Queen’s accolade for publisher Giri Gupta
January 17 2013
Giri Gupta, Founder-publisher and Managing Editor of Indian Weekender has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) at the 2013 New Year’s Awards. The accolade is in recognition of his services to business and to the Indian community in New Zealand.
As congratulations poured in from all over the country and from friends and family the world over, Mr Gupta said he was “truly humbled” by the conferment of the award. “It is fulfilling to know that my activities have touched so many people in business and in our vibrant Kiwi Indian communities.” He hastened to add that he viewed the award equally as recognition of the efforts of his many associates who have worked with him over the years.
Mr Gupta is a well-known personality in Kiwi Indian circles thanks to his many business interests, which span from real estate and hospitality investments that include motels and restaurants to travel, publishing, media and events. He has also been a generous donor to social causes and religious activities both in New Zealand and in his home country, India.
Not many, however, know of Mr Gupta’s impressive academic achievements. He is one of the earliest alumni of the prestigious Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences of Pilani in India. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Mr Gupta proceeded to complete two master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Texas in the United States – one in mechanical engineering and the other in electrical engineering. After his academic studies, Mr Gupta worked for seven years in America’s fast growing automobile industry.
Reminiscing those heady days, he says he was privileged to work on early auto air conditioning systems for the Audi 100 while employed with Volkswagen America. Conditions and life in the state of Texas in the 1960s and 1970s were quite different from what they are today and the young Gupta family decided to move back to the gregariousness of extended family life back in India. Anyone who has come in contact with Mr Gupta might have noticed his enthusiasm for a range of activities. He is a diehard optimist and where many others would see a situation as bleak, hopeless and get bogged down by dark clouds, Mr Gupta always seems to find and concentrate on the silver lining. That positive enthusiasm is what has always stood him in good stead, he says.
The Gupta family made its move to New Zealand in the mid 1990s, with Mr Gupta landing here first, determined to start a new life in a new country. His early struggles were typical of migrants coming to this country in those years, which was when there were considerably fewer people of Indian origin. But it was his enthusiasm for trying out new challenges and New Zealand’s business-conducive environment that brought out his real penchant and natural talent for serial entrepreneurship.
Over the past nearly two decades that he has been in this country, he has successfully created, grown, taken over and sold a number of businesses – retail, travel, real estate, restaurants, motels, investment, publishing, events and then some more – while creating employment for dozens of grateful people. The serial entrepreneur that he is, he sees new businesses as phases in life – activities that help both wealth creation and community development by providing employment. “The secret is to be able to enjoy what one is doing,” he says.
Indian Weekender, which indeed is Mr Gupta’s brainchild, is a project dear to him. He sees its role as the voice of the Kiwi Indian community and has left no stone unturned to make it the success that it is today. The staff of Indian Weekender joins the larger Kiwi Indian community in congratulating Mr Gupta.
Dev Nadkarni is the founding editor of Indian Weekender
Giri Gupta, Founder-publisher and Managing Editor of Indian Weekender has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) at the 2013 New Year’s Awards. The accolade is in recognition of his services to business and to the Indian community in New Zealand.
As congratulations poured in...
Giri Gupta, Founder-publisher and Managing Editor of Indian Weekender has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) at the 2013 New Year’s Awards. The accolade is in recognition of his services to business and to the Indian community in New Zealand.
As congratulations poured in from all over the country and from friends and family the world over, Mr Gupta said he was “truly humbled” by the conferment of the award. “It is fulfilling to know that my activities have touched so many people in business and in our vibrant Kiwi Indian communities.” He hastened to add that he viewed the award equally as recognition of the efforts of his many associates who have worked with him over the years.
Mr Gupta is a well-known personality in Kiwi Indian circles thanks to his many business interests, which span from real estate and hospitality investments that include motels and restaurants to travel, publishing, media and events. He has also been a generous donor to social causes and religious activities both in New Zealand and in his home country, India.
Not many, however, know of Mr Gupta’s impressive academic achievements. He is one of the earliest alumni of the prestigious Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences of Pilani in India. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Mr Gupta proceeded to complete two master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Texas in the United States – one in mechanical engineering and the other in electrical engineering. After his academic studies, Mr Gupta worked for seven years in America’s fast growing automobile industry.
Reminiscing those heady days, he says he was privileged to work on early auto air conditioning systems for the Audi 100 while employed with Volkswagen America. Conditions and life in the state of Texas in the 1960s and 1970s were quite different from what they are today and the young Gupta family decided to move back to the gregariousness of extended family life back in India. Anyone who has come in contact with Mr Gupta might have noticed his enthusiasm for a range of activities. He is a diehard optimist and where many others would see a situation as bleak, hopeless and get bogged down by dark clouds, Mr Gupta always seems to find and concentrate on the silver lining. That positive enthusiasm is what has always stood him in good stead, he says.
The Gupta family made its move to New Zealand in the mid 1990s, with Mr Gupta landing here first, determined to start a new life in a new country. His early struggles were typical of migrants coming to this country in those years, which was when there were considerably fewer people of Indian origin. But it was his enthusiasm for trying out new challenges and New Zealand’s business-conducive environment that brought out his real penchant and natural talent for serial entrepreneurship.
Over the past nearly two decades that he has been in this country, he has successfully created, grown, taken over and sold a number of businesses – retail, travel, real estate, restaurants, motels, investment, publishing, events and then some more – while creating employment for dozens of grateful people. The serial entrepreneur that he is, he sees new businesses as phases in life – activities that help both wealth creation and community development by providing employment. “The secret is to be able to enjoy what one is doing,” he says.
Indian Weekender, which indeed is Mr Gupta’s brainchild, is a project dear to him. He sees its role as the voice of the Kiwi Indian community and has left no stone unturned to make it the success that it is today. The staff of Indian Weekender joins the larger Kiwi Indian community in congratulating Mr Gupta.
Dev Nadkarni is the founding editor of Indian Weekender
Leave a Comment