Mr. Ajit Shah
Director and CEO,
Lotus Holdings ;
Nepal
Mr. Shah is an entrepreneur with knowledge and 20+ years of experience in diverse business sectors. He is the Director and CEO of Lotus Holdings – a family business that is active in real estate, handmade rugs, healthcare, and information technology employing over a thousand people. He has taken his company to the next level, focusing the investments and services on IT and outsourcing. His companies currently outsource across small to multi-billion dollar Fortune 50 companies around the world and are also involved in various technology projects with the Government of Nepal – a particular example is successfully helping the government collect over USD 170 million revenue annually, a 20 fold increase since pre-digitization. Mr. Shah was also the pioneer in the digitization of Immigration and Border Control at the Ministry of Home in Nepal.
In his latest venture, he has established an IT platform where he plans to scale Nepal up to become the back office of the world. He envisions that by 2030 Nepal will have an alternative source of foreign currency earnings at par to the current inflow of remittances while creating 1.5 million jobs.
Mr. Shah sits on various national, bilateral business and social boards and committees to provide guidance and insight. He supports these institutions achieve more of what it is doing by leveraging his local and global reach to amplify and synergize objectives by replication, partnership and expansion Among the Nepalese community he has become known for his entrepreneurial success, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, philanthropy and global outreach. He has addressed numerous national and international conferences and workshops to showcase and share his passion for making the world a better place.
Despite his financial prowess, he is a devoted philanthropist and helps with the family foundation Hoste Hainse (www.hostehainse.org) – that provides free education opportunities to the underprivileged children of Nepal. Hoste Hainse through 5 different schools in Western, Central and Eastern Nepal has educated over 20,000 children since operation.
Mr. Shah has a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, Mathematics & Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, USA, and is currently undergoing Executive Education at the Harvard Business School. Among others, he is a member in the Board of Trade at the Ministry of Commerce in Nepal, which has the task of prioritizing sectors for economic development, and mitigating the trade deficit the country currently faces. He is also the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Nepal. He sits on high-level committees of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) where he is a member responsible for IT regulatory reforms. Mr. Shah is a member of the CEO Forum at the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI). Having been raised in a Hindu and Buddhist culture, he values integrity, compassion and embraces a people first attitude in his business and philanthropic endeavors.