By Frank Kamuntu
This week, India marks 78 years of Independence from Britain. The British had colonised India for 200 years and perhaps inadvertently helped the Indians future dominance of the world as they spread them to different colonies, thanks to their work ethic. In East Africa, they came while building the Uganda railway in 1900 and save for a brief spell when they were expelled by dictator Idi Amin in the 70s, they have reclaimed their spot at the top of business with Uganda’s richest man and real estate magnate Dr Sudhir Ruparelia popular referred to as Kampala’s landlord because he is more likely to own a building than not, within a 500-metre radius of whichever part of Kampala’s central business district that you are.
Perhaps it was unimaginable when the British had India as their colony that one day, someone of Indian origin would run British affairs until 2022 when Rishi Sunak became the UK Prime Minister until last month.
Sunak was born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s. His father was born in Kenya while his mother was born in Tanzania.
Sunak isn’t the only person of Indian origin who has risen to political prominence in a different country. In Portugal, Antonio LuÃs Santos da Costa has been prime minister since 2015 and Leo Varadkar, was Prime Minister of Ireland from 2017 to 2020 and again from December 202).
US Vice President and Presidential contender in the forthcoming election Kamala Harris has an Indian mother. And maybe just maybe if Republic contender Nikki Haley who was wholly Indian parentage had triumphed over Donald Trump in the primaries, it would have been not only female but Indian heritage race for the White House!
In corporate governance, Indians run the world as CEOs of the world’s biggest company. Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Alphabet Inc the parent company of Google. Still in Silicon Valley, Satya Nadella who was born in India and moved to the US in 1992 is the CEO of Microsoft.
In business, Indians run the world and it is reported that there are now more people of Indian origin owning more property in London than the British natives. Talk about turning the tables!
In fact, Uganda’s richest man Sudhir is one of the UK property owners, though he is most known for his vast real estate empire in Uganda. He is also into hospitality with his Speke Group of Hotels as well as education starting from the elementary level to university with Kampala Parents’ School, Delhi Public School, Kampala International School Uganda and Victoria University. He is also into horticulture and media.
Some of the reasons given include a strong education system with emphasis on STEM that produces highly skilled professionals, a strong work ethic, financial discipline, risk taking and support to each other.
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