Video Clips

Sanjay Bansal

Sanjay Bansal

Ethnicity and Race

Sanjay Bansal, former head of Ambootia tea estates in Darjeeling, India, discusses the near-feudal conditions which prevailed in the tea industry in this region, and the acute social problems faced by the Nepalese-speaking labor force, which was predominately female. Having grown up on the estate, he had learned Nepali, and was able to communicate with the workers directly about his plans for renewal by switching to organic farming. Bansal ends by discussing the severe crisis in 2017, when there was a region-wide strike caused the state government’s decision to replace Nepalese with Bengali as the second language taught in schools.

Manu Chandaria

Manu Chandaria

Ethnicity and Race

Manu Chandaria, Chair of the Comcraft Group in Kenya, describes the racial discrimination he experienced as an ethnic Asian in colonial Kenya, and more recent ethnic tensions in the country.

Mavath R. Chandran

Mavath R. Chandran

Ethnicity and Race

Mavath R. Chandran, a veteran executive in the Malaysian palm oil industry and an advisor to the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil, discusses how the British colonial regime contributed to the complex ethnic make-up of modern day Malaysia. He discusses at length the complexity of the ethnic Indian minority, noting that while some groups like his own Malayali community have flourished, the Tamil community has been trapped in poverty.

Cas Coovadia

Cas Coovadia

Ethnicity and Race

Cas Coovadia, the long-running Managing Director of the Banking Association South Africa, argues that the government needs proactive policies to support the Black community because of the discrimination it experienced under apartheid.

Ian Fuhr

Ian Fuhr

Ethnicity and Race

Ian Fuhr, who later founded Sorbet, the largest chain of beauty salons in South Africa, describes his struggles to convince white-owned companies in South Africa in the 1990s to take racism in the workplace seriously, and how he developed a play on the subject to try to emphasize the importance of the issue.

Ian Fuhr

Ian Fuhr

Ethnicity and Race

Ian Fuhr, who later founded Sorbet, the largest chain of beauty salons in South Africa, describes how he was sent to a refinery owned by the Murray & Roberts group in the 1990s and encountered appalling racism at the top management. The CEO eventually took steps to implement change after it became clear that racism was badly impacting the company’s productivity, as black workers silently resisted in response.

Fadi Ghandour

Fadi Ghandour

Ethnicity and Race

Fadi Ghandour, Founder of Dubai-based courier company Aramex and a leading entrepreneur in the Gulf, explains that his company purposefully recruited Arabs from the region rather than Western expatriates as he wanted long-term commitment and loyalty, and knowledge of the local language and culture was key to building the business.

Shahnaz Husain

Shahnaz Husain

Ethnicity and Race

Shahnaz Husain, the founder of Shahnaz Herbals, a natural beauty company based in India, discusses how her products need to adapt to local cultures, and explains why she sells creams facilitating light skin in India.

Mohamed Jaffer

Mohamed Jaffer

Ethnicity and Race

Mohamed Jaffer, Chairman of MJ Group, which is Kenya’s largest provider of cargo handling services, recalls the long struggle of locally-born Asians to be considered truly local. In 2017 the Kenya government finally recognized Asians as Kenya’s 44th tribe.

Shinta Widjaja Kamdani

Shinta Widjaja Kamdani

Ethnicity and Race

Shinta Kamdani, owner of Indonesian-based consumer products and energy company Sintesa Group, describes the reputation of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia as being only concerned with making money, and her response to the May 1998 anti-Chinese riots in the country which left more than one-thousand people dead.

Reuel J. Khoza

Reuel J. Khoza

Ethnicity and Race

Reuel J. Khoza, Chairman of South Africa's Dzana Investments and Discovery Bank, describes the obstacles he faced to establish his management consultancy firm in the context of apartheid.

Louisa Mojela & Gloria Serobe

Louisa Mojela & Gloria Serobe

Ethnicity and Race

Louisa Mojela, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of WIPHOLD, reflects on ways that she navigated her early career in the context of South Africa's apartheid system.