According to the jury, it was not just the CAGR but his capacity to excel in an industry in which even survival is difficult that won him the award.Shah was presented the award, instituted by Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) four years back, at a function here on Monday, his predecessors being Vijay C Patel, Ramesh Patel and Rohit J Patel.

A diploma holder in electrical and mechanical engineering, Shah took up a job in early 1960s only to quit it in 1967 to jump into manufacturing staple pin and barbed wires. He started and nurtured eight plants, almost at the rate of one every four years.

Talking to The FinancialExpress on the eve of the presentation ceremony, says Shah, ``My latest venture is manufacturing plastic auxiliary equipment in the latest GWK and other technologies. It posted a turnover of Rs 5.30 crores in the very first year of operation.'' His other ventures included manufacturing vaccum pumps, filter parts, plastic extrusion machinery, warping machines, crochet knitting machines and cooling equipment.

He believed in doing things differently, setting his own rules of the game with no hangover for conventional moulds. In his own words, he was never driven by ambition nor dreams, neither by vision nor mission statement. For management pundits, his beliefs constitute a `culture shock'.

In his opinion, one gets lot more happiness if one accepts what is presented to him and if one lives up to it with action. ``No one has yet come to grief by pursuing such a path,'' he says.

If he has been inspired by anybody, it is Akio Morita, the founder of Sony Corporation, whose only objective was to dosomething that the world would admire. Morita utilised every turning point that came his way and propelled himself on the path of success with appropriate actions.

Shah does not believe in concepts like core competence. He has achieved success by diversification, never experiencing downswings in business. Recession never bothered him.

He believed in creativity rather than cost, people rather than profit alone, believing that there is always somebody in the company who can do better job than himself and identifying and delegating powers to him. And, that is how, one can diversify into new areas, being free from the previous fields.