Our firm is founded on the principles of servant leadership, innovation, and integrity and we needed to come up with a name to reflect those qualities.  Extensive research discovered a powerful 14th-century emperor of the Mali Empire named Mansa Musa. After reading about his legendary 25-year reign, we decided to name our firm, MANSA Construction. Mansa is a Mandinka word meaning emperor, sultan, or king.

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Musa’s reign of the Mali empire stretched 2,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to modern-day Nigeria, and his leadership resulted in decades of West African peace and prosperity. In 1324, his nearly 4,000-mile journey to Mecca put Mali literally on the map! Cartographers produced maps of the world showing Mali and referencing Mansa Musa for the next two centuries.

 

This pilgrimage was special because he had an entourage of thousands of escorts and brought along considerable amounts of gold. While traveling, he generously donated gold to the poor, charitable organizations, and to rulers of the lands his entourage crossed. In fact, on his stop in Cairo, Egypt, the Emperor gave out so much gold, he generated a brief decline in its value. Cairo’s gold market did not recover until over a decade later!

 

Mansa Musa was also an innovative thought-leader, who sparked an intellectual renaissance upon returning from Mecca. He brought back Arab scholars, government officials, and even architects, who introduced advanced building techniques to Mali and designed numerous buildings for the Emperor including libraries, universities, and the still-standing great mosque at Timbuktu.

 

Mansa Musa may be best known for his immense wealth, but his contributions to society, servant leadership, and innovation are what represent the MANSA brand.