In their Father's Shoes

Navin Shah was the only graduate in a long line of family that was into business. Hailing from the Kutch region of Gujarat in India, trade was in the family’s
blood. But Navin did not want to step into the shoes of his father, a wealthy businessman. It would be a decision that would change the course of his life and
that of his daughters. For better. After a commerce degree, Navin’s dreams of studying abroad were shattered under the same protective dominion of a family who did not want their only son to set off overseas. It was the late 1960s and the trend of the wealthy and upper middle class families to send their children abroad to study. The US was a dream destination. But even though he could not go, Navin found himself helping his friends complete the paperwork and the complex admission and visa process for studying in the US. A er a few successful applications of admission to US universities, Navin found his calling. In 1971, from a tiny offi ce in Mumbai, Navin started assisting friends and other acquaintances and gradually others who anted to study in the US, some in the UK and Canada. Australia as a destination for study was unheard of (more on that later). His three young daughters would hang around the offi ce helping him type le ers and forms, going to the post office, booking trunk calls or pu ng stamps on application forms - whenever they found time in between their studies. By the time Bina Shah, the eldest of the three, completed her Bachelors of Commerce degree and Masters
of Commerce degree from Mumbai University, she joined her father full time as the business grew. “Those days everything was done by post. In fact
we had to write a le er and send it to the university asking for prospectus their courses. It used to be a long process. A er ge ng the prospectus,
we would apply to the university for the next fall or spring session and prepare the documents for visa, line up at the embassy and my dad would prepare the clients for the interview,” she reminisces. Soon the business grew by leaps and bounds. Bina recalls how their first floor office in Mumbai had queues that stretched to the ground floor through the stairs. “People were there just to get information. We were doing very well. People knew us by word of mouth. And in India the general trend is when one member from the family leaves, the relatives also follow suit.” Navin Shah’s style of business was distinct, one that made the investment necessarily worthwhile for his clients or students. It was his love for education translated into the lives of others.