New Delhi, Sep 25

The Nairobi mall attack has put in especial focus the Gujarati community in East Africa, but the incident is not going to dent their business enterprise, feels economist Ashok Desai.

The news that more than 20 children from Gujarati families are still missing following the terror attack is causing concern within the community, but the answer to whether the attack has affected business confidence is a bit more complex. 

"From the business point of view they have not put all their eggs in one basket, but have actually diverted their money and diversified to places like the US," Desai told IANS in an interview.

Desai was referring to the fallout of the policy of Africanization in decolonized Africa which resulted in the massive exodus of Indians from countries like Tanzania and Uganda in the early 1970s. 

The historical extent of Indian influence in business in East Africa is evident from the fact that some 80 to 90 percent of commercial trade in Kenya and Uganda in the pre-Second World War period was in the hands of Indians. 

"Gujarati business in East Africa functioned in a kind of compromise in these countries, by paying off local politicians on the one hand, and shifting wealth to areas like Britain and the US," Desai said.

Gujarat's engagement with East Africa is centuries old since its traders had followed the Arab trading routes inland on the coast of modern-day Kenya and Tanzania. Indians almost wholly controlled Zanzibar's lucrative trade in the 19th century, working as the Sultan's exclusive agents.

"Traditionally, Kenya, which has one major port in Mombasa, has been less important as a place of Gujarati migration in Africa compared to Mozambique, Madagascar or Zanzibar (present Tanzania)," Desai said. 

With the British building the railways with indentured labour from Gujarat and Punjab, the number of Indians in East Africa swelled to 320,000 by the 1940s. By this time, for instance, all but 12 of Uganda's 195 cotton ginneries were Indian-run.

Desai, who has been to Nairobi, said the city had lots of Indian-run stores.

"The Indian businesses in Nairobi are really big and innovative, but the Gujaratis here have definitely not put all their eggs in one basket." 

The attacked Westgate Mall in Nairobi was constructed by Gujarati construction magnate Lakshman Raghavani, who runs Lakshmanbhai and Company in Kenya.

"If the attack was aimed at business confidence then it is the British who would be candidates by fact of being the biggest investors in Kenya," Desai said. 

According to Desai, the significance of the Nairobi attack was linked to the situation in Somalia where Kenya has sent its peacekeeping troops under the auspices of the African Union.

"Somalia has become destabilised. Somali pirates have been attacking ships for some time, and now we have this incident," Desai signed off.

Desai, a noted economic journalist and private business consultant in India, was also chief consultant in the Indian finance ministry during 1991–1993 under Manmohan Singh's ministership.

By:IANS