"The award came as quite a surprise... Being born into a business family, I guess entrepreneurship comes quite naturally to me. So whilst I put this down to good fortune, I am also aware that nothing can be achieved without hard work.” So wrote Calcutta resident Jahan Mehta who received the Times Man of the Year Award for Young Entrepreneur 2019, Calcutta on July 25 at the ITC Royal Bengal Hotel. As director of Selvel One Group, Mehta’s curriculum vitae states that he played a key role in diversifying the Group’s portfolio into media buying, sports management, creative, digital and real estate. At Selvel Advertising, a Group company, he led the company into the world of digital and innovative media, "with as much as 40% of the revenue coming from non-traditional media.”
From l: Gulnar, Jahan and Prochy Mehta
"It’s nice to be recognized for some of the work that I have done. However, since I am aware of the achievements of my grandfather (Rusi Gimi who founded the Group) and father (Numazar, who, besides being chairman of the Selvel One Group, leads the board of trustees of Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Fund), I can safely say that I have miles to go before I can proudly claim to have done something befitting the opportunity that they have created for me,” he stated.
A commerce graduate of the Bhowanipore Gujarati Education Society College, Mehta is a committee member of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and former president of the Calcutta Management Association. A former vice president of the Calcutta Parsee Club, the sportsman has played super division football, first division hockey and second division cricket.