Who is Kanjibhai Kalavadia?

It must have been something in him that prompted a veteran cooperator like Ramnikbhai Dhami to co-opt him into his scheme of things. Kanjibhai Kalavadia may look simple but he is not. Years spent in the global reclaim rubber industry and their ruthless competitions have hardened him as a businessman. But he never lets go of ethics.

Dark and lean Kanjibhai is in his early seventies. He is new to cooperatives but he is catching up fast. He does not miss any chance to be in cooperative conferences in order to imbibe the culture of the cooperative movement. He has, after all, to play a long innings.

He could be seen at Hotel Ashoka participating with gusto in the Regional Assembly of ICA Asia-Pacific. And he lost no time to felicitate Chandra Pal Singh Yadav along with Kamal Dhami when the latter visited Rajkot soon after his victory in the elections to the international body.

“Few know him now but it would not be so”, said Paresh Patel, a member on the Kribhco Board from Gujarat introducing Kanjibhai to this correspondent during the ICA A-P meeting. “He is a man of ideas and an ethical businessman at that. He is ready to change the dynamics of bio-fertilizers in the country”, Patel said in Kanjibhai’s praise.

The leading international publication “Rubber Asia” front paged his story and called him Visionary Founder and resourceful Chairman of Fishfa Group who has successfully combated global competition and gained worldwide recognition as a leader in” the reclaim rubber industry” within a very short span of time.

Gifted with two promising sons and their beautiful wives Kanjibhai has been operating his rubber business from Rajkot in Gujarat. He won the world from here, say his friends indicating the vast empire of the reclaim rubber industry he runs with such modesty.

In the context of NASCO he sees a son in Kamal Dhami whom he trusts for matters related to cooperative. Junior Dhami is the son of his best friend and is a respected cooperator in his own right. Kamal carries the legacy of his late father whom everyone respected. He oversees the operations of Raj Bank- a highly successful urban cooperative bank in Rajkot.

Referring to Kanjibhai as his uncle Kamal Dhami said to Indian Cooperative “He ( Kanjibhai) has no greed for money now as he has achieved quite a lot; but he has the organizational ability and an astute  business sense that must have forced my father to enlist him in this prestigious project. He is a father figure for me”, Dhami added.