Can one be both an architect of Malagasy capitalism and a guardian of its cultural soul? Hassanein Hiridjee seems to have decided that it is possible.
Before a captivated audience at the EHCP Business School, he enthusiastically elaborated on his approach to business. He explained that one must follow a single guiding principle: “Respect your market.” To launch the latest financial product from the Axian Group, he went even further: “Respect tradition and culture.” By considering the informal network that already sustains the real economy, he extends this respect to the men and women who depend on it.
Thus was born ‘Tisndai’—in Malagasy, ‘ty sy nday’, literally meaning ‘you give and you receive.’ It is a digital platform designed for money exchange, inspired by the ancestral practice of ‘takalo,’ but revisited for the digital age.
This approach might be surprising if one were not already aware of the businessman’s close ties to the cultural world. The unexpected does not lie in his economic success—which follows the almost classic trajectory of a brilliant heir modernizing and internationalizing his enterprise.
The uniqueness of Hassanein Hiridjee—a member of the Khoja Indian community, which has been established in Madagascar since the late 19th century—lies in his choice to champion, through his ‘Fondation H,’ a culture and heritage that is not, in the strict sense, his own origin, but which he fully embraces. Historically, this community has been perceived as economically integrated but culturally detached from the Malagasy national narrative.
Listening to Hassanein Hiridjee speak about business as others might speak about books, paintings, or sculptures, everything feels natural: to build a company is to build a society; one must work in harmony with society.
Rondro Ramamonjisoa
Captured & Published at: 2026-06-27 07:00:59 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/06/mini-portrait-hassanein-hiridjee.html
