Childhood influence that help in personality confluence
Nitin Nathwani was born in Rajkot, Gujarat. He was educated in Guajarati Medium till class 12 at the Virani High School Rajkot. Though English was not a subject he was comfortable in, he enrolled into this medium after class 12. This in a way was his inner grit to do what he wants, however tough it may seem.
Nitin’s grandfather was a freedom fighter and was with “Jan Sangh” at Rajkot since founder of the party. He started the party in his house and used his premises as an office for the party. He even has a chowk in Rajkot named after him – Velji Nathwani Chowk. Nitin’s father was into business of perfumes, hair oils and fragrances, besides other related businesses.
Career paths, beginning of a journey
In the year 1981-82, Nitin’s journey with social work begun. He founded the “Leo club midtown, Rajkot” and was the charter president for two years. He was involved in dance programs /competitions, beauty pageants for many years (1982-85), when this concept was not an easy format to accept in Rajkot that was conservative then. In the year 1985 he started the “Arvachin Dandiya-Rass” in Rajkot and is considered the pioneer in DandiyaRass in this city.
As they say, life leads you on a path and following your passions and intuitions makes you successful, besides giving you satisfaction of doing what keeps you happy. Nitin contested the corporation election from the “Hindu Morcha” party. He was involved in road widening, pamphlet distribution and many campaign related activities. Nothing was considered a small job; every job has it place and has to be done well. Also as a legacy he was inclined towards business as well as social work – thanks to his father and grandfather’s interests on those lines. Nitin Nathwani gave his business time in the day till 7pm; thereafter the time was dedicated towards cultural programme organisation, social work and political related activities. Nitin tried to balance his day most efficiently.
Time comes when things look up, Grab the opportunity and life will gallop!
He had the fortune of meeting Mr.Bhupat Talatiya. Mr. Talatiya was involved with cricket and he would take teams to London. However, he had some slots for non-players to accompany the entourage. Those who managed to collect funds from advertisers and achieved the target (15k during that time) were allowed to travel to England. Nitin collected 21K and got the chance to travel to London. He makes contacts in London and on his return he picked a VCR on route (Dubai) with plans to incorporate a new leaf into his business. After all he had business running through his veins!
Since VCRs was relatively new, many movies were being shown through the VCR. Nitin Nathwani started this in partnership and managed to procure 50 customers. Besides movies, the Iran –Iraq was was being telecast on CNN and he managed to tape it and show the war coverage . A new addition and for those interested, it came as a wonderful concept.
Make a change, adapt soon! Use your skills …..It’s a boon!!
It was imperative for Nitin to move to another level. He decided to buy a dish connection on loan. With a bit of hiccup he managed the loan from bank and from his and his business partner’s savings he managed the dish. Business picked up and he managed to pay the loan in 8-9 months as against 3 years. He subsequently started the cable network business with 2 TV channels and the added more channels as per the demand, eventually reaching to a number of over 15 channels. With an initial investment of 70K he begun the first dish channel business in Saurashtra region called – NB VishwaDarshan and expanded it far and wide, renamed it City Channel. In 2002, he brought a new connection of another channel and Nitin Nathwani started his personal news channel “City News”. His channel got good a bounce from “GodharaKand” news coverage. Since the last many years his channel has been covering important news and has been appreciated with good views and response from customers.
He was a known name in Rajkot and in 2000 he contested for corporation elections with a Congress ticket and won with a highest margin. His USP is though he is associated with particular political party, he never covered news with partiality. . He always covered news neutrally and with the confidence in himself and work his venture spoke for himself and his integrity.
Politics is like a trampoline. Sometimes it gets you votes but at times it doesn’t. In 2010 and 2015 he contested but was unable to win the elections. His contacts and those of his father and grandfather was a boon and he bad good relations with Bollywood, sports and political persons. Some of them who graced his studio are Amitabh Bachchan, our now PM Mr.Narendra Modi , Atal Bihari Vajpaee and many more. Today also he is contributing his bit in the community and society, besides also being involved with “JCI”.
Education is a tool, knowledge is a gift, Challenges in life is what helps you lift, Strong minds with, will power in plenty, Hard-work never goes waste – not just theory!
He believes that struggles and challenges teach us much more than degrees and books. He never had a smooth ride, and at many points he faced issues from industry and competitors. This is one area in business that is to be dealt with on a daily basis, and it’s also a great teacher. As of now he is the Managing director for RCC – DEN, a collaborative venture.
Luck and hard-work is two parameters that have to be present to be successful. Luck is destiny but hard work is in our hands. Generations of today have a lot more focus and education helps them in any career they choose. There are so many opportunities they can pursue and the opportunities are limitless.
Nitin Nathwani is straightforward but a very good human at heart. Nitin is humble and has no issues apologising, if he is in the wrong.
Travelling is his hobby and he travelled almost 20-25 countries with a jumbo passport that needs renewal more often than usual!Another great teacher is travel.
Influence of his grandfather and father has moulded him today. He is close to them and has had their support always. Though he lost his father, he ensures business and his social and political activities do not suffer. After all work is worship and this worship Nitin holds in high priority in his life.
