At age 88 our fellow Sir Jayantilal Chande, a prominent industrialist and philanthropist, passed away in April in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Also known as “Andy”, he was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire on 29 August 2003, the first of its kind given to a Tanzanian citizen. That same year he received the “Hind Ratna” from IK Gujral, the former Indian Prime Minister. The International Congress of Non-Resident Indians declared him to be the non-resident Indian of the year in 2003. He was also given the “Pride of Indian Gold Award” by the NRI Institute of London.
He was also the advisor to the ministerial committee of the Organization of African Unity deal with the Arab League on the oil crisis, and was actively associated with numerous educational, social and welfare institutions including Rotary International.
He was chairman of many company boards including Tanesco (Tanzania’s national electricity utility company), the National Milling Corporation, East African Standard Newspaper (now The Daily News), Tanzania Railways Corporation, Tanzania Harbours Authority, Air Tanzania Corporation, National Bank of Commerce, Barclays Bank, among others.