Tushar Kapadia believes that one?s leadership style is a function of not only one?s personality but also of situational requirements. Typically, he adopts a persuasive management style and enjoys mentoring young talent.
As vice-president, strategic initiatives, GTL Infrastructure Limited, Kapadia?s work profile includes providing strategic support to ensure that the key challenges before the company, such as those pertaining to service level agreement compliance and contract management, are met. That apart, he serves as an interface between the company and the industry on issues related to policy. ?Managing the focus between urgent and important issues is the name of the game,? he says.
Kapadia started his career in 1987 with Gujarat Communications and Electronics, which manufactures microwave radios, switching equipment and broadcast transmitters. He worked with radio frequency devices, digital modulation schemes and cost optimisation. Subsequently, he was transferred to the company?s techno-commercial function. ?This helped hone my skills of bidding and contract drafting for product supply and telecom system solutions for incumbent carriers and utility sector companies,? he says.
Thereafter, he joined Supreme Telecommunications in its international marketing division and a year later, moved to GTL Limited where he worked closely with the business development team to win turnkey service provider (TSP) contracts from operators and system integrators. Thereafter, he moved to GTL Infrastructure, where he was initially responsible for site engineering, project budgeting, design optimisation, vendor evaluation and sourcing equipment. He then worked as core member of the M&A team, and was involved in acquiring 17,500 towers for the company.
He considers his role in negotiating TSP contracts with a North American company as his most memorable assignment. Participating in DoT?s Mobile Operators? Shared Tower project in 2007, where GTL Infrastructure created seven operator-shared tower sites in Delhi and Mumbai, was also exciting.
Going forward, he believes that telecom players will need to make their businesses more efficient to meet the increasing demand. ?India is a growing economy, with a large population of young people. Today, an urban teenager owns a mobile phone and a rural one aspires to have one. So, the market is ever-expanding.?
Kapadia likes travelling and photography. He also enjoys assembling or repairing gadgets for family and friends. In fact, his wife and he have designed the furniture and the interiors of their home themselves.
