Dr. Hassan Ratansi of Nairobi -- A Great Philanthropist Passes Away.
Man Who Had Heart for Education
The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
December 3, 2003
Posted to the web December 3, 2003
By Samuel Siringi
Nairobi
Dr Rattansi spent family resources on scholarships and bursaries for poor students
The man who single-handedly sponsored thousands of Kenyan students for university education is dead.
Dr Hassan Rattansi and wife Vijoo were for 46 years committed to giving scholarships and bursaries to the needy students who had qualified for university locally and abroad.
Dr Rattansi, who died at the Aga Khan hospital on Sunday, will be buried at the Ismaili cemetery on Quarry Road, Nairobi, at 2.30pm today.
Few people would invest on anything hoping for no returns, but Dr Rattansi and family did just that. When politicians donate huge amounts of money in harambees, they often do so because they want to perpetuate themselves in their positions.
Dr Rattansi has made a difference in Kenya by consistently setting aside Sh12 million annually to help educate the poor, mainly at the local universities.
For 46 years, the man and his wife as the principal assistant have been giving bursaries, some of which he had no control over, to many Kenyans, many of whom he hardly knew.
All the six public universities and several private ones have received an estimated Sh500 million from Dr Rattansi. Over the past seven years, the funds, offered through the Rattansi Educational Trust, have been supplementing those given to students through the Higher Education Loans Board.
Dr Rattansi's charitable mission started in 1957, a year after his father Mohamedally Rattansi set up the fund.
The man, who was born in Nyeri in 1921, then set to soldier on with the project, whose major source of financing is Rattansi Educational Trust Building in Koinange Street, Nairobi, whose annual income generation is estimated at Sh15 million.
Although young Rattansi did not proceed to the UK where he had intended to join university in 1936 after his London Matriculation Examination, he grew up to be one of the best funds managers who would come in handy for many Kenyans.
He instead set out to manage his father's Nyeri business, as the elder Rattansi moved to Nairobi to start a business in Government Road, now Moi Avenue.
The Nairobi business grew fast until young Rattansi was recalled to Nairobi to assist in running it. As the business grew so did the Rattansis' business hopes in Kenya.
"Our parents rightfully foresaw that as the freedom movement in Kenya gathered momentum, education would be vital for the advancement both of the individual and the emerging nation," recalls Dr Rattansi in a family history he wrote before he died.
He says in Fulfilling a Dream: The story of the Mohamedally and Maniben Rattansi Educational Trust that a conference of family members - together with a few friends - announced that instructions had been given to lawyers to prepare documents for a trust deed.
The announcement gave rise to the Maniben and Mohamedally Rattansi Educational Trust Fund in 1956, when Dr Rattansi's father handed over the title deeds of the prime properties to the Governor of Kenya, Sir Evelyn Baring.
But Dr Rattansi's father succumbed to cancer only a year later, paving the way for a stewardship spanning a generation.
Although the trust is purely a private initiative, it allows on its board private citizens, including former Attorney-General Charles Njonjo.
The accent of the trust, according to Dr Rattansi, is that education should not be simply academic, but also for professional qualification.
"My father believed in what is now called holistic education, one nurturing all-round development of the individual's full potential," he says.
But he adds in the document that traditional ways and values are quickly disintegrating in Kenya.
Dr Rattansi, whose contribution to education earned him an honorary degree from the University of Nairobi in 1998, had other responsibilities. His citation, read by the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Gichaga, was entitled, In Recognition of his Contribution to Philanthropic Support for Education, Social Justice and Development of Sports in Kenya.
Never one to be recognised by a single sector, Dr Rattansi was the same year given a Silver Star of Kenya honour by the then President Daniel arap Moi during the Jamhuri Day celebrations.
So many were the responsibilities that an effort by the Nation to get an interview or a profile since the beginning of this year came to nought as he could not get the time.
He was a trustee of the President's Award (Duke of Edinburgh's Award) Scheme and the Kenya Cricket Association and a board member of St Teresa's Secondary School in Nairobi.
His love for sports would be attested to by the business he had, Nairobi Sports House, which he sold in 1988 to concentrate on the Rattansi Trust.
The other accolades he won included the 1998 Lion's Club Nairobi Host Appreciation Award, the President's Award Kenya (1999) and the Aga Khan Sports Centre Appreciation Award for exemplary service to sports, also in 1999.
In addition, he was once the chairman on the Kenya Lawn Tennis Association, the Kenya Table Tennis, the Kenya Badminton and the Muslim Sports Associations.
Other organisations he chaired include the Aga Khan Sports Club, the Kenya Cricket Umpires Association, the Lions Club (Nairobi Host) and the Asian Sports Association.
When at one time the previous government appointed a committee to investigate claims of financial impropriety at the Nairobi City Council, Dr Rattansi was named a member.
He was the player-manager of the first East African cricket tour of South Africa.
Just before he died, Dr Rattansi commissioned a large-scale construction of a structure that would be home to more than 500 young girls who were abused or lacked access to proper living conditions.
Yesterday, one of his sons Riaz, a property developer in the UK, said the family would still spearhead the project whose aim is to teach young women good farming methods for a better life. The project will be located in Kitengela, Kajiado district.
Mr Riaz's three other siblings stay in the UK. The oldest, Rafiq, is an accountant. Also in the UK are sisters Rehana and Nadya. The youngest, Imran, is doing his A levels in Nairobi. "We are confident that the trustees, under the stewardship of my mother, will steer the projects to greater heights," he said.
He added: "My dad was a humble man. He, through the trust, made the community know the importance of being selfless and aiding the needy."
Yesterday, Mr Riaz said the family owed a lot to this country, formerly being foreigners, and had sought to get the poor.
He showed the Nation several copies of letters individuals had written to the trust asking for help.
Another interesting thing about the trust, which however channels its funds to individual universities and not for post-graduate courses or students, is that its activities are usually not so highly publicised.
Dr Rattansi's last public donation was on February 5, when he, together with his wife, paid a courtesy call on Education minister George Saitoti. He gave Sh2.3 million to five universities.
This was besides Sh3.1 million he had earlier released to other local universities. Kenyatta and Moi received Sh500,000 each, Egerton Sh600,000 and Jomo Kenyatta and Catholic Sh350,000 each.
As Kenyans bury Dr Rattansi, many will be hoping that the trust lives to assist many more needy students.