Dr. Ravi Kumar Mehrotra CBE
Foresight Group, London
Ravi Kumar Mehrotra started his working life with a passion for the sea that he has never lost. Leaving his home in Kanpur in the heart of India he travelled the 1000km to study Marine Engineering in Calcutta, graduating in 1964 and then joining the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) in the same year. He had no idea at that time how that decision would shape the rest of his life and that of his future family. Recognising his unique blend of technical knowledge and entrepreneurship, Ravi was selected by the then managing agents of SCI to join the initial team that successfully grew the SCI fleet from a few vessels to a fleet of 150 by 1974. Business was now in his blood, and his knowledge had been growing over the years with increasing responsibility as a technical manager and involvement in ship acquisitions and commercial management.
Ravi’s skills were now apparent and when the Iranian and Indian Governments decided in 1974 to set up a joint national shipping line called, Iran-O-Hind (IOH) as a 51/49% joint venture, he was seen as having the ideal set of skills. He was selected as the candidate to lead the venture. Starting with a shipping company with no ships, he led the acquisition of bulk carriers focussed on the iron ore trade but widened his areas of interest to include tankers and refrigerated cargoes over a nine year period. This was a difficult period of change in Iran and Ravi learnt the need to keep close to the changing winds of politics as both a threat and opportunity. This experience has left him with a driving passion for reading and the desire to look for opportunity in the complex world of socio-political led economic change.
Eventually the entrepreneurial spirit that had been so effectively used to help others, decided it needed to be free to develop his own business. He selected London as the ideal base in 1984. He was now 7500km from Kanpur and, starting again with nothing, he decided his business would be named Foresight. A fitting name for an individual always looking ahead for opportunity. With the first ship bought at auction using bank financing the Foresight Group moved through all the shipping sectors, bulk, container, refrigerated and tankers as opportunities presented themselves. The passion for the sea however was not limited to ships and when the chance to be involved in offshore drilling presented itself, the courageous confidence of success saw Ravi lead the Group to buy and operate its first jack-up drilling rig. Diversification had begun and that has continued into shoe retail and manufacturing together with investments into the hospitality sector with a small chain of high class restaurants in China.
A unique individual with self-made success does not go unnoticed. From 1984 Ravi had always been a prominent member of the London shipping scene and renowned for his hospitality to the world-wide shipping community. The Queen recognised him for this contribution to the UK and he was awarded a CBE in 2006. Looking back on his achievements however is not part of the character of Ravi and despite being over 70 years old he decided in 2013, that the future of the Foresight Group lay in expanding the Drilling division, so he moved to Dubai to be sure he was close to the action and his local Drilling and Shipping team. That inspired him to order new rigs from China and the confidence to declare to the family that his vison was for the Foresight Group was to maintain its reputation and operations for 100 years which would take the Group to a centenary celebration in 2084. With the third generation of the Mehrotra family being introduced to the business the foundation is being built to make that vison a reality.