Muscat: Jabir Maliyakkal, or P M Jabir as he is known to many in Oman, hung up his boots recently as an insurance underwriter. It has been an eventful 38 years - from Thalassery to Muscat. Jabir is also a social worker who works for the cause of less privileged, cutting across all nationalities.
“I am now dedicating my life totally to community services,” he said. Among the many awards Jabir has got, the one that was conferred on him by Kerala chief minister, and by film star Mammooty in 2019 for the best community worker in the GCC stands apart.
Jabir’s two daughters Wailana and Juliana are successful entrepreneurs. While Wailana runs a video and content production company based in the UAE, Juliana runs an online boutique and a restaurant in Muscat called Malabar Talkies. Both are married and mothers of three and two kids, respectively.
They are in sync when they say they were never asked not to do certain things or do things in a certain way. Watching their father lead such a selfless life and being the hope of so many in despair at the cost of his family time, health, money and peace of mind, made the girls realise the value of lives around them. Juliana said: “They didn’t teach us anything deliberately but we learnt everything from them. I was in awe of my mum’s entrepreneurship, and not many know that she is one, except for a close circle of friends.
“She ran a small home business of sewing and I would watch cloth transforming into things of beauty. I am convinced that’s how and where my online boutique took shape.”
Juliana is married into the family running one of the biggest fruits and vegetables wholesale business in Oman.
Jabir today spends time shuttling between Dubai and Muscat visiting the homes of the elder daughter and younger daughter, and enjoying his time with his grandkids, who eagerly wait for their grandpa and grandma.
