Dalal Capital Advisors LLC’s tagline reads, ‘Empower and sustain family harmony for generations’. It is more than just a business philosophy though – his entire life has been an embodiment of those words.
The emotional wealth and wisdom of values he received from his grandfather, parents and ancestors going back seven generations have given Mayur’s purpose in life the solid footing everyone should ideally receive. Today, these very values underline the intensely personal value-based succession and wealth transfer planning advice that he gives to his clients and secures the future of their generations to come. Among his trusted clients for more than three decades have been people from all walks of life and across professions, from physicians, business owners and entrepreneurs to senior corporate executives.
A life member of Top of the Table of the Million Dollar Round Table and the Forum 400, he is also an active member of the Association of Advanced Life Underwriters, Financial Planners Association, Purposeful Planning Institute and Legacy Wealth Coach network.
Mayur has seen a life of struggle that has led him to pay it forward. He is a member of BAPS and has served on the board of several non-profits over the last three decades including Ronald McDonald House, United Way of Long Island, BAPS Charities, AIA NY, Gujarati Samaj, Forum 400, Muni Seva Ashram USA, Lad Samaj, just to name a few.
University of Life
Everything he has done and continues to accomplish in life is indicative of a childhood and upbringing that has put him on this path of success that does not trample upon others to reach the top. The journey his ancestors made can be traced from one of the tiny hamlets on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border to a village, Khamabat, in Gujarat, and then finally, Bombay (now Mumbai) – the city of dreams.
“My great-grandfather, Kahandas, had great foresight. He was only 17 when he decided to try his luck in Bombay.” This was in 1905 and his vision and gumption saw him build and manage successful businesses. “He landed in Vasai and ended up buying 168 acres of salt pans over nine years. He was not averse to risk, and I think that served him well. He also practiced philanthropy long before it became a popular word.” During WWI, he built what we now call the chawl (tenements) system to house poor families and took care of all their needs, including schools for children, hospitals, etc. He encouraged the women to learn and become teachers and he offered men jobs in his businesses.
As an astute businessman, his greatgrandfather also advised his elder son, Mayur’s grandfather, Harkisondas, into starting on his own. Harkisondas then started an import business of woolen clothes in Mulji Jetha Market, Mumbai. The business was a success. He was the patriarch of his family and for Mayur, he became his greatest life coach.
Mayur, born on April 1, 1958, to Jayaben and Thakorbhai, was only eight when his mentor, his grandfather, Harkisondas, passed away. “Everything he taught me was from his experiences. The university of life schooled him on everything from success to holding his joint family together, no matter what the circumstances were. The degrees you obtain from a school or college can only carry you so far giving you monetary success, but the teachings and values you get from your family will help you attain that elusive peace, everyone keeps looking for. I believe, therefore, the university of life and family is the biggest teacher.”
When the going gets tough…
… the tough get going. When his grandfather died, the family realized that they had a lot of business debt to contend with. Life was not easy but then strong-willed Mayur knew that his grandfather and father had prepared him to face all adversities. He started selling detergents to help the family and also managed to complete higher studies at Elphinstone Technical High School with top honors at age 16 in 1974. A national scholarship recipient for his undergraduate studies, he completed BSc (Hons) in 1978 from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai. What followed next was a Bachelor of science in Chemical Technology at the Institute of Chemical Technology and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in 1985. “I grew up in a joint family, we were 24 cousins sharing things – I learned to have an abundance mindset.”
He achieved success wherever he worked and found himself becoming the youngest business head before he flew to the US at the age of 30. He got married to Madhavi in 1984 and it was his father-in-law who egged him to make this move. More than 100 years ago, his great-grandfather made a journey to his land of dreams and in 1988, the brave patriarch’s equally courageous great-grandson undertook a journey to achieve his dream.
Putting in 100 hours a week at his first job in 1988 at Equitable Life (now AXA) soon accorded him a place in one of the top 10 developing leaders in the company. “I was fortunate to be mentored by several outstanding professionals, including Mahinder Suneja, Larry Shulman, Ed Feiman, Dick Jenerrate, Bill Bachrach, Scott Fithian and Dan Sullivan.”
The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.
Today, Mayur, like his great-grandfather, grandfather and father, takes risks but leads everything with the heart of gold that has endeared him as a mentor to not just the families he has helped but also to the many advisors, who have benefited from his expertise.
Spirituality of Success
Success can easily go to the head. He remains unfazed by it because he knows that it is only temporary, and the real accomplishments are those that stem from his spiritual wealth. He began collecting these beads of spirituality since he was three. His grandfather would take him to the temple and along the way tell him stories of their ancestors with a moral lesson hidden in them. It shaped Mayur’s ethical and moral compasses that always point toward kindness and selfless acts of giving. “It became my real inheritance. I still remember how he’d take me to weekly classes conducted by Pandurang Shastri Athavale and how Shastri ji challenged me to read three books every week. By the time I was 18, I had read 10,000 books.”
The knowledge from these books, the wisdom of his grandfather and now his guru HDH Pramukh Swami ji and 16 mentors, all serve as the spiritual compass that he uses generously to guide others as well. It was on Swami ji’s advice that he trained 50 BAPS community leaders for over a year and also served as the Vice President of BAPS Charities from 1999 to 2002.
The Core: Relationships
His approach to life is based on the Eight Wheels of Life, where relationships “are at the center to realize harmony in all areas of life.” It is indeed the core of his life. His forefathers are his spiritual guides, his parents are his mentors and his siblings have been loving companions along the journey.
Then he met Madhavi. “It is said that every person comes in your life for a reason and by God’s will. She is that blessing from God. I was a double graduate, and my parents wanted a well-educated girl. Within five minutes of meeting her, I knew I wanted to marry her for life. I was floored by her and especially her honesty.
They gifted each other a lovely child, on their first anniversary. Sagar studied at the University of Michigan and Brooklyn Law School to become a corporate lawyer and investment banker. He later joined his father and today is the President of Dalal Capital.
Their daughter, Reema, studied at New York University and was accepted into Harvard Medical School, but she turned it down and is now focusing on upskilling with coding. “Our children are our blessing.”
There is no hint of boastfulness whatsoever in Mayur’s voice when he talks about his family or his many achievements. There is heart, humility and magnanimity in everything he does – one of the biggest secrets behind his success.