Rich pickings for migrant millionaires

This year’s Sunday Times Rich List reveals the growing wealth of immigrants in Britain. SHAMLAL PURI traces the fortunes of these tycoons.

Britain’s millionaires from the East African diaspora are richer than they have ever been doubling their wealth with a combined fortune of billions of pounds, the 26th edition of the prestigious annual Sunday Times Rich List reveals.

The select few, who have settled here from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, join the crème de le crème of a thousand members of the elite super rich club boasting a record combined wealth of £519 billion.

The list, released with the May 18 issue of the Sunday Times, is compiled meticulously by Philip Beresford.

This year’s list features an interesting array of top-notch businessmen and women who have made their mark in industry, hospitality, mining, pharmaceuticals, finance and various other facets of Britain’s economy.

Though East Africans have yet to hit the billionaire mark, it is a consolation that immigrants from other parts of the world occupy top positions on this authoritative list.

Mining magnate

At the top are India-born industrialist brothers Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, whose joint fortune of £11.9 billion (Sh1.8 trillion) makes them not only the richest in the UK but also the 17th richest in Europe and 47th richest in the world. The family came to Britain from Iran and built the Hinduja Group, with interests in oil, automotives, banking, property and the media.

In third position is mining magnate Laxmi Mittal, the Indian entrepreneur worth £10.25 billion (Sh1.5 trillion). Mittal has business interests in Africa.

The fact that Britain’s Queen Elizabeth trails far behind in the 285th position, with her fortune of £330 million (Sh49 billion), puts these accomplishments in better perspective.

Richer than Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles pop group fame is hotels and hospitality giant, and former Nairobi resident, Dr Jasminder Singh, 63, who leads the list of East African tycoons. With his wealth of £840 million (Sh124 billion), generated from his Edwardian Group, a chain of luxury hotels, he is 121st on the list.

Jasminder was born in Dar es Salaam but his family settled in Kenya. He arrived in Britain from Nairobi in 1970 to become an accountant.

After qualifying as a chartered accountant, he founded the Edwardian Group in 1977 and led it to join with Radisson in 1993, becoming the Radisson Edwardian Hotels group. The queen awarded him an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2007 for services to the British hotel industry.

Jasminder hit the headlines after a family feud involving his ageing parents, former Kenyan residents Bal Mohinder Singh, 85, and his wife, Satwant Kaur, claimed they were entitled to a third of the family wealth. The senior Singhs lost the case.

Kenyan-born Navin Engineer and his wife, Varsha, are also among the super-rich, in the 123rd position with their fortune of £810 million (Sh119 billion). Navin arrived in Britain in 1969 with £75 (Sh11,000) in his pocket, and worked at a burger restaurant while studying to be a pharmacist.

The son of the Kenyan civil servant has built his empire around generic medicines company Chemidex Pharma, valued at £750 million (Sh110 billion).

Menial jobs

Ugandan-born Jatania brothers George, Vin, Danny and Mike, who own personal care companies Lornamead and Yardley, have seen their fortunes rise by £200 million (Sh30 billion) after they slipped to the 224th position in 2013. Through their property portfolio and other interests, they have shot up to 170th position with their wealth of £600 million (Sh89 billion).

Kenyan-born brothers Bhiku, 66, and Vijay Patel, 64 have a true rags-to-riches tale. They were brought up in poverty in Eldoret, and even getting two square meals a day posed a problem.

Vijay came to Britain at the age of 16, with £5 (Sh740) in his pocket and a secondary school education. He took menial jobs to pay his way through high school and a Pharmacy course in Leicester.

The brothers have built a multi-million pound business empire, Waymade Healthcare, which supplies medicines to hospitals and pharmacies. Their wealth showed a dramatic increase from £130 million (Sh19 billion), and position 603, last year, to a whopping £525 million (Sh77 billion), rocketing them to 190th position.

Former East African residents Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev saw an £18 million (Sh2.7 billion) rise in their fortunes through their chain of 38 nursing homes called Life Style Care. Their £418 million (Sh62 billion) fortune got them the 244th position.

Rajesh Satiija, 52, a made an entry into the list with his £350 million (Sh52 billion) fortune from mining interests in Africa.

Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia fled Uganda with his family during the 1972 exodus at the age of 13. He grew up in London and worked in stalls on Liverpool Street and Petticoat Lane, selling small items.

He developed a keen interest in the automobile industry and at the age of 18 was offered a chance to buy Highway Autos, a car parts shop in north London that had gone into bankruptcy.

His firm grew to become the largest distributor of aftermarket car and van parts in the UK. It established 132 branches nationwide, serving 98 per cent of the UK’s population. It has an annual turnover of £400 million (Sh59 billion) and has more than 5,300 employees serving more than 120,000 commercial customers.

Mr Ahluwalia sold his company to the US multinational giant LQK Corporation of Chicago for an initial sum of £285 million (Sh42 billion). The Uganda-born Sikh is worth £300 million (Sh44 billion) and holds the 277th position on the Rich List.

In the 367th position is Tanzanian-born Firoz Kassam, with his £250 million (Sh37 billion) fortune from hotels and property.

Small shop

Vipul Thakrar, originally from Uganda, holds the 514th position with a fortune of £118 million (Sh17 billion) from his popular Basmati rice brand, Tilda, which the family sold for £220 million (Sh32 billion) this year.

The amazing success story of the Kenyan-Indian Laxmi Shanker Pathak is a heart-warming one. He left Kenya for Britain with £5 (Sh740) in 1956, and landed a job cleaning sewers.

The family set up small shop in London, selling groceries and vegetables. Unhappy with left-over stocks of vegetables, they venture into making pickles to give immigrants a taste of India. It was such a roaring success that the family built a £146 million food empire selling Pataks brand pickles, curry sauces and pastes. They are 639th on the list.

Missing from the list this year is Kenyan entrepreneur Osman Murgian, who was valued at £291 million (Sh43 billion) in 2013.

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