CEO Insights Magazine

Mahesh Mahato is an exemplary business leader in the engineering industry, who has excelled despite all odds by laying his emphasis on his passion and core beliefs. With the strong intent of becoming a job creator and assisting people in rural areas, Mahesh embarked on the entrepreneurial route and established Cosmic Electrical shortly after his graduation. As the founder and MD of Cosmic Electrical, Mahesh is driven by the vision of spearheading the firm towards unprecedented heights and being the nation's foremost engineering construction company. In an exclusive interview with CEO Asia, Mahesh enlightens us about Cosmic Electrical and his professional traits.

Take us through your educational and professional background. What motivated you as the new-age leader?

I belonged to a very modest family when I started my journey. I did my engineering on a self-employed scholarship at one of the government colleges in Nepal and immediately after graduation, I decided not to become a job seeker, but rather become a job creator. And thus, with very minimal capital and just a computer, I started my journey as an entrepreneur. I started designing projects for corporates and proceeded towards doing turnkey projects in the rural areas of Nepal deprived of electrical connection. There were numerous companies out there carrying out work in urban areas, but relatively few in rural areas. Thus, it instilled in me to do work for the rural areas, where we could distribute electricity and assist people to become self-sufficient and lead better lives. Following that, I embarked on several different ventures, all of which failed for various reasons.

Take us through your educational and professional background. What motivated you as the new-age leader?I belonged to a very modest family when I started my journey. I did my engineering on a self-employed scholarship at one of the government colleges in Nepal and immediately after graduation, I decided not to become a job seeker, but rather become a job creator. And thus, with very minimal capital and just a computer, I started my journey as an entrepreneur. I started designing projects for corporates and proceeded towards doing turnkey projects in the rural areas of Nepal deprived of electrical connection. There were numerous companies out there carrying out work in urban areas, but relatively few in rural areas. Thus, it instilled in me to do work for the rural areas, where we could distribute electricity and assist people to become self-sufficient and lead better lives. Following that, I embarked on several different ventures, all of which failed for various reasons.

Define Cosmic Electrical as an organization and its current position in the industry.

Cosmic Electrical is one of the leading engineering companies in the power sector established in 2000, shortly after I graduated from college. We started with a humble beginning as a small consulting firm at the time, where we used to give consulting services to business owners and industrialists in the power sector. Gradually, we upgraded ourselves, and fast forwarded today we have become the number one power company in Nepal, undertaking electrification projects, transmission line projects, and services while assisting the nation's rural areas. Cosmic Electrical is renowned and highly regarded in Nepal owing to the intent of our company. Most of the projects executed by the firm are complete within the designated timeline which are executed by proficient project managers possessing extensive project management skills, who are perfectly tuned in with the timeline.

How would you describe your leadership style and what values are most important to you as a leader?

I truly believe that one size does not fit all and in the same way, one leadership style does not apply to all leaders or the circumstances. Rather, I would say that I have been practicing a blend of different leadership styles. For me, it is a combination of democratic, coaching, innovation, and, at times, authoritative. Based on the situation, I deploy different leadership styles to get things done positively, within the timeline. However, while exercising different leadership styles, I don't change my core values such as accountability, excellence, innovation, passion, and most importantly relationships with our stakeholders including our employees, customers, and business partners.

What's the technology roadmap of Cosmic Electrical? What are your short and long-term goals as the MD?

As the MD at Cosmic Electrical, I'm investing my time and efforts to automate the firm's operation by deploying cutting-edge technology including ERP solutions to streamline the business process, as well as having fantastic employees in the firm. By stating fantastic, they don't have to be the toppers; in fact, while onboarding individuals, we don't look at the mark sheet and instead recruit those with zeal and positive mindsets.

Based on your strong professional experience, what advice would you give to the upcoming leaders in the same industry?

If I were to state something that would truly assist budding leaders, it would be the ability to align our objectives with our professional goals. This makes things much easier to work on and accomplish. If we apply them, the chances of success would be high. To do so, we must define our goals in a way that reflects our core values, identify them, develop a strategy, and act on them. Moreover, one must expect failures; generally, in our work, we never expect failures, which is why the majority of failures cannot be addressed. So, expect failures and have a proper mitigation strategy in place from the start, then improvise on them as needed, and we will undoubtedly achieve the success that we are intending for.

Mahesh Mahato,Managing Director,Cosmic Electrical

An exemplary business leader who has thrived against all odds to keep his passion and core values at the forefront. Mahesh is an engineer who further pursued a Master's degree in Business Administration. As the founder and MD of Cosmic Electrical, he is driven by the vision of spearheading the firm towards unparalleled heights to make it one of the foremost engineering construction companies of our country.

· Hobbies: Traveling, playing badminton, and cycling

· Favorite Cuisine: Indian and Chinese

· Favorite Book: Screw it, Let's do it by Sir Richard Branson

· Favorite Travel Destination: London