A TANZANIAN
SUCCESS
STORY
Our History
Union Trust is a diversified holding company spanning financial services, real estate, hospitality, agriculture and the natural resources. Headquartered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Union Trust is one of the longest established companies in the country, and has grown to accommodate some 10,000+ employees throughout Tanzania and across East Africa.
Founded in the 1960s to manufacture goods locally at a time when Tanzania relied on imports for the majority of its needs, the company has grown to represent an impressive portfolio that provides solutions for the region’s expanding economic, financial and infrastructure requirements. With its roots firmly planted in Tanzania and the country’s development, Union Trust has worked hard to earn its reputation as a trustworthy, experienced and highly successful enterprise, and continues to leverage its strengths and experience in new industries and geographies.
A Tanzanian Success Story
From humble beginnings, the companies founded by Union Trust have flourished. Alliance Insurance and Alliance Life Insurance are the largest Tanzanian-owned companies in their field. As a 100 percent homegrown enterprise, committed to serving its customers and developing the skills of its employees, Union Trust is proud of its ongoing contribution to Tanzania’s growth story.
A Dynamic Enterprise
Union Trust is constantly evolving hand in hand with the rapidly evolving trajectory of Tanzania and its East African neighbours, growing together while retaining its core values. Firmly established in some of the biggest industries, Union Trust reacts swiftly to new opportunities that leverage its strengths, require innovation, and allow it to contribute the expertise gained from half a century of operations in the region.
Journey Of Jalal H. Jamal
About half a century ago, Jalal H. Jamal, A young garments manufacturer in Dar es Salaam, identified a gap in the Tanzanian market: there was no one manufacturing and distributing ball point pens. It wouldn’t be the first time Mr. Jamal pursued a new line of Business: he had begun his working life trading lubricants, and them moved into garments. But setting up a new industry was no easy feat: private sector initiatives faced a multitude of challenges in a newly independent country experimenting with socialist policies. Yet he persisted, eventually securing the machinery and materials riquired to build a factory in the nation’s capital. Thus, Union Trust found its earliest beginnings in the 1960s.
Two decades later, as Tanzania liberrazied, Mr. Jamal’s pioneering spirit endured. As well as trading, he became involved in the coca cola bottling business, and at the beginning of the 1990s he entered mineral water production and plastics manufacturing.
Mr. Jamal was a self-made enterpreneur. The company’s portfolio began with garments, and now spans banks, buildings and natural resources. Yet, Union Trust observes the same fundamental values today that made its founder’s vision a success fifty years ago, adapting to changes in the economy and identifying and quickly responding to local needs.
