By Vivienne Russell
July 2, 2009
A former refugee who worked his way up from Kodak’s factory floor, the deputy chair of the Audit Commission tells Vivienne Russell how his broad perspective informs his role
When Bharat Shah, deputy chair of the Audit Commission, arrived in the UK in 1973 as a refugee from Idi Amin’s Uganda, he had to abandon his studies and find work. He considered three options: playing professional cricket for a salary of £16 a week, working in a supermarket for £19 a week or working as a chemical mixer on the production floor of the Kodak factory for the princely sum of £26 a week.
‘It was a no-brainer,’ Shah says. The Kodak job was the lowliest on the factory floor but it paid the best – so all dreams of a cricketing career died a death.
The decision led to a career that took him to the top of the company. It now finds him on the board of the local government spending watchdog as it enters a new phase with the rollout of Comprehensive Area Assessments, the cross-
sector inspection framework now given the more public-friendly name of ‘oneplace’.
Shah thrived at Kodak, working his way up from chemical mixing, into logistics planning, then cost accounting. He put himself through five years of night school, qualifying as a certified accountant in 1982. After a 27-year career, he left Kodak in 2001, having been president of the company’s consumer business for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Shah’s career history has been concentrated in the private sector at one multinational company, supplemented with some business mentoring and, in recent years, attempts to get some private equity-backed business ventures off the ground.
So what was the appeal of the Audit Commission? Shah says he wanted to give something back and was attracted by the commission’s wide remit and an overlap with his own values and priorities.
‘The agenda is to drive efficiency, effectiveness and economical use of public spending. It’s not just auditing for the sake of it – it’s to drive improvements.’
He knew the commission was the place for him after he ‘hit it off extremely well’ with commission chair Michael O’Higgins. ‘Within a couple of minutes [of meeting], we were asking each other a lot of direct questions, sharing our views and opinions and values. It felt like we had been working together for a long time,’ he adds.
‘[O’Higgins] was very candid about what made him join, what he had found and how things were working out, and what his agenda was. There was a very strong fit, both in terms of chemistry and personality and the focus of his agenda and priorities.’
O’Higgins, meanwhile, says of Shah: ‘Bharat brings a wealth of experience and a business perspective to the valuable work that the Audit Commission is doing on protecting the public purse and does so in a thoughtful, personal style, which makes it a pleasure to work with him.’
Shah joined the Audit Commission in September 2007 and describes his time there since as ‘wonderful’. He has been ‘pleasantly surprised’, he says, by how well the commission performs compared with private sector organisations. He describes the staff as professional, dedicated and motivated and says the organisation can react as fast – if not faster – than private sector organisations.
‘One striking difference is that people are very risk averse [here] and there is probably more protocol and bureaucracy than you would have in the private sector,’ he reflects. But with a weaker correlation between risk and reward in the public sector, he understands why this is so.
He also praises the Audit Commission’s board. ‘The board is probably the best board you could hope for because of the diversity of knowledge, experience and expertise as well as the way it operates. It’s not one of these boards where there are lots of egos and hidden agendas and vested interests. It’s a very homogeneous board in what it’s trying to achieve.’
So what about the commission’s notorious report on council investments in Iceland? Following threats of legal action, the commission has had to retract the ‘negligent’ label from local authorities that fell foul of the Icelandic banking system. Was the tone of the original report well judged?
Shah acknowledges the word ‘negligent’ comes with some ‘significant connotations’ but sticks to the commission line in pointing out the watchdog got it right when it came to a consideration of the facts and timing of events.
But he concedes: ‘Does any board always get everything right? No. Are there lessons to be learned? Yes. One of the lessons we would learn from this Icelandic fiasco is that one or two of our processes could have been improved.’
Before coming to the UK, Shah’s upbringing was split between Uganda and India. The son of an Indian businessman who owned woodlands and a sawmill in Uganda, he was studying in Ahmedabad in northwestern India when his family was deported. He speaks frankly and without bitterness about his experience.
‘It was a very difficult time. You’ve got to uproot and leave everything behind because everything was sealed by the central government, all your bank accounts and assets,’ he says. ‘It’s like someone saying to you “give up everything you’ve worked for, give up everything you’ve earned and get out with a suitcase”. That’s all you were allowed to take with you.’
His two children have inherited their father’s work ethic and appetite for success. His daughter Nisha, 23, studied economics and law and is about to start training with global law firm Clifford Chance, while his son Neil, 20, is two years into an economics degree at University College, London.
Now he’s free of full-time work, Shah occupies his time with non-executive work such as sitting on the board of West Bromwich building society.
He is also heavily involved in coaching and mentoring activities, helping senior management teams and individuals define and achieve business goals, work he describes as ‘hugely gratifying’. He also manages a small property portfolio in central London and there is plenty of charity work. Together with David Hemery – the 1968 Olympic gold medallist hurdler – he is deeply involved with Twenty First Century Legacy, a charity that aims to inspire young people and help them to achieve their goals.
The mentoring ‘plays to his strengths’ and enhances his Audit Commission work, Shah says.
‘I have experience of many different businesses, models and people with different skills, capabilities, aspirations, which all helps me bring a wider and more diverse perspective to the work the Audit Commission does.’
July 2, 2009
A former refugee who worked his way up from Kodak’s factory floor, the deputy chair of the Audit Commission tells Vivienne Russell how his broad perspective informs his role
When Bharat Shah, deputy chair of the Audit Commission, arrived in the UK in 1973 as a refugee from Idi Amin’s Uganda, he had to abandon his studies and find work. He considered three options: playing professional cricket for a salary of £16 a week, working in a supermarket for £19 a week or working as a chemical mixer on the production floor of the Kodak factory for the princely sum of £26 a week.
‘It was a no-brainer,’ Shah says. The Kodak job was the lowliest on the factory floor but it paid the best – so all dreams of a cricketing career died a death.
The decision led to a career that took him to the top of the company. It now finds him on the board of the local government spending watchdog as it enters a new phase with the rollout of Comprehensive Area Assessments, the cross-
sector inspection framework now given the more public-friendly name of ‘oneplace’.
Shah thrived at Kodak, working his way up from chemical mixing, into logistics planning, then cost accounting. He put himself through five years of night school, qualifying as a certified accountant in 1982. After a 27-year career, he left Kodak in 2001, having been president of the company’s consumer business for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Shah’s career history has been concentrated in the private sector at one multinational company, supplemented with some business mentoring and, in recent years, attempts to get some private equity-backed business ventures off the ground.
So what was the appeal of the Audit Commission? Shah says he wanted to give something back and was attracted by the commission’s wide remit and an overlap with his own values and priorities.
‘The agenda is to drive efficiency, effectiveness and economical use of public spending. It’s not just auditing for the sake of it – it’s to drive improvements.’
He knew the commission was the place for him after he ‘hit it off extremely well’ with commission chair Michael O’Higgins. ‘Within a couple of minutes [of meeting], we were asking each other a lot of direct questions, sharing our views and opinions and values. It felt like we had been working together for a long time,’ he adds.
‘[O’Higgins] was very candid about what made him join, what he had found and how things were working out, and what his agenda was. There was a very strong fit, both in terms of chemistry and personality and the focus of his agenda and priorities.’
O’Higgins, meanwhile, says of Shah: ‘Bharat brings a wealth of experience and a business perspective to the valuable work that the Audit Commission is doing on protecting the public purse and does so in a thoughtful, personal style, which makes it a pleasure to work with him.’
Shah joined the Audit Commission in September 2007 and describes his time there since as ‘wonderful’. He has been ‘pleasantly surprised’, he says, by how well the commission performs compared with private sector organisations. He describes the staff as professional, dedicated and motivated and says the organisation can react as fast – if not faster – than private sector organisations.
‘One striking difference is that people are very risk averse [here] and there is probably more protocol and bureaucracy than you would have in the private sector,’ he reflects. But with a weaker correlation between risk and reward in the public sector, he understands why this is so.
He also praises the Audit Commission’s board. ‘The board is probably the best board you could hope for because of the diversity of knowledge, experience and expertise as well as the way it operates. It’s not one of these boards where there are lots of egos and hidden agendas and vested interests. It’s a very homogeneous board in what it’s trying to achieve.’
So what about the commission’s notorious report on council investments in Iceland? Following threats of legal action, the commission has had to retract the ‘negligent’ label from local authorities that fell foul of the Icelandic banking system. Was the tone of the original report well judged?
Shah acknowledges the word ‘negligent’ comes with some ‘significant connotations’ but sticks to the commission line in pointing out the watchdog got it right when it came to a consideration of the facts and timing of events.
But he concedes: ‘Does any board always get everything right? No. Are there lessons to be learned? Yes. One of the lessons we would learn from this Icelandic fiasco is that one or two of our processes could have been improved.’
Before coming to the UK, Shah’s upbringing was split between Uganda and India. The son of an Indian businessman who owned woodlands and a sawmill in Uganda, he was studying in Ahmedabad in northwestern India when his family was deported. He speaks frankly and without bitterness about his experience.
‘It was a very difficult time. You’ve got to uproot and leave everything behind because everything was sealed by the central government, all your bank accounts and assets,’ he says. ‘It’s like someone saying to you “give up everything you’ve worked for, give up everything you’ve earned and get out with a suitcase”. That’s all you were allowed to take with you.’
His two children have inherited their father’s work ethic and appetite for success. His daughter Nisha, 23, studied economics and law and is about to start training with global law firm Clifford Chance, while his son Neil, 20, is two years into an economics degree at University College, London.
Now he’s free of full-time work, Shah occupies his time with non-executive work such as sitting on the board of West Bromwich building society.
He is also heavily involved in coaching and mentoring activities, helping senior management teams and individuals define and achieve business goals, work he describes as ‘hugely gratifying’. He also manages a small property portfolio in central London and there is plenty of charity work. Together with David Hemery – the 1968 Olympic gold medallist hurdler – he is deeply involved with Twenty First Century Legacy, a charity that aims to inspire young people and help them to achieve their goals.
The mentoring ‘plays to his strengths’ and enhances his Audit Commission work, Shah says.
‘I have experience of many different businesses, models and people with different skills, capabilities, aspirations, which all helps me bring a wider and more diverse perspective to the work the Audit Commission does.’
