When Bollywood plans didn’t work, his fate took him straight to where he was meant to be since long, Gujarati Samaj of Montreal. He joined the organisation in 2002 to find some peace and the way forward. He started with simple things like a membership. While at it, he believed in the words of David Starr Jordan, the founding president of Stanford University, “Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.” Learning and putting it to work, he soon had done so much that in 2017, he was elected as the president. Though the presidential term is two years, his has extended to its fifth year now. As a businessman, as a philanthropist, as a human being, he has held his belief in the youth pretty firmly for he knows them to be the future. As the president of the Samaj, he aims to uplift the youth who lack guidance. “It has been our collective effort that more youth participate in the Samaj. We still can’t deny the generation gap but the two generations are seemingly in a better symphony now.”
The spirit of social upliftment was probably an inheritance. His mother, Kanchanben, came from a family that was deeply rooted in social work in Kenya. His father, Kantilal Ravjibhai, was a small-time businessman in India; he had later opened a small eye-glass shop in Madras, which didn’t progress too well. He then moved to Mombasa after the birth of his first two children, Harshad and Kanak, and started to work as a bookkeeper there.
A part of Nemish’s social work came from his guru, Darshan Soni, who helped him understand religion and the right path towards it. It was a beautiful journey that he started in 2014 and now understands Jainism better and promotes the ideologies of the religion without forcing the religion on anyone. He remembers, “Once I became the president of the Gujarati Samaj, I got a bit disconnected with all that he asked me to do because I had started keeping busy with the Samaj’s activities. But there was some contention that I still was on the right path. I never lost the ideology on the way, though. However, I remember there was a time when I’d argue with him over the validity of religions, salvation, right and wrong. But no more was I the same person now!”
As he set out on a spiritual journey, his career and profession too started falling in place. He had his share of ups and downs – some major upheavals that not everyone is able to successfully bear.
“Studying bored me to no end; I loved playing soccer. I was a rather happy-go-lucky child. The only thing that bothered me was my family’s financial condition,” informs Nemish. So much did it bother him that he did his studies at his own pace and instead started helping Harshadbhai in his business of jukeboxes, “that was my way of helping the family”. For his love of electronics, however, he continued self-teaching at home. And then everything turned upside down!
The Mehtas had moved to Uganda in 1968 and the 1972 exodus of South Asians, especially Indians, from the country brought the family’s business tumbling down and they moved back to India. Before they shifted to Pune, Maharashtra, Harshad had already started a part of his business there. Nemish was just 16; the entire change had shocked him. “I got busy with the business, we had to... it was a question of survival! I eventually lost all interest in studies and could complete my high school in 1973 with only 40% marks.”
In February 1978, he migrated to Canada as a dependent on Harshad who had arranged for his job as a technician at Daniel Amusement in Montreal, where he worked for six months. Soon, his younger brother, Gautam, too joined him. Together, their work was par excellence; their expertise in fixing anything and everything within minutes brought them a lot of attention, wanted and unwanted. Nemish once accepted a job at a company that was owned by a national mafia, a fact that he was unaware of. The local police warned him against working there but leaving the company wasn’t easy. He was threatened several times and it took him time to get his hands off. He shares, “It was a transition period, I didn’t want to work for someone, though machines and video games attracted me a lot. So Harshadbhai, Gautam and I started our full-time business of building machines and eventually did pretty well for ourselves. Our Indian values at work brought us credence.”
Pillar of salt
Nemish is honest to say that it was his wife, Bhavana, who has helped him develop. “Around 1985, my parents decided for me to get married, although I was still not settled to my likeability. Eventually, I met Bhavana, she was working with LIC, Mumbai,” remembers Mehta with a smile. “Then we met in Mumbai and walked hand-in-hand. I lost my heart to her, she too agreed with me! We vowed ourselves to each other on 3 February 1987. And has truly stood by her vows, she has stood by me in the worst of times. In fact, at times, she became extremely rigid about some things which proved to be the right decision later. She is my pillar of salt, undoubtedly.”
Nemish, much attracted to Bollywood, delved deep into producing a movie in the year 1991. He ventured with some of the top directors and actors with no success.
“Before all the Bollywood business, Harshadbhai, Gautam and I had also ventured into real-estate in Hamilton with a partner who started backstabbing us – we incurred further losses. I still wonder if it was a decision made at the wrong time. I was losing my mental and emotional stability, the courage to restart... I wanted to kill myself. Thankfully Bhavana didn’t let me give up. We were in such dumps that we had to sell off our house and take a new one in a dingy neighbourhood. She took charge of it all. Back then, she had suddenly become extremely careful of where the family was spending money and time,” Mehta has a down tone to his voice already, before he adds, “but...
Making 2 + 2 equal to 5!
...but with Bhavana pushing me through it, I gradually started putting things together,” he smiles. He took up a job in computer and software repairing before he started out on his own, again. In 2000, he established VNP Solutions (stands for Viraj, Nemish, Puja) as a dedicated delivery service for local businesses and restaurants; by 2005 it started returning profits. Although, when he started, he didn’t know the basics of this industry, yet he entered the market. It was one of his computer clients who once politely asked him for favour of delivering something. Later the client suggested Nemish start a business in the field. Once he did, there was no looking back. “It never hurts to be reminded that failure and rejection are minor speed bumps to a better future,” he says.
Before VNP, the Mehtas had a son, Viraj (1989), and a daughter, Puja (1991). Gradually, fate was beginning to turn to his side. When it was time for the kids to start studies, they were sent to a good school. A few years later when Mehta’s financial confidence was low, Bhavana plucked them from there and sent the kids to a government school – for the next five years. When things improved, Bhavana, being herself, insisted on the kids being sent to a better school. Nemish agreed. They knew what could build them a better future was better education and started sending them to a private school. Later, Viraj went to McGill University, Montreal, to study computer science and Puja studied commerce from Concordia University. Both of them have evolved into ideal citizens. Viraj is just as entrepreneurial as Nemish. He had started his own small company while he was still in high school. He was so much into it that he had in fact decided to drop out of university and delve into business full-time. Once again, Bhavana pursued him to continue his education, score a job experience and then explore his entrepreneurship. In 2010, the young man started Telico. – Telecom Reinvented, a unified business telecommunication and financial solution provider. Puja, a CPA, now works as a business consultant to Forbes 1000 public companies. Her firm, Rechip, is recognised to provide a unique blend of technical accounting and IT services.
Nemish is a self-confessed technology freak. “I love my phone, I watch movies there and read about the latest technologies. I like to know things in-n-out, and internet availability on a cellphone helps a great deal. My first was an Apple desktop computer in 1983.” Born on 9 January 1956, Nemish was the fifth among the seven siblings in a family that wasn’t too well-off. Yet, he is proud of his lineage and the way his kids are taking forward from the front embarking on their own entrepreneurial journeys.