It would an understatement to say Hassan Bashir is successful, especially given the cards he was dealt in his youth.
The abbreviated version of his life CV would read: born to a pastoral family in rural Kenya; he was unable to attend high school when he finished primary school due to financial difficulty; Bashir worked construction and other hard-labour jobs as a young child; then, eight years later, he paid his own way to study and finish high school exams; he enrolled at university, again paying for himself; he earned his degree; created a successful insurance broking firm and sold the broking firm; completed an MBA degree; co-founded a successful ICT company, which today is one of East Africa’s biggest players in this sphere; and most recently founded Takaful Insurance of Africa (TIA), a company that underwrites around US$15 million annually. Bashir is currently CEO of the Takaful Africa Group.
“It’s difficult to single out one particular thing that led me to where I am today,” he says. “I didn’t follow the usual route.” Following the peaks and troughs of his career, it’s evident that there’s a fierce tenacity in his approach to life and business.
Bashir is one of the 25 business people featured in How we made it in Africa: The book, which tells the stories of entrepreneurs who've built thriving ventures. The ebook launched on 15 October 2018.