Abud Jamal’s dream since childhood was to become a lawyer. However, that was not to be as his grandmother opposed his choice of career.
“Taboo and our Islamic culture would not allow me to pursue my dream. My parents, especially my grandmother, did not understand that line of work and would hear none of that.
“So they discouraged me because they thought I would have to go against Islamic values. They said I would have to defend people who have done wrong and make them go scot free,” Jamal said as we drive to Tamarind Hotel in Nyali for a meeting with Governor Abdulswamad Nassir.
We had to squeeze in the interview as he drove from the SwahiliPot Hub in the CBD, he was among the judges who were listening to business ideas from youth across Mombasa, to Tamarind in Nyali. That is how busy Jamal is.
“I had to drop that dream even though I had already received calling letters from two universities— the University of Nairobi and Moi University,” he said.
He then thought of pursuing aviation but then again, his parents and grandmother would hear none of that. They thought he was too cheeky to be flying airplanes, lest he crashes and dies. “They also discouraged me so I had no other option,” the Kenya National Chambers of Commerce and Industry Mombasa chapter chairperson says.
He then asked what they wanted him to pursue as they had opposed his options.
He was then given two opportunities to study medicine either in Ukraine or in Pakistan. He immediately discarded the Pakistan idea because of the advent of Al Qaeda and Taliban menace then.
“So, I had to go to Ukraine to study medicine in 2006. However, by bad luck or God’s will, my father died in my first semester. I am the first born, and had to cut short my studies and go back home,” Jamal says.
When his father died in November, Jamal’s younger brother was sitting his KCPE and his sister was in Class 6. “I had to forsake my studies for the sake of my siblings. This saw me join my father’s business,” he said.
His father had a clearing and forwarding business in partnership with other investors.
“The investor partners talked to me and gave me an option to take my father’s place if I was interested, which I did. Remember medicine was not my passion,” he says.
Within three months, his grandmother also died, and the two most influential figures who had pushed him to do medicine had gone.
“I then had an opportunity to decide on my own what I would pursue. I took up a course in the logistics industry because I had loved geography and business since I was a child. “God had directed me to the logistics, shipping and business. In 2007, I enrolled at Bandari Maritime Academy then called Bandari College.”
When he got into his father’s business, his first challenge was the post-election violence, which he says introduced him into the industry.
“I got to see and experience very early how the logistics industry is and the challenges. I was about 20-years-old then and I had baptism by fire in the industry,” he said.
He enrolled for a shipping logistics course at the BMA, where he had to balance between work and two courses at a go.
“I would get to BMA at 8 am and pursue the shipping course till 5 pm then go for my Bachelor of Commerce class at UoN Mombasa campus till 8 pm. This left me with little time for my job,” Jamal said.
It increasingly became impossible for him to balance school and work and he had to cut back on studies, which he had come to love.
“I had to give preference to my work and only got to do the shipping course as part time in the evening for three more years till I qualified to be a member of the Institute of Chattered Ship Brokers from the UK’s Institute for Chattered Ship Brokers,” Jamal said.
By this time he had stopped his Bachelor of Commerce degree at UoN. “I joined the KNCCI in 2013 under Mombasa chair James Mureu who co-opted me into the board as a youth director,” he says.
His first assignment saw him sent to Tanzania to represent the chairman in a meeting.
“We were 14 of us in the meeting. Everybody was introducing themselves as having either a masters or doctorate. When it was my turn, I introduced myself as a fellow of the Institute of Chattered Ship Brokers. The looks I got from those in attendance, made me regret shelving my degree course,” he says.
But Jamal’s qualification in the maritime sector was equivalent to a first degree. It is the highest qualification in the shipping business.
“That was a wake-up call for me,” he said.
As he wanted to acquire a degree, he went about looking for a suitable university but most wanted him to start afresh, something he was not willing to do.
He then settled on Technical University of Mombasa where he pursued a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Logistics and Transport, a passion of his.
He graduated in 2015 then pursued a Masters of Science and Maritime Affairs in Shipping and Logistics management from World Maritime University in Sweden.
The KNCCI chair says when he joined BMA to get the basics of the shipping and clearing and forwarding business, a lecturer thought he was overqualified for the course and that he was wasting his time in the class.
“My high school (Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Secondary) results were excellent and I was getting almost everything right in the exams. People in class were making fun of me because they thought I was their lecturer,” he said.
The fact that the lecturer thought he (Jamal) was wasting time doing a foundation certificate in maritime studies, shows there is a notion that the courses were for certain people, he said.
“They cannot reason that maybe one has a passion for that course and that is why they are studying it or that one’s parents are in the business and want to take over running it hence why they are pursuing the course.”
He discouraged parents and career counsellors from forcing courses on their children arguing that for one to enjoy a career, they must have passion for it.
“Let young people follow their passion,” he said. Jamal says when he started the maritime course at certificate level, he had his mind set on getting to the highest possible level, which he is already doing.
“It was a seed I had planted in my mind,” he said.
Now, a businessman with interest in the clearing and forwarding and transportation sectors, poultry farming in Kilifi and Mombasa county, involved in consultancy in maritime and logistics issues, and cross-border and international trade, Jamal has become so busy a man that his days starts as early as 4.30am.
“When I wake up, I pray and by
5.45am or 5.50am I start walking
in safe places like Mombasa Sports
Club. I sometimes swim with my
two daughters,” he says.
