Indian-born entrepreneur Rejesh Ram Satiija started out as a government contractor in India, but depressed by the nature of its requirements, set off for Africa, keen to get started on an import and export business.
“I always wanted to get into international trading on a large scale,” Satiija, an Indian electrical engineering graduate, told the Asian Rich List. “Back in the 1990s, the opportunities to grow in this field weren't too many in India. I had this foresight that Africa would be one big market and wanted to be part of it when it emerged. With these thoughts, I left India in 1993, and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Landing in Nigeria, he has gone on to build a range of companies under his Sun and Sand banner, with the main group known as the Sun & Sand Group of Companies Africa, Super Industries DMCC Dubai, Samsung Overseas Ltd India and Sun & Sand Mining, plus Mineral Resource (UK) Aqasia Homes in India and Stud Farms India.
“I forsaw that Africa would be one big market”— Rejesh Ram Satiija
He is now based in London and has a Mayfair home from where he manages his expanding global empire. “London is a hub of global business activity and the added attraction is a stable environment and a good family life,” said Satiija, who is a teenage boy and girl.
Setting up in Africa is never seen as easy, but for Satiija it's about an attitude of mind you bring to whatever challenges you face, wherever in the world they are. “No place is easy or difficult to work; it all depends on your attitude. Africa is not an easy place to work in that sense and there are always a lot of challenges to work in such an environment. I have a simple belief: forget all the reasons why it won't work and believe all the one reason why it will. This has held me in good stead over the years.”
Satiija has an extensive diversified portfolio of interests in Africa and India. With the recent acquisition of gold mines in northern Africa and substantial other business assets, he is valued conservatively at £390m.