Cowasji Shavaksha Dinshaw Adenwalla

Cowasjee Shavaksha Dinshaw Adenwalla, was a Parsee trader who emigrated from Surat, Bombay to Aden around 1855. The family name Adenwalla ("from Aden") was a later addition. He was significantly influential in the mid to late 1800's for the successful development of Aden into a thriving port city and was arguably the leading light in commerce.

In 1856 Cowasjee partnered with Captain Luke Thomas in his banking business which became a limited liability company in 1857 known as Luke Thomas & Co. Cowasjee travelled extensively and set up trading posts in other British possessions/protectorates, most notably on the east-African coast in Zanzibar and Mombasa. He was known for his business acumen and the foresight that Aden would become an important port following the opening of the Suez Canal.

In 1856 the restoration of the Tawila Tanks was commenced and on 23rd October 1857 the tanks which had been cleared were filled with rainwater. The Government had been disappointed with the financial returns following the initial restorations of the Tawila Tanks and did not want to allocate further funds for the restoration of the last, and largest, of the tanks, named the Playfair Tank. In 1863, Cowasjee, with two other leading merchants, Eduljee Manekjee and Hasan 'Ali, formed a partnership which offered to restore the tank plus 6 of the hill tanks. A 10 year contract was signed on 29th June 1863 which was renewed in 1873 for a further 30 years. During this period the tank water was sold on a commercial basis by the partnership.

By the 1890s Cowasjee was operating several local steamers of around 300 tons, including some on contract to provide a regular service for passengers, cargo and mail to and from the Somali Coast. He undoubtedly would have owned a number of dhows ( traditional sailing vessels) as well. Most of the former had a displacement averaging around 40 tons whilst the latter were around 12-16 tons. He was selling 60,000 tons of coal a year which would have been 50-60% of total sales at the time.

Amongst his many ventures he had an entire floating dock shipped from Britain in 1895 which was known locally as the "Dinshaw Pontoon". Cowasjee Dinshaw and Bros. owned a printing press, the only competitor being a press operated from the Crater Jail and manned with convict labour. He won the concession to build and operate a 120km proposed rail link from Aden to Dthala after successfully negotiating a deal with the Sultan of Lahej, who would receive a 4% commission on the profits of the line plus one penny per square of area taken by the line. The first 60km stage of the line was to extend from Aden to Nobet Dukeim. It seems however that the railway plan, for some reason, did not eventuate. For the second half of the 19th century Cowasjee seems to have had a virtual monopoly of all the best money-making concerns in Aden.

A Parsee of the Zoroastrian faith, and founder of the Fire Temple in Aden, Cowasjee, like many Parsees, was a philanthropist and financed the construction of a mosque for local Muslims which was known as the Cowasjee Masjid.