Born in the suburbs of Siliguri in North Bengal in 1959 to a family of cement dealers, Mahesh Shah has come a long way. Today he is a big name in IT industry of the eastern region. An educationally qualified man, Shah has woven his magic in the software industry too. He believes that learning slowly and gaining oodles of experience, has been the key to his success.

“My father was a cement dealer. In the early 60s, cement was a much sought-after commodity. Half the month we used to sit idly in the shop, without any supplies, and in the other half, there was a long queue of over 200 people asking for cement,” Shah recalls.

Early days
Growing up Shah aspired to become a doctor someday. However, destiny had something else in store for him.

“One day, I went to a medical camp in Siliguri where eye surgeries were taking in place. The place was so unhygienic that I fainted at the sight of how operations were conducted. After that experience, I forever gave up my dream of becoming a doctor,” Shah chuckled.

With three brothers, Shah found little time to concentrate on his studies in college. Being a commerce student, he liked playing with numbers every now and then but could hardly spend time on it, as he had to look after the family business. However, as exams would near, Shah would worry and concentrated entirely on his studies. To his wonder and amazement, Shah received a first division in his degree and was awarded a gold medal by the North Bengal University for outstanding performance. This proved to be a turning point in his life.

“I realized that I could do things well if I took them seriously. If by studying 16 hours a day for four months, I could bag a gold medal, I could make it to the top if I worked dedicatedly,” he said.

Later, he obtained an LLB degree with yet another gold medal. Following the family trend, he later studied chartered accountancy and there, too, he ranked 39th in the entire country. Thereafter, he took to chartered accountancy as his interim career, practising in his brother's firm for a short while.

Different directions
“The CA business was not doing well and I realized that except for working on the projects that my brother had acquired, I was not bringing in any new business to the CA firm. As I was interested in IT, I thought of entering the industry in Siliguri. I made my solo appearance in 1984, by founding the first data processing center in the area,” he recollected.

Soon, he took on the dealership of Wipro hardware products. Shah made his breakthrough in the market by being selected as one of the five Wipro Council members from 1984 to 2004. He later gained momentum by entering the Kolkata market at the behest of Wipro to bag government deals.

Gaining experience
According to Shah, before one considers entering into a specialized segment, like IT, they should have thorough knowledge about the product. Shah opined that the whole process of dealing with computers is not just selling a particular brand, but selling the whole concept to customers.

Differences surfaced between Wipro council and board members in early 2000. With brands like IBM and HP entering the market, Wipro was beginning to concentrate on software services and exports. Thereafter, Shah parted ways the company, following his concept of 'service to the customer and not to any company.'

Mahesh Shah with wife Saroj Shah in California, USA

Dreams fulfilled
Apart from concentrating on the IT business, Shah is a voracious reader. He reads books on per­sonnel manage­ment and leadership with his all-time favorite book being 'Go...Kiss the World' by Subroto Bagchi. He is interested in social services and is a member of the Rotary Club of Kolkata. He hopes to be elected as the president of the club in the upcoming elections. He undertakes keen interest in serving the under-privileged and has launched a program for educating the children of Kolkata prisoners.

Shah is also content with his personal life. “My wife, Saroj, has always stood by my side and she also plays a pivotal role in Pecon. She takes care of the administration and management of the company. My elder son, Prateek is in California, and works for Nvidia as a research engineer, and my younger son, Abhaas is in Class 12,” Shah said.

On the professional front, Shah has plans to revise his customer base and create a whole new dedicated team for customer engagement through customer feedback and satisfaction.

“It is my belief in myself that motivates me to perform. Pecon is not a profit-driven company. It is our endeavor to give the best kind of services to our customers and in this aspect, I am quite happy with the performance,” he concluded.

Avishek Rakshit
avishekr@cybermedia.co.in

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