The USIU dropout who traded the lecture hall for his father’s shop and built a watch empire

Different type of watches on display at Saa Zone Kenya outlet in Nairobi on October 19, 2026. Lucy Wanjiru | Nation

Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group

When Al-anwar Hassanali, an entrepreneur in Kenya’s watch industry, told his father he wanted to drop out of university to pursue business, his father gave him one ultimatum.

Hassanali says he was worried that his father was spending so much on his school fees yet getting so little in return.

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