Page 28 - Arabian Business

INDIAN ACES POWERED BY:

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Neelesh
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C
Bhatnagar
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Owner and CEO
NB VENTURES
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Venture capital
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H
I
J
SUCCESS SEEMS TO BE A HABIT
for Neelesh Bhatnagar. He arrived in
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Dubai from New Delhi in 1986 to work
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with Xerox, and also had stints with
Inchcape Shipping Services, MMI and
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TNT, but it wasn’t until he took up a role
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with retail giants Landmark Group – and
O in particular their nascent operation
in Saudi Arabia – that his business
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drive and ambition finally found an
accommodating home. An assignment
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that began in 1997 was so successful that
it remains one of the largest retail groups
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in the kingdom 20 years later.
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In 2005, he moved to Dubai to help the
Landmark Group launch its consumer
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electronics retail brand Emax – a
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challenging and competitive field in
which Landmark had no exposure but
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one that personally interested Neelesh.
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It was a move that, he says, he attributes
to the vision of his boss, Micky Jagtiani,
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whose flexibility and openness to new
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ideas is something he has always tried
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After 19 years with Landmark, he
then decided to forge his own path and
launch NB Ventures, a venture capital
fund to invest in Indian and Middle
Eastern start-ups. The vision, he says, is
to invest in Indian companies which can
then be brought to Dubai and the wider
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
region. The objective is to be an active
investor and use Neelesh’s 30 years of q YOU SHOULD HAVE A
management and leadership experience
to mentor young entrepreneurs in India. PASSION FOR WHAT YOU DO.
In 2016, for instance, he invested $1m in THERE’S NO POINT BUYING OR
tech company HealthifyMe. MANUFACTURING SOMETHING
Neelesh is also director of Foundation UNLESS YOU FEEL IT WILL
Holdings, an investment company
focusing on healthcare, education MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE
and consumer products. IN YOUR CUSTOMERS’ LIFE”
28 Vol. 19/04, January - February 2018