Month: January 2019
DeepakDeepak Mahtani had everything he ever dreamed of in life: money, a flourishing company, class, and business degrees from Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, and American College, Switzerland. He followed his family’s tradition of serving the Eastern gods and rested assured that he was living life to the fullest. Born into a Sindhi Indian family, Mahtani grew up learning the Hindu scriptures, attending their services and participating in the rituals that come along with the faith. His father was a businessman from Pakistan who fled to India because of tribal persecution. He settled in Bombay with a few rupees and started a business. Not long afterward, he got on a cargo ship and relocated 6,000 miles to Indonesia.
He gave birth to his son Deepak and two other siblings in Hong Kong, and four years later, relocated to Japan. They still practiced their Hindu religion and his father always drilled into the heads of his children that -money and success is all that you need to be happy in life.-
He had no idea that hell was around the corner until an unexpected tragedy struck and changed his life for good. His sister came to visit him in Geneva for two weeks. She had an automobile accident and died instantly. It was a very traumatic experience that left him in severe depression for six months. He lost interest in his business, started smoking, was drinking excessively and suicidal until he met a fellow Sindhi Indian in Geneva who was a Christian. This new friend tried to introduce him to his Christian God but Mathani was adamant. His friend encouraged him not to reject the Christian God, but to focus on the man Jesus and His word. Bathani got a Bible and began reading the words of Jesus in red and gradually started believing in the God of the Bible.
At the age of 12, Mahtani lost his mother to kidney disease. Even though he was the baby of the family, he was determined to succeed at all costs. Upon graduation from school, he started an electronics distribution company that he took from zero to $4 million in four years. His wealth came with a luxurious lifestyle: first-class travel, five-star hotels, nice clothes and money to do whatever he wanted. He was fluent in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and two Indian languages. His busy schedule did not accommodate anything to do with God; he was brutally aggressive about getting what he wanted to the point of pushing people out of the way without blinking an eye. For Mahtani back then, what could be sweeter than the -heaven- he was experiencing on earth?
He had no idea that hell was around the corner until an unexpected tragedy struck and changed his life for good. His sister came to visit him in Geneva for two weeks-then got in a car accident and died instantly. The trauma of her death left him in severe depression for six months. He lost interest in his business, started smoking, was drinking excessively and suicidal until he met a fellow Sindhi Indian in Geneva who was a Christian. This new friend tried to introduce him to his Christian God, but Mahtani was adamant. His friend encouraged him not to reject the Christian God but to focus on the man Jesus and His Word. Mahtani got a Bible and began reading the words of Jesus in red and gradually started believing in the God of the Bible.
After praying without success to other gods for one good night’s sleep, his request was granted by the God of the Bible. That was how he gave his life to Christ. Today, he shares the Gospel all over the world, especially with Hindus and Sikhs and business people. He is actively involved in leadership in his local church and is married to Celia. They have two grown boys–Arun and Sanjay.
When he first converted to Christianity, his family members were unhappy and extremely skeptical. Over time they saw the positive impact of his new-found faith. His act of loving and accepting his family despite their differences in belief caused his older sister and niece to turn to Christianity.
Today, Mahtani is a management training consultant specializing in understanding culture and working with different cultures, especially those of India, Japan, and China. He has coached and trained hundreds of senior managers who are involved in outsourcing to Indian companies and in remote team management around the globe. Most of his clients are FTSE100 and Fortune 500 companies, and he sits on a number of boards.
Apart from his business interests, he is actively involved in a number of charities both in the UK and South Asia that raise funds for health, development, and education in developing countries. He was included in the International Who’s Who of Professionals (2001). He recently participated in writing a book called Sindhi Journeys of Faith–20 stories of Sindhis around the world who have come to know Christ. All 2,000 copies of the book have been distributed, and another reprint is being planned.
-After 20 years of being a follower of Jesus Christ, He has answered my prayers,- Mahtani says, summing up his Christian experience. -Today, I am even more successful than I ever was, not because of money but because of the people I met through my faith as I traveled round the world.-
His message for the world is, -God is a God of love, and Jesus is his means of demonstrating that for each one of his children. He so wants a relationship with each one of us. Don’t think of it as a religion but rather as a love story. Also don’t believe and live the lies that have been spoken over you by the evil one and people who he uses to discourage us.-
Let us lift up Deepak Mahtani in prayer–that the Lord will continue to empower him to reach others with the Good News, in the name of Jesus. Pray that his efforts will not be in vain and unlimited favor will be his portion at all times, in Jesus’ name.
By May Olusola www.mannaexpressonline.com
FDI is investment which occurs directly across national boundaries. It means when firm of one country buys a controlling investment in firm of another country or where a firm sets up its branch in another country. A firm that engages itself in FDI becomes a multinational enterprise (MNE).
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is important because it gives facility to make investments in long-term profits which are in long-term projects working in other countries. The investment is done directly by foreign investors which can be any company or a group of persons who are looking for power in excess of the foreign ventures. It is also a major source of finance where the country can obtain finance from other countries to develop itself. f.
Recently, the government announces that the retail sector is partially opened for FDI. It means the foreign investors who are interested in Indian markets can invest up to 51% in multi brand retail and 74% FDI in single-brand retail. The government decision divided experts on the problem and on its prospects. Some says the decision will decrease opportunities, and will result in wipe out of local stores. The optimists, on the other hand, have seen decision as a large range of opportunities for farm products and more opportunities for the unemployed.
FDI provide benefits to small farmers by working together to form producer companies which will directly work with corporations to get higher revenues, or small farmers must willingly move into the new jobs directly or indirectly created by FDI in sectors such as retail, food processing and supporting industries.
The FDI offers a foreign capital and funds. It also extends an economy of a particular country where the investment is being made. It permits the move of highly developed technologies from developed countries to developing countries which helps in creating fresh jobs in a particular country and in turn the salary of the employee increases. The country where investment is done increases its human capital resource. It also brings new skills in a country & possibility of innovative research increases which helps in the growth of the country.
Now, global retailers are willing to sell their products by setting their own branch or franchises in another country which will again attract foreign capital along with better quality products in a large variety and advance services for the consumers and even consumers will get access of some global brands. This will in turn increase competition in the country and expands manufacturing units. To stand in a market, these global retailers have to lower their prices of foreign goods which need them to set up their manufacturing units locally or to handover the production assignments to domestic manufacturers on their specifications which brings a large number of employments in the country.
All this opportunities make, the Indian retail market a real happening place in the days ahead while at the same time it will be offering immense business opportunities and growth to the domestic entrepreneurs. In result, the Indian market will become the part of the global market.