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.
.
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.
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