Why a Hong Kong Indian wouldn’t take on his late father’s watch business and imports Australian coffee instead – ‘it’s one of the best you can get’
- Like his father before him in Hong Kong, Krshna Moriani chose not to take over the family business but go his own way, and started importing Australian coffee
- Barista Baba Coffee sells Australian-roasted beans and coffee capsules and includes matching notes for those who prefer alternatives to milk
Krshna Moriani wasn’t supposed to have a career in coffee. As the son of a Hong Kong Indian watch merchant, he was expected to take over the family business.
Moriani’s paternal grandparents had to flee what is now Pakistan during the Partition of India in 1947. They later settled in Mumbai and built a textile business.
His father, Lall, had no interest in the family business and instead came to Hong Kong in the 70s to try his luck – and it paid off. Lall ended up building a successful import-export business dealing in mid-range watches that spanned Asia, Africa and the Middle East. But Moriani, like his father, was not interested in taking over from the older generation.
Upon graduation from Monash University in Melbourne in 2016, Moriani tried to find work in Australia. “It was tough if you’re not in accounting or IT. I first found a part-time copywriting job for a pet supplies company and then I went into recruitment,” the coffee entrepreneur recalls.
However, six years earlier, his father had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and Moriani was told his father’s condition had deteriorated to the point where they needed him by his side.
