Until he was 14 years old, the only environment knew was the hot, crowded, bustling and clamorous streets of Mumbai, India. But his life was about to be turned upside down.
His father made the decision to move his family to the United States. Suddenly, young Anilesh found himself in the cool climate of a quiet small town in Vermont. The difference could not have been more jarring.
For Anilesh Ahuja, it was bona fide culture shock made even more difficult when he was enrolled in a small private school that consisted mostly of white American boys. He was one of the only students with brown skin. He was short in stature and small in body when compared to his American counterparts.
Anilesh had no choice but to collect himself and throw himself into the demanding education curriculum of this elite school. He needed to prove to his father and himself that he could succeed with the odds against him.
It was this formative experience that Anilesh Ahuja believes underpins his later stellar success as a real estate developer and investment banker. Excellent grades earned him a seat at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania. He called his college experience “my bouncing ground to Wall Street.
After 20 years of success in the banking, trading and sales sectors, he was eventually named global head of mortgages at Deutsche Bank.
The time came, however, when Anilesh desired a return to his native India. There he joined the board of directors of a real estate development firm called Solitaire Valley. That launched the next successful phase of his life as a real estate developer.