Barbodhanis have always interested in trade and commerce and travelled to foreign lands, undertaking long sea voyages. People left Barbodhan in the early 19th century to settle in Burma, where they established many businesses and were great entrepreneurs; a number of them even became advisors to the Burmese rulers. Then from in the 1840s many other emigrants from Barbodhan went to the island of Mauritius, where they were later responsible for introducing hydroelectric power, as well as being involved in other trading and business concerns. The first Muslim mayor in Mauritius was originally from Barbodhan.