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AMIRALI
MAGAN VISRAM
FOUNDER of
THE five star SUN N'
SAND BEACH RESORT AT
KIKAMBALA
Coastweek - -
Amirali Magan
Visram - the Founder and Chairman of the prestigious
five star Sun N Sand Beach Resort passed away
peacefully on Saturday - June 28, 2008 at
approximately 8:30 in the morning.
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The
seventy-three-year old humble Hotelier had just
finished saying his morning prayer and with his eyes
shut, departed this world to go and be one with our
creator.
His
untimely demise is not only a big loss to Sun
N Sand family but also a major blow to the
entire tourism fraternity.
As
we think of him, we realize what a wonderful
man he was all his life not only to his family
but to one and all, rich or poor, in the
manner that he respected everyone with
humility and compassion and today we not only
grieve his absence but more importantly,
rejoice his wonderful life and legacy that he
has left behind.
He
was the last born in a poor family of eleven
that lived in Oyugis within Nyanza province.
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Coastweek - -
Amirali
Magan Visram - Founder
and Chairman of
Sun N
Sand Beach Resort. |
Due
to lack of school fees, he had to drop out of
standard seven and never saw the inside of a
classroom again.
He
took up various odd jobs during Kenya's
pre-independence period moving from one town to the
other until 1959 when he took up a job at a Mombasa
pub, where he started his career in the Tourism
sector.
As
a true visionary and one with exemplary
entrepreneurship skills, he moved to start his own
little pub known as the 'Rainbow Bar' which turned out
to be the most vibrant, talk of town night spot.
Towards
the end of the sixties, Amir was the proud
owner of not only the 'Rainbow Bar' but also
two other bars within Mombasa Island.
He
sold the three Bars and temporarily left the
Tourism industry to move into the timber
business, which led him to becoming the owner
of Coast Saw Mills which later became one of
the largest timber factories in Mombasa (Coast
Saw Mills) in the late 60's.
However,
as the saying goes...once a hotelier, always a
hotelier and on 23rd May 1971, Amir and his
wife Roshan took over ownership of an isolated
piece of property in Kikambala, little known
Kikambala beach hotel, which at the time of
acquisition was a seven room hotel with a
total work force of 14 people, and changed the
name to Sun N Sand Beach Hotel.
The
long and challenging journey of refurbishing,
rebuilding and expanding the property started
at that very moment and in 1974 and 1975, the
workforce had grown from 14 to 28 workers.
More
extensions followed between 1981 and 1992.
By
this time the number of staff had grown
drastically to almost 350 while the bed
capacity increased to 570.
Ten
years later, it was time for another
refurbishment and therefore, in January of
2003, Amir took a very bold step to re-invest
over 400 million Kenya shillings in a major
project whose objective was to face-lift the
general outlook of the hotel and add more
value to it.
This
was successfully achieved as confirmed by the
Hotels and Restaurants Authority who assessed
and approved the Hotel's elevation from
four-star status to the highly coveted and
prestigious five-star.
The
newly refurbished Sun N Sand was officially
opened by H. E. The President of the Republic
of Kenya - Hon. Mwai Kibaki on December 29,
2004.
Today,
sitting on approximately eighteen acres of
land along the famous Kikambala beach, 28
kilometres north of the main Mombasa Island,
the five-star Sun N Sand Beach Resort has a
capacity of 600 beds and a work force of 450
staff.
At
that time when many investors were leaving
Kenya, Amir, with his courage and boldness, he
stayed behind to build what has turned out to
be a leading and highly respected hotel
outfit.
Amir
was a true humanitarian - he used the business
to achieve tons of social good, whether at a
small individual one on one level to the many
people he employed, benefiting thousands of
families locally each year, directly or
indirectly, or to his very generous support of
local and international institutions over the
decades.
His
was indeed a true example of a very
interesting and praise worthy mix of business
and philanthropy.
As
the Founder and Chairman, Amir ensured that
Sun N Sand Beach Resort continued to be a
living example of private sector participation
in social development to the Hotel staff and
the neighbouring community at large.
Over
the years, Sun N Sand Beach Resort has
continued to sponsor directly and in-directly
various community development projects geared
towards the improvement of living standards in
the community (of approximately 20,000 people)
residing around Kikambala area.
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In a bid to curb contraction of water-borne
diseases while ensuring that water is no
longer a rare commodity - Sun N Sand started
providing free potable municipal water to
the Kikambala community.
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To improve early childhood development - Sun
N Sand built a nursery school for the
Kikambala community.
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To protect the rights of children - Sun N
Sand and UNICEF signed a memorandum of
understanding to protect children from
various abusive practices in the tourism
industry particularly commercial sexual
exploitation of children.
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In order to ensure that health-care is
readily available - Sun N Sand inaugurated a
community health centre while at the same
time facilitated the training of community
members in basic primary health care.
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Sun N Sand has engaged community members in
numerous income generating activities.
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To improve the well-being of a local
government primary school - Sun N Sand,
through the generosity of our hotel
customers, continues to give donations in
both cash and kind.
Through
the efforts of Sun N Sand, E-School learning
was commissioned at the Kikambala Primary
School keeping on record as being the first
one in a primary School on the Continent of
Africa which was officially opened by H. E.
The President of the Republic of Kenya - Hon.
Mwai Kibaki.
Amir
believed strongly that Profit alone is not the
measure of a successful business but the
impact the business has on the lives of the
community around should be the underlying
premise of a business.
His
deep religious convictions and the time he
always made for his faith was remarkable and
although we have physically lost Amir, his
work and legacy will continue to live on and
inspire others to emulate what he started.
We
pray that Almighty accept his soul in his
abode and rest it in eternal peace ... amen.
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