User:Zaheedk/Zaheed Kanthawala

Zaheed Abdullah Kanthawala (Born in 1978 Mumbai) is a Indian Entepruener and Consultant and is currently working with KPMG New Zealand as a Senior Advisor (IT Advisory). Prior to his assignment with KPMG, Zaheed has worked with BDO New Zealand as Senior Developer/Consultant and ABTRAC New Zealand as Project Manager/Web Developer. With more than 7 years of experience in IT and Qualifications in Business Zaheed is a Techno-Commercial marketable commodity. Zaheed aspires to develop and run a successful online presence around the idea of social networking.

Early Years
Born in Mumbai on 17th February 1978, zaheed is the second child to his parents Abdullah Ismail Kanthawala and Tabinda Abudllah Kanthawala. Zaheed spent his younger years at his parental home in Argipada. He did not get the same kind of education or love as his elder brother. Mostly left ignored and less cared for Zaheed developed an early skill for self independence. With no formal play school education, zaheed was admitted to Sir Cawasji Jehangir High School Nursery. Young for his class by age and lack of formal training, Zaheed found catching up with his peers in class too difficult. On completing his first year at school, Miss Pastakia Zaheed's class demanded that he repeated his class to be among students of his age. Abdullah did not see any reason in following this recommendations as Zaheed was doing reasonably well and had passed all his examindations. Zaheed moved ahead on a slow space each year to catch with students atleast 1 year older than him. Each year was a passing hell for him not only academically but also at a emotional level. His brother (Yusuf Kanthawala) the gem of the house hold was showered with love like a prince. It was the year of 1984 when his brother was awarded a nice HMT watch by his grandmother for excellence in Study and Zaheed looked on as poor dejected soul. On one Yusuf’s birthday there was a grand party to celebrate this occasion. Many guests were invited and some very good food was available for people to eat. Yusuf was the star of the day. Zaheed sat ignored in one corner of the room and looked on at all the joys of his brother. Made to sit with the servant of the house while the whole family enjoyed with the invited guests. Taking things in his stride Zaheed learnt the hard way to make things work for himself. Unfortunately at the age of 9 Zaheed suffered from a stroke of Typhoid, which made him bed ridden for a period of 3 months. One specific incident still remains strong in his mind. A day during this period when Zaheed was running high fever, there were certain guests who came home to meet his parents. Seeking privacy they asked Zaheed to leave the room and wait in the living room till they chatted with the Guests. Sitting on cold bare floor with high fever was a gruesome experience which still sends shiver down his spine. The year 1987 was a good beginning for Zaheed’s family. His father who was an employee of T.I.F.R was allotted a official flat for residency in one of the most posh and secure areas of Mumbai. This was also a new beginning for Zaheed. Going from a society where many were of lower intelligence, he was now among boys whose parents came from educated back grounds and were either teachers or scientist by profession. Zaheed had to quickly adapt to this new environment. Most of his English skills were picked in this new environment. He also groomed himself to quickly pick up information from the new surroundings. To keep up with the pace of his new found friends, Zaheed tried to put in more efforts at studies, but he did not do well. Shift of residence also meant a change in school. After failing a admission test to St. Joseph’s School (R.C. Church), Abdullah had to beg and plead in front of the principal to admit him as his elder brother had already got admission to that school. His first year in the new school was very difficult. New environment and new friends affected further more zaheed’s performance and he failed in almost all the subjects in the first term exams. With the prospect of failing the year looming large over his head, Zaheed’s father enrolled him for private tuition. With a dedicated and streamlined effort Zaheed soon started improving grades and was ranked among the top 10 in class. Having cleared the year successfully Zaheed was on a new high, but then came in the bad news of his tuition teacher leaving town. With her departure Zaheed’s grade again started falling but not as bad. He studied under other tuition teachers but not as effective. Zaheed cleared his 10th grade with a first class. Zaheed also suffered from early teen blues. Always worried about his appearance and not having favour from girls, Zaheed suffered from a huge low confidence and inferiority complex. A farewell gift from the principal on “How to grow up as Teen” left a huge impact on his mind. He learnt to accept himself the way he was and stop crying over why god had been so impartial to him. This was the last time when Zaheed must have cried on himself.

Teen and College Years
With the end Secondary schooling Zaheed now faced the very important question of his life, Which stream of education to opt? His fear of chemistry closed doors on Science and with Arts not looking so attractive (Language is a big problem), Commerce was the only Choice. Not having good grades Zaheed had to settle for Second Grade College Elphinstone. High Schooling was fun and Zaheed quickly made new friends. It was during his first year in High school that he met his best friend Zaheer. A casual meeting in class ended up in friendship that would last for many years and still going strong. Zaheed not among the most handsome always suffered from inferiority complex and was always very shy to approach girls. He had a few crushes but never mustered guts to propose any girl. His college life was fewer incidentals and passed very smoothly, expect one incident that thought him to mind his own business. It was during his second year of graduation, Zaheed was slapped straight on face because he interfered into someone else’s problem. Having passed high school with first class and Graduation with Second Class, Zaheed was all set to take on the corporate world.

Causal jobs
Having just passed secondary school, Zaheed was looking for a summer job. His uncles paint factory would be an ideal choice to start off. Manual labour of carrying 20 kilos on each shoulder and walking factory to factory for recovering payments, gave Zaheed his early skills of business. With other summer jobs like Electrolux salesperson introduced Zaheed to early corporate culture. But his stint at SONI tools is where he learnt most of his business skills. Having spent nearly a year on part time along with studies Zaheed worked at SONI tools a jewellery tools retail store, handling the counter and all other daily business activities. He quickly learned important business traits like negotiation, bargaining, up selling etc. Later to use it to his advantage. He also dealt with importers from Arab selling cheap products at thrice the premium. He learned to handle large sum of monies and was eventually offered partnership in business at a tender age of 18. Not the one to work in retail business, Zaheed had bigger dreams of making it big at corporate level, he left this offer to get involved in his area of interest “COMPUTERS”. Technology had always fascinated Zaheed and if given an opportunity Zaheed would love to try his hands at computer.

Introduction to Computers
Coming from a generation when computers was a premium Zaheed had to beg and request for opportunities to try his hands on computers. His first introduction to computer was at the age of 13 at school when Apple tried to introduced computers in India. Working on Green Screens Zaheed felt that he was a NASA scientist working on some mission critical projects, least realising that he was only typing silly commands in basic. From their grew his passion for computers. But not having resources at hand Zaheed was away from computing for about 5 years until when his friend (Moiz Patel) installed a computer at his home. This started a trend for Zaheed to visit his home frequently to try out his hands at computing. Starting with games Zaheed experimented with Windows 3.1 and MS Office 5. He copied a few games on disk so that he could play those games on a common computer in his Dad’s office. Then came the access to most sacred internet which was a unknown commodity in those years of 1994-1997. He started telneting with other university students around the globe and soon made a plethora of friends. A small online sex story made Zaheed a super hit among a young and ever growing community of telnet users. With no help from friends on how to assemble a computer, Zaheed purchased a book from a roadside stall on how to assemble your computer. With a simple and easy narrative steps Zaheed quickly assembled his first computer using second hand parts bought from friends. A small misunderstanding on payments with Moiz led to a break in their friendship for about 6 years. Zaheed quickly learned DOS, Word Star and LOTUS 123 from pirated software that he installed from his friends. He also learned a few tips on operating systems, installed Windows 3.1 and 95 and quickly upgraded his skills on MS office 95/972000.

Programming and Higher Skills
With ever increasing interest in Computer, Zaheed wanted a formal education to channelize his energies and give direction to his thought process. The only 2 well known institutes in India to offer Computer education those days were NIIT and Aptech. Weighing the PRO’s and CON’s Zaheed decided on joining NIIT. Having failed the aptitude test miserably Zaheed was still given a seat because it is after all a money making business. With an a course fee of Rs.60000.00 it was a difficult task convincing his dad to enrol him. With a instalment facility of 2500 per month his father somehow agreed. Just on joining NIIT announced a scholarship scheme, after sitting for the test and passing the interview Zaheed got a 50% discount on his total course fee. This itself was a very delightful moment for the whole family and Zaheed working part time managed to pay off the fees on his own. Among the toppers in his class Zaheed quickly understood the working of computers, the relationship between hardware and computers. With formal training on Microsoft platform Zaheed was ready to write his first application. He wrote first program for his dad and rent collecting software. A very small software to just maintain tenant records and print monthly bills. Earning a sum of 2000 was a good start. His interest hardware was for all to see and he intelligently started selling his skills among friends.

First Job
Zaheed picked up his first formal job as a trainer in BITS. With no teaching experience Zaheed was handed the job of training top management from TATA motors. A 2 week course on computer basics thought Zaheed the art of presentation and communication skills. He quickly jelled into the job and was a favourite among his students. Having successfully worked at BITS Zaheed through a friend picked up a similar job at DATAPRO because he was leaving. It was at DATAPRO that Zaheed built up his network of friends and well wishers from Defence. He trained officers and sailors and was popular among them. His decision to leave DATAPRO left many broken hearts including his love and wife (FATEMA). Being from the same school and college but never having met Zaheed and Fatema did not strike well at first. After nearly 6 months of friendship Zaheed proposed to Fatema on 6th December 1998. Initial denial and persuasion from Zaheed led to birth of this beautiful relationship. Zaheed left DATAPRO in April 1999 to start Orbit Sapphire.

Orbit Sapphire Computers
Zaheed along with Zaheer sold his first computer in the summer of 1999 to a common friend (Datsun). With a hefty sum of profit Zaheed knew he could do a business out of this. He quickly left his job and thought of starting business along with Zaheer. A brain storming session on name brought Orbit (Zaheed) Sapphire (Zaheer) together. Zaheed was supposed to handle technical and Zaheer was to be responsible for marketing. With a initial few lacklustre days Zaheer lost confidence and opted out of Business. Zaheed a one not to give up continued and orders started pouring in slowly. During the lack period of initial days Zaheed was presented with an opportunity of training banking staff of Allahbad bank. Not having much work and money on hand Zaheed took up this opportunity. It is at this stint that he met Mr.Bhargava and manager with responsibility of managing banking systems. He got Zaheed involved with work at Allahbad bank which started a slew of orders. Also his past friendship with Cdr. Murthy ensured that we got order from officers of Indian Navy and other Indian Navy ships. Soon the sun started shining over his head and work was flowing in thick and fast. Zaheed quickly collected a lot of money and soon bought his first car a second hand Maruti 800. He also invested heavily in buying a good computer and moving into a office. He soon got Fatema to join him and business was looking good. First 2 years were rocking and orders just kept coming in. With a sudden slack in business and shift of location demoralised Zaheed and he lost interest in business. Work suffered and business did not look that promising now.

Kristech
With a dark future looming in front of him Zaheed quickly decided to look for a job. With initial interview failures, Zaheed felt he was no good and was demoralised. Then came a opportunity from Kristech which changed the complete direction of his life. Employed as a junior programmer Zaheed quickly worked his way up and within 6 month was at the helm of affairs at Kristech. He became business development manager and was sharing the cabin along with his boss. He had worked the hard way up and instrumental for Kristech’s business. Zaheed lost interest in working for someone else and wanted a larger pie of the share. He along with his colleague Kashyap decided to quit and start on own. Having worked for major clients like BPL, Kankei etc. Zaheed had easy access to a client base from which Orbit Sapphire could quickly grow to become a successful software solutions provider. Shrinivas owner of Kristech indicating that he wanted to close down was a good opportunity that Zaheed wanted to start his own. Taking Kristech’s existing client base with him Zaheed built on this network and grew the business to from 0.4 million to 8 million rupees in 4 years.

Craft Solutions
With good selling skills Zaheed was a gem at convincing clients to go with him for their software needs. Zaheed and Kashyap started Craft Solutions in Feb of 2003. Zaheed assumed the role of senior developer and business development manager. He quickly got into act and got major contracts from local clients like BPL, Kankei, ESAYA to name a few. Came along Prof. Susungi, a man with big ideas but zero plans on execution. He was sitting on a cash mine that Zaheed was looking for. With work coming in from GEMSTRA World Wide a Prof. Susunig funded company, Craft Solutions grew from leaps to bounds. Suddenly all seemed right for Zaheed. He was moving around the corporate top honchos and was eating lunches with a few elite classes in 5 stars. He teamed up with Moiz to grow the hardware business under Orbit Sapphire and with Kashyap to grow software under Craft Solutions. Moiz was not happy with this arrangement and told Zaheed that he cannot eat from 2 pies. Agreeing to this arrangement Zaheed opted to give Moiz a share in software if he allowed us to use his uncle’s office premises in prime Mumbai location.

Break of Trust
Zaheed was still working with Kristech when new hardware opportunities presented itself. A old associate from Navy who had recently moved to NCC got in touch with Zaheed to provide hardware services. Zaheed took this opportunity to revive his business. With business growing with NCC Zaheed needed a helping hand that could manage work, while he still continued work at Kristech. Came along Moiz, just back from Oman and no work on hand. Zaheed offered him partnership and Moiz readily agreed to it. With full faith Moiz Zaheed would get in orders and Moiz would execute it. Least realising that Moiz was doing work in private Zaheed shared all his profits with Moiz. Moiz also did many private deals with Zaheed’s client that eventually came to light. Zaheed bought Moiz’s story of forgetfulness and continued work with Moiz based on trust. Zaheed never understood Moiz’s contention of dealing with supplier where in Zaheed was asked to go around looking for orders. This arrangement with supplier ensured that Moiz made a cut on each order that he processed. Zaheed under the impression that this arrangement works best for the company never realise that Moiz was making money from under cutting. Also he ran his private business on side that Zaheed only became aware with time but all questions were ignored and replied with that you don’t trust me. Then came a project on writing project proposal for Shipping Giant in London through a known chartered accountant. Moiz wanting to project his superiority asked Zaheed to act as a shadow partner and he would claim credit for Zaheed work. This not going down well with Zaheed, Zaheed put down his foot and did not agree on this arrangement. He proved that the client was not averse of working with him but it was only a story cooked up by Moiz to keep him away from this client. Zaheed quickly won hearts of all those clients whom Moiz claimed were not happy working with Zaheed. Zaheed also made huge inroads in management skills and made presentations to corporate ranging from areas of technology and CRM. Bitten with past experiences Zaheed wanted to develop a solid and strong future for himself. He got in talking terms with one of a 3rd party Client to develop a portal which would have changed his career graph. But out of jealousy Moiz spread rumours and made it difficult for them to continue in partnership. Taking the first opportunity Moiz, broke partnership and asked Zaheed to move out within 15 days from his Uncle’s office. Zaheed took this also in his stride and relocated to a new office. After having suffered such a huge loss of trust and not much to look forward to in India, Zaheed thought of immigrating to New Zealand, his first preferred choice of relocation.

New Zealand a new journey
Arrival to New Zealand has started a new chapter in Zaheed’s life. Within last 16 months Zaheed has worked for 4 different companies ranging from a software developer to Senior Advisor. He has found hope in friends (Ratish/Patel/Vicky) after having lost complete trust on friendship. He is trying to build life around trust all over again. His past experiences have made him wiser and stronger, but there is little a corner in his heart which still yearns for friends that he can trust and rely on.