Indian-origin businessman Harish Dabasia claims divorce wiped out his millions: ‘I gave up everything’

An Indian-origin businessman has claimed that he lost everything to divorce and had to rebuild his life from scratch at the age of 55.

Updated on: Jul 23, 2026, 12:04:34 IST

By Sanya Jain

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An Indian-origin businessman has claimed that he lost everything to divorce and had to rebuild his life from scratch at the age of 55. Harish Dabasia recently appeared on ‘The Voices Podcast With Arafat’, where he claimed that he had to give up “all his assets” to his ex-wife and two daughters during the split.

Harish Dabasia said he had to rebuild his life at the age of 55 after divorce wiped out his wealth.

Dabasia said he moved from London, UK to Rwanda after the divorce from his wife and rebuilt his life quietly, choosing to move away from the family business of construction to become a life coach.

Who is Harish Dabasia?

Dabasia explained that he was born in India to a family of builders and spent most of his childhood in Nairobi, Kenya. He described himself as a “sixth generation builder” who has “cement and blocks and bricks in his blood”.

The Indian-origin businessman revealed that as a youngster, his father sent him to the UK to live with an uncle. He attributed this to differences between him and his father.

Dabasia explained that once in the UK, he was expected to stay on and not return to Nairobi. Instead, he married an Indian-origin, UK-educated woman and spent the next 35 years with her, joining the family business of construction.

(Also read: Wife seeks divorce after husband brings family along on Nainital honeymoon)

Asked if he did not want to return to Nairobi, Harish Dabasia said: “I had no choice. I had no options. And the same thing has happened again at the age of 55.”

The divorce and move to Africa

The businessman drew parallels between the two stages of his life — as a youngster who had no options and as a 55-year-old who, again, had no choice but to give up assets worth millions in his divorce.

This time, however, he did have the option to return, which he did — Dabasia moved back to Africa at the age of 55.

“Through my divorce, I've had to give up all my assets, all my properties, all my businesses to my ex and to my two two daughters,” he revealed. “And I've deliberately come back to Africa.”

Elaborating further on his decision to move back to Africa, the Indian-origin builder said: “when the divorce was finalized, I gave up everything.

I decided, okay, I'm not going to stay around with the circle that I knew, with the people that I knew, the territory that I knew. I want to go back to Africa.

“And in Africa, I'm not just going to do buildings. I'm going to build businesses and I'm going to build people.”

Dabasia further said that it was painful to be around familiar faces in London, while moving to Africa gave him a fresh sense of purpose.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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