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Rising from a sales executive to being a partner in a business and ultimately the sole owner, Darius Mistry’s managerial and information technology expertise have made him a motivational role model for the community in New Zealand. His popularity has further risen after his company Imagetext Integrated Solutions was recognized with two awards at The Indian Newslink — Indian Business Awards. Being the winner in "Business Excellence in ICT (information communications technology)” category, 55-year-old Mistry who is the owner and managing director of Imagetext was conferred the prestigious award by the Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Paul Herrod, chief executive of KPMG that sponsored the award.

From left: Bill English, Darius Mistry, Paul Herrod and Chand Ohuri

For being the "Best Medium Sized Business” they were conferred the honor at the hands of the Indian High Commissioner Avanindra Kumar Pandey and the CEO of Unitec who sponsored this award. Imagetext supplies information technology consultancy, project management, mobile device management and Mac and Windows based solutions to clients that include the New Zealand Police, national television stations, print and publishing companies, international advertising agencies, government departments, universities and schools, small and medium sized local companies... The judges found that Imagetext was rated as the top channel partner in New Zealand by Apple Computers with a strong focus on customer satisfaction and technology innovation, showing excellent growth even in a tough economic climate in the last three years.
Indian Newslink being a popular and well read fortnightly English newspaper, its Indian Business Awards is a prestigious annual event that celebrates the successes of New Zealand based Indian business organizations and leaders of Indian origin. Strict norms and guidelines govern the submission procedure after which there is intense scrutiny and verification by highly regarded professionals to shortlist the possible winners. The final winner in each category is selected based on the organization’s excellence, innovation and a strong business model comparable with the best in the world.
The last award presentation ceremony on November 19, 2012 brought together 800 important invitees like the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand who paid glowing tributes to the Indian business community for its contribution to the progress of New Zealand. Others present included the leader of the opposition party, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, the mayor of Auckland, chairmen, CEOs and directors of leading companies and renowned professionals who commended this hard working community for fueling the New Zealand economy. A special guest was Gopal Krishna Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who had come from India to grace the function and described the event as a spectacular success.
Bolstered by their success last year, Imagetext will be participating in the 2013 Indian Newslink awards too. "In the last eight months we have had a couple of challenges come into the industry from different technologies, and currently we are reviewing our short and medium term sales strategy to redefine where we want to spend our efforts for future growth,” explained Mistry who is now focusing on strategic issues whilst leaving the operational aspects to the mid level management.

(From left): Darius, Edwina and Farah Mistry

Mistry’s association with Imagetext began in 1994 when at the age of 35 he bought a 50 percent ownership stake in the company. He had initially been offered a job in this company but whilst declining the offer he let the employers know that he was open to the option to buy into their business. When two of the earlier partners retired, he was invited to join the firm. Soon, however, he realized that running a business in partnership had its own set of trials. Plus operating in a geographically remote location like New Zealand with a micro economy, compared to the traditional economies of the world where Mistry had been trained had its own set of unique advantages and disadvantages. As his liabilities kept mounting he was even advised to close down the company, his accountants believing it would not survive beyond 18 months.
Having invested his entire life’s savings in this company, he refused to give up and offered to buy out his partner’s remaining 50 percent share to become the sole owner of Imagetext. With his knowledge of business management, understanding of financial figures, flair for sales and marketing, and formal training, within three years the prospects improved. Demonstrating an amalgam of strong Zoroastrian values with fine business principles he has transformed his company into a well-managed, innovative and forward thinking, profit making enterprise with phenomenal growth and potential. He gives credit to his wife Edwina for supporting his decision to go solo.
He had met Edwina during his stint in Bahrain in the mid 1980s as divisional manager, Apple Computers. His professional life had started earlier as a sales assistant for Siemens in Dubai, moving later to Wang Computers in Bahrain. Having completed his BSc from the Bombay University and a diploma in business management from the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Mistry chose to expand his knowledge base in the Gulf and earned a degree from the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants, UK, through correspondence. It was Edwina who trained him on computers and their application relevance and as acknowledged by him, "Boy did she train me well! I landed up marrying her.”
In 1987, when on a 21-day visit to New Zealand, he was so enchanted by the beautiful country that he decided he wanted to spend his life there. He set up interviews with Apple and Wang Computer dealers and landed a job at his first interview. He first joined Hewlett Packard and subsequently became Apple division manager where he won Top Apple Sales Achiever award for four consecutive years. Thereafter he has been with Imagetext but plans to retire from day-to-day participation in the company by the time he turns 60 in the next five years and continue only as consultant and mentor to the new owners of Imagetext.
Mistry has already drawn up his subsequent plans. A lover of the outdoors, he is keen to develop a lifestyle tourism business catering to an exclusive market that will bring high net worth international visitors to New Zealand and take them off the beaten track. He also dreams of riding his motorcycle on long tours of New Zealand and Australia, and spending more time with his family and friends at his holiday homes in Pauanui and Queenstown.
Most of all he wants to give Edwina who is the industry and communities relationship manager at a local tertiary institute the opportunity and support to further her own career which was cut back to spend time on bringing up their daughter Farah, now 15, who is keen to pursue a career in sports medicine. Out of 3,500 competitors, she was amongst the 13 selected for the under 15 team to represent New Zealand at the Youth World Water Polo games in July. The New Zealand team, being the youngest, ranked sixth amongst 13 other national teams, reports the father. Her ambition is to be a member of the New Zealand contingent for the water polo event at the Olympics.
When cutting back on his hectic work schedule Darius also plans to spend more time on his Rotary commitments and increase his involvement with the World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO) being an international member on the managing committee of WZO, London and their local trustee in New Zealand. He is immensely community focused with his silent hand always willing to extend help when an appeal is sent to him from any part of the world.
Firmly believing that his prayers have shown him a way out of every problem he has faced in life, the former Dadar Parsee Colony resident recalls his father Shiawak Mistry’s parting advice when he ventured to Dubai for his first job. Presenting the youngster a prayer book and a pen over three decades ago Shiawak urged: "Son, use these two gifts I am giving you well, and the world will be your oyster.”