Of the nine East Africans who made it onto the Ventures Africa inaugural ranking of the richest people in Africa, seven are of Asian descent. We look into the history that has made this so.

VENTURES AFRICA – Kenyan-Indians, or Wahindi as they are known in Swahili, have come to epitomise trade across the country. From small shops in towns all over Kenya, selling basic household commodities, to massive manufacturing companies, the Wahindi dominate. What is even more interesting is that, in a country of 40 million people, there are only 100,000 Wahindi – less than a quarter of a percent of the total population. But their contribution to the economy far outstrips their numbers.

Writing in Awaaz magazine in 2006, Sunny Bindra, one of Kenya’s leading management consultants and a Muhindi (the singular form for the plural Wahindi) himself, said the following: “The success of the Muhindi entrepreneur in Kenya is not in question. South Asians run many things: from small shops to sprawling multinationals. They own workshops and contracting firms. They build roads and control hotels. They sell lots of stuff: from bicycles to broadband; from sukuma wiki to satellite dishes.” So how did these South Asians become such a force in business?…