By a twist of fortunate circumstances, we met, Yousouf and myself, at a UNESCO event in Mauritius. We had known each other from newspaper accounts of our social actions – he, including consumer education, and myself, in propagating the mission of UNESCO at youth club levels. That encounter was a meaningful one.

Flashing back, Yousouf showed up as a resourceful leader with multifarious ideas that turned out to be commendable projects. The child of Vallée-Pitot, educated at the Surtee Soonee Primary School, rose to become a teacher, then a leader through the Port-Louis UNESCO Club of Action (PLUCA), duly recognized by the National Commission for UNESCO under the aegis of the Ministry of Education.

■ Yousouf Jhugroo, sir Anerood Jugnauth and Serge Clair attending the opening of the Rodrigues Office of MAPBIN-CHAN.

In 1977, the PLUCA filled a void by providing free coaching in English, French and Mathematics to hundreds of students in the capital. In parallel, they initiated adult literacy programmes, cultural events and debates, which became a model for community-based educational empowerment. TV serials were the apanage of very few, while the mobile phone and Information and Communication Technology were not yet issues for futurists.

At 20, Yousouf joined Trinity College as an educator. Enriched by his experience of the UNESCO Club, he launched the UNESCO Associated School Project, which captured a large youthful membership on the model of the Baltic Sea Project. This was the type of extracurricular activity which consolidated formal teaching, promoting values of peace, ethics and global citizenship.

Yousouf has a special thought for the then Rector, the late Claude Obeegadoo, who offered financial assistance to sustain the project. He further reached out to his audience in 1982 through an educational enrichment programme for Cambridge A-level students by launching ‘Help Them to Learn’. The programme encouraged critical engagement with societal issues, including a survey assessing awareness of the World Health Organization (WHO) Code on the marketing of breastfeeding substitutes.

The ground was prominent and promising for a mass campaign on breastfeeding through the Mauritian Action for the Promotion of Breastfeeding and Infant Nutrition (MAPBIN), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Supported by volunteers and health professionals, among whom Dr. Ibrahim Joomun and Mr T. Naik, Director of the Mauritius Family Planning and Welfare Association, MAPBIN became instrumental in establishing Day Care Centres and Breastfeeding Clinics across Mauritius and beyond. The MAPBIN outreach extended to Rodrigues, Gabon, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Congo, under UNICEF and WHO guidance. Yousouf was supported by his wife, Razia Ghanty, who became the backbone of the programme.

Yousouf shows humility when he speaks about how his fame as a social engineer extended further into another mechanism for societal change. At the suggestion of Dr Anwar Fazal, Regional Director of the International Organisation of Consumers Unions (now Consumers International), Yousouf founded CHAN (Consumer Health Awareness Network) to expand beyond infant nutrition into broader consumer health protection. CHAN championed anti-smoking initiatives, MSG awareness and medicine overuse campaigns, which earned the support of the Institute for Consumer Protection (ICP), the latter being itself a fusion of MAPBIN and CHAN, with Yousouf as Chief Executive. That was in 1986.

Yousouf spearheaded a series of landmark achievements that include, inter alia, the banning of MSG in Mauritius, investigations into major multinationals, the founding of Consumer Rights Advice Centres (CRAC), and bringing the ‘alert consumer eye’ as Board Member of the Mauritius Standards Bureau, CWA, CEB, MMA and Assay Office. In parallel to enforcing food safety and product standards, he campaigned through the Coalition Against Tobacco (COAT) on the dangers of smoking. Notably, Yousouf and his team uncovered a fake Islamic bank soliciting millions in deposits, which triggered an investigation by the Bank of Mauritius and asset seizures from the promoters.

There are events that cause radical changes in one’s life. Following the passing of his wife, Yousouf relocated to the UK in 1998. He briefly served as a Research Fellow at Consumers International in London before transitioning into the UK railway sector. Initially, he served as Revenue Protection Inspector at Connex Rail, rising quickly to manage Customer Services across the UK’s busiest rail networks. With the transition to Govia in 2003, he was appointed Commercial Compliance Manager and later Franchise Compliance Manager for Southern Railway. Yousouf had innovative ideas, developing a comprehensive franchise compliance manual widely regarded as a best practice model across National Rail franchises. Our compatriot’s tenure was marked by zero non-compliance and high commendation from the Department for Transport and Southern Railway Chief Executive Officer Charles Horton.

Yousouf made a break by returning to Mauritius in 2009. True to his faith in the defence and protection of consumers, he founded ConsoMag, a consumer magazine edited with the support of journalist Jean Clement Cangy. Back in the UK in 2011, he established the Consumer Protection Bureau (CPB) Europe, a not for-profit Community Interest Company. In 2013, Yousouf was appointed to lead compliance for the UK Government’s flagship Green Deal Scheme under the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

His role involved auditing over 40 providers and 15 certification bodies across England, Scotland and Wales, ensuring adherence to the Green Deal Code of Practice. The way forward for Yousouf was, in 2016, to found the Compliance and Risk Consultancy (CRC), a multidisciplinary consultancy providing corporate compliance solutions, regulatory audits, legal services and training. The CRC operates internationally, with offices in the UK, Dubai and Mauritius.

Looking back, Yousouf has had accomplishments loaded with satisfaction – not for himself, but for thousands of consumers across Mauritius and Europe, for whom he has a simple message: each consumer is capable of protection and has the potential to learn to defend themselves.