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Yousif Haider Marafie
1860 – 1939
A
smart businessman, he was the reputed grain businessman in
the whole of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula those days. He was
keen and passionate about owning large granaries in Kuwait,
where he would store the grains purchased from Basra and
Bander Ma'shoor. It was shipped to Bahrain and Emirate’s
coastal areas whereas to Arabian Peninsula it was
transported by caravans.
He was instrumental in stabilizing wheat prices in Kuwait
during the outbreak of wars and crisis. He was a man of
noble objectives in life even amidst the toughest
circumstances. When World War I broke out the prices of
essential commodities escalated along with that of the
Wheat. The price of wheat which was only Rupees 2/- per Mann
prior to the war; immediately soared to Rupees 8/- per Mann
within a week’s period of the war outbreak. It was at this
time when an elite Al-Du’aj family member, the late
Abdulrahaman Ben Du’aij approached him with an enquiry of
the Wheat price. Despite the hike, Yousif stipulated on the
initial quote of Rupees 2/- per Mann and reserved the same
for him. As was the practise, an enquiry of this nature, by
the then business tradition was generally considered as a
mutual understanding / terms of agreement between the two.
By a casual enquiry, little did Abdulrahman think of a
serious business deal. On the other hand since the stock of
wheat was reserved for Abulrahman Ben Du’aij at an agreed
rate of Rupees 2/-Mann, Yousif Marafie redirected all
enquiries to Abdulrahman stating the verbal sale deed
agreed upon with Abdulrahman for Rupees 2/- Mann.
Meanwhile, Yousif Marafie duly informed Abdulrahman too
regarding the wheat reserve. Unfortunately, due to
unprecedented price variation, the entire deal ended up in a
dispute taking its way up to Sheikh Salem Al-Mubarak. In
order to resolve the dispute, Sheikh Salem had drawn a
decision of selling the wheat at the prevailing market price
itself. But the price was structured in a manner that would
obtain Rupees 3/- for Yousif Marafie, Rupees 3/- for
Abdulrahaman and Rupees 2/- towards the Government. This
wise decision was well accepted.
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