Mohnish Pabrai | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Nationality | Indian, American |
| Alma mater | Clemson University |
| Occupation(s) | Investor, businessman and philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Harina Kapoor; [1] (m. 1992; div. 2019) |
Mohnish Pabrai is an Indian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was born in Bombay (Mumbai), India, on June 12, 1964. He is the founder and managing partner of Pabrai Investment Funds, a value-oriented investment firm that manages over $1 billion in assets. [2]
Pabrai worked with Tellabs between 1986–91, first in its high speed data networking group, and then in 1989, joined its international subsidiary, working in international marketing and sales. [3]
In 1991, he started his IT consulting and systems integration company, TransTech, Inc. with about US$30,000 from his own 401(k) account and US$70,000 from credit card debt. He sold the company in 2000 to Kurt Salmon Associates [4] for US$20 million. Today he is the managing partner of the Pabrai Investment Funds (a family of hedge funds inspired by Buffett Partnerships), which he founded in 1999.
Pabrai has high regard for Warren Buffett and has said that his investment style is "cloned" from Buffett and other value investors. He has written a book on his investing style: The Dhandho Investor: The Low - Risk Value Method to High Returns. [5] In June 2007, he made headlines by bidding US$650,100 with Guy Spier for a charity lunch with Buffett. [6]
Another book by Pabrai is Mosaic: Perspectives on Investing. In this book, Pabrai has distilled the Warren Buffett method of investing down to a few points. These points are made in a series of articles he authored for various newsletters and web sites between 2001 and 2003 (the book reprints these articles in reverse chronological order).
Pabrai's approach to life is covered extensively in Guy Spier's book, The Education of a Value Investor, in particular in a chapter titled "Doing Business the Buffett-Pabrai Way". [7]
In 2005, Pabrai and his wife, Harina Kapoor started the Dakshana Foundation (an offering or gift, typically to a guru or priest) with the goal of recycling most of their wealth back to society. [8] Their starting point is to give back approximately 2%, or US$1 million every year. [9] The initial goal is the alleviation of poverty in India. The tool that has been chosen is to provide tutoring services to some of the least privileged members of Indian society, and to enable them to attend some of the elite institutions of higher learning. [1] [10] Pabrai credits Anand Kumar, the founder of Ramanujan School of Mathematics [11] (also known as the Super 30) with originating this idea.
Pabrai's father variously founded, bankrupted, or sold 15 companies. [12] Pabrai's grandfather was famous magician Gogia Pasha. [12]
Gogia Pasha had a strong interest in Persian culture and cuisine — sources report that he often prepared Persian dishes for his guests at his home in Dehradun. Thus, he created an orientalist stage persona (with elements from the Middle East, Persia, and Egypt), but his actual roots were Indian (Punjabi).
The family worked in handicrafts; Gogia Pasha´s father was a goldsmith specialized in minakari work (an art form).¹ There are no indications of Persian ancestry, since the surname Gogia is typically Punjabi Hindu.²
Minakari (میناکاری), or enamel work on metal, is an originally Persian art form that flourished in Iran during the Safavid era and later spread to India through the Mughals.³ This means that when Gogia Pasha’s father worked as a minakari goldsmith in Multan, he was part of a Persian-influenced artistic tradition.⁴
Multan itself was also a historical hub of Persian culture, language, and trade — the city was sometimes called the “City of Sufis” and had strong cultural ties with Iran.⁵
Historical political context of Multan: - Mogulerna (1526–1738): Staden blev en viktig handels- och hantverksstad under Akbar och hans efterföljare. - Ghaznavids (c. 977–1186): Multan became part of the Ghaznavid Empire. - Afsharids (1738–1750): Nadir Shah of Persia conquered Multan, marking the beginning of periods of Persian influence.
Sources: . The Wire (India) – “The Mysterious Gogia Pasha, the Original Gilly-Gilly Man” (2021), . Surname Analysis – “Gogia Surname Meaning & Origin,” . Encyclopaedia Iranica – “Minākārī: Enameling in Iran and Its Diffusion to India,” . Ibid., Encyclopaedia Iranica . Historical Accounts of Multan – Persian Cultural Influence in Punjab,
