The trade routes sought out and taken by the Bombay Africans as explorers formed the blueprint for the major modern transport networks in East Africa, including the vital Uganda railway. As a result of the replacement of the IBEAC by colonial rule in 1896, the completion of the Uganda railway in 1901 and the move of the colonial capital from Mombasa to Nairobi in 1907, the descendants of the Bombay Africans and the Africans under their tutelage were dispersed throughout East Africa, as engineers, teachers, clergy, clerks and medics (Simpson, 1975, p. 198). They became, in effect, the first African middle class and civil servants. A working relationship with the Asians fostered the involvement of these educated Africans in developing trade union movements. At the same time, other Africans who benefitted from the mission schools established and run by people in Freretown and in  
Rabai entered politics and became involved with groups such as the Coast African Association and the Mombasa African Democratic Union (MADU), founded by Francis Khamisi of Rabai. MADU was the main political force for Africans in coastal Kenya and provided the groundwork for other Kenyan political parties (Harris, 1977, pp. 52-53).  
Freretown rapidly became the centre for the study of Kiswahili in Latin script; in 1928, 16 students of Kiswahili arrived from the newly formed CMS Elgon diocese and six arrived from the education department of Makerere College, which would later become part of the University of East Africa. Freretown therefore encouraged the spread of standardized Kiswahili throughout eastern Africa (Harris, 1977, p. 49).