MOHAMMED DEWJI

MOHAMMED DEWJI   09/15/2011

Mohammed Dewji “Mo” was born on the 08 th of May, 1975 in Ipembe ward, Singida. He is the seond child of Mr and Mrs Gulam Dewji and has five other siblings.
 
Mo received his primary education in Arusha at the Arusha Primary School and finished his secondary education from the International School of Tanganyika (IST) in Dar Es Salam. In 1992 his parents decided to send him to America for his High School years and he was admitted to the Saddle Brooke High School in New Jersey.
 
It was at High School that Mo first started exhibiting signs of leadership by becoming the School President. Being a Tanzanian and holding such position in a foreign land made his family very proud. He was also voted as the Most Accomplished student at the time and it is notable to mention here that his school mate Jeniffer Capriati a very famous U.S tennis player won the same vote in the women's section.
 
 
After finishing his high school studies Mo continued with his university education in USA and joined one of the renowned university, Georgetown University in Washington D.C majoring in International Business and Finance and taking Theology as a minor subject.
Georgetown University is famous for its good education. Notable alumni of the University include 42nd U.S President Bill Clinton, Philippines president Gloria Arroyo, Jordan's King Abdullah and NBA players like Allen Iverson and Patrick Ewing
 
During his time at Georgetown, Mo started to analyze his life,.He was trying to balance the Western way of life with his native African way of living. He thought that much more could be done for his countrymen through some very basic changes and way of running things. He started to focus and prioritize what he wanted to gain from his education and experience in America. After Graduation in 1998 Mo headed straight back to Tanzania and joined the family business. He became Chief Financial Controller at Mohammed Enterprises Tanzanian Limited (METL).
 
Apart from joining Business Mo also started expanded his social activities by becoming sponsoring company of The Simba Sports club of Dar Es Salaam.
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In 2000 Tanzania hosted its second multiparty elections' stood in those elections for his home constituency Singida as a member of parliament. He won the preliminary votes in CCM (ruling party) with overwhelming majority, but the joy was short lived as he was not nominated to contest for the seat by the party on grounds that he was too young. (He was just 25 on that time).
 
Despite the decision of the party Mo did not loose hope and he did his level best to campaign for the candidate chosen by the party and made sure the party's interest are given priority over his own ambition.
After the elections Mo continued many activities to help the people of Singida's and also spent his time and investment in various sports ventures. He increased his sponsorship deals with Dar Es Salaam outfit Simba Sports Club and spent more than 100 millions Tanzanians shillings given per year on the club.
 
 
In 2001 Mo decided to marry his childhood sweetheart Saira whom he knew since his school years at the International School of Tanganyika. Mo and Saira are blessed with two beautiful children Naila and Abbas.
 
Two years after marriage Mo finally took full control of his company Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited (METL) and became the Managing Director.
During his tenure the company has grown eight folds and diversified in many sectors like Agriculture, Finance, Distribution and Manufacturing.
 
Statistics shows that companies under METL are contributing an aggregate 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Tanzania and also employing 20,000 people.
 
Tanzania held its third multi party elections in 2005 and Mo stood for the parliamentary seat again and this time he won a landslide victory in preliminary votes and got chosen by the CCM party to stand as a candidate. In the general election he won and overwhelming majority of 90 percent of the total votes and was sworn in as a member of parliament on the 29 th of December 2005 Mohammed Dewji
 
Mo and sports have gone hand in hand ever since he was a child and he always kept his passion for football alive. When President Kikwete was sworn in 2005 as the fourth phase president of United Republic of Tanzania he brought back the excitement and enthusiasm to Tanzanian football team (Taifa Stars) fans, by ordering a special committee to concentrate and improve the team's performance.
Mo was appointed as chairman of the committee by Minister of Sports and under his leadership the team performed wonders by notching important victories and also geting the draws against big teams like that of Cameroon and Senegal.
After many years in exile Taifa Stars managed to qualify the continental tournament for home grown players, capping a wonderful work done by the committee and the stakeholders in the country.
 
In 2007 there were party elections and Mo vied for the Membership of national Executive Committee (NEC) of CCM (ruling party) and got enough votes to secure his slot in the NEC sessions for the next five years.
 
This is the short history of Mohammed Dewji MP, NEC member and CEO of Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania limited) who has been in forefront for development of his constituency and country altogether.
Written By Nooresh Vellani