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Anil Shah’s Realisation
Ask a professional or entrepreneur why he/she is working so hard. Normally the reply is either ‘It is all for my family’ or ‘It is all for my organisation.’ But Anil Shah (39), General Manager of Nabil Bank Ltd., says ‘It is all for myself.’
Until a few years ago, Shah too used to tell his wife and daughter that he was working hard so that he could provide a better life for them. ‘But I suddenly realised that I was in fact working for my personal satisfaction, for my need for fame and power, though my family members were incidental beneficiaries. That was a revelation in my life and now I realise the sacrifice that my wife and my daughter have made for me. So I think I have to do more for them.’
For a professional who spends most of the time at work (he is at work even after the normal office hours as he has to attend business parties in the evenings), the work becomes a passion. When some friends remind Shah to be detached from his professional life, it is difficult for him. ‘That is in fact my USP, my strength. How can I live without my USP?’ he asks.
For Shah, life is like climbing a mountain. ‘Every step upward means success. The pleasure of stepping towards the next stage drives me on. The feeling that success is just around corner keeps me moving on.’
Shah may be found roaming around Pashupatinath during Shivaratri and Boudhanath during Lhoshar. People wonder about what this senior banker is doing. He says he has two reasons for this. Firstly, he is religious minded. ‘I took it up from my grandmother. For me God is like a confidante. I turn to Him every time I’m happy or sad.’
The second reason is his hobby in photography. ‘Though I do not get enough time now to practice photography, my dream is to bring out a book with photos by me about something that is related with Nepal.’ Being more specific about it, he says that he intends to bring out a collection of photos about the festivals of Nepal.
Holder of an MBA degree from Delhi University with specialisation in marketing, Shah likes to identify himself as a marketer. That is reflected in the sudden spurt in the marketing activity in Nabil Bank where he joined last year as the General Manager. ‘Our effort during the year was to make Nabil a strong brand and we were successful in doing so by changing its logo, organising a number of events, running a co-ordinated communication campaign and launching new products,’ he points out. ‘We want to be “the bank of first choice” for all the stakeholders—the depositors, the borrowers, the shareholders and the regulators,’ he says explaining the bank’s vision. Shah was lucky in that the “Bank of the Year” recognition which Nabil won helped in his marketing campaign.
He regards himself fortunate also in that, as an executive in the Nepal Grindlays Bank (now Standard Chartered Bank Nepal), he was part of the team that introduced the credit card business in Nepal. Similarly, he was also in the team that introduced consumer lending, again for the first time in Nepal. That experience was very helpful for him in Nabil as well to expand the card business and market it.
Change management is a dreadful issue for many managers. But for Shah, it is as simple as reflex action. This trait is rooted in his childhood and developed over the years. With the change in the posting of his parents, he had to change school and the city of residence. ‘I had to change my school nine times,’ he recalls. ‘As a result, I take change as normal and when other people may be puzzled by the change, I’ll already be thinking about the opportunities available because of the change and taking steps to take benefit from it.’
Despite being a scion of an aristocratic family who generally opt for civil or diplomatic service and his mother being one of the successful career woman in diplomacy, why did Anil Shah chose banking as a career?
‘To be myself, rather than Mr. or Mrs. Shah’s son,’ is his reply. About this he recalls an event organised by the Standard Chartered Bank in which someone was introducing his parents as “Anil Shah’s parents.” ‘However, it is not being an egoist. I’m very proud of my parents,’ he hastens to add.
How he rates his success?
‘I may be among the top 100,000 out of the 23 million Nepalis today. So I should regard myself successful. But in fact I was successful even when I was born because of the privileges I could enjoy. But I take my hats off to the lady who has come from Pyuthan and is doing her MBA right now. She is more successful than me. The only thing I have done is that I did not mess up the opportunity that was available.’
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