundation, acquired 53,000 acres of land at Galana Kulalu to farm sunflower, simsim, and Napier grass.

The firm has completed the construction of a 30-kilometre canal and 14 dams for the farming venture estimated to cost Sh5 billion and employ 1,300 Kenyans.

Last year, Mr Patel said the first crop would be harvested in 2025 and that a biodigester and a refiner of edible oil would also be set up to bring down the cost of cooking oil in the country.

He was the chairman of Nyumba Group Company, Standard Rolling Mills, Kavee Quarries, and others. His family described him as a cornerstone of the business empire in Kenya and other countries.