A businessman with zeal for social and community services, Mr. R. D. D. Gurnani is popularly known as Dave Gurnani. A person of Indian origin, born and brought up in Malaysia, and living in the Netherlands, he has a wealth of international business experience in diverse sectors.
Apart from being a businessman, Mr. Gurnani serves various communities such as Malaysian, Indian, Surinamese, and Dutch in the Netherlands. For instance, he is the President of Malaysian Association of the Netherlands; present secretary of Foundation Friends of Gandhi Centre; served as secretary of Netherlands India Association; and has closely associated with Foundation for Indian Diaspora in Europe, where he is responsible for organizing logistics for the foundation’s events.
In order to further focus his energy towards social services, Mr. Gurnani founded Stichting India Nederland Suriname (INS), which strives to bring Indian, Dutch, and Surinamese communities in the Netherlands, especially in the Utrecht region, together by organizing cultural and business events. Through INS, he organized Gandhi Walk in Utrecht on 2nd Oct, 2014. In recognition of this initiative, the local government permitted INS to install a full size statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a prime location of the city of Utrecht.
Through business and social services, Mr. Gurnani developed deeper understanding of societies and communities that are connected to his origins. He will bring his knowledge and experience to speak about “The Evolution of Malaysian Indians”. He will speak about how Indian Diaspora in Malaysia grew over a period of time and about its contribution in enhancing the Indian culture, art and philosophy in the host country.
