There is no talent greater than passion because it's passion which brings talent to the light. Abbas Sadriwalla , CEO Wireless Logix is one of those individuals who possess the passion and talent in equal measures, both in arts and science. No wonder, he is an adept pilot, an inventor, entrepreneur and a musician par excellence. And he is the chairman and CEO of the Fort Lauderdale-based Wireless Logix Group of seven companies. Born in an affluent Mumbai business family, Sadriwalla was educated in Sacred Heart High School and the University of Bombay.

After a short stint of managing his family's rubber products factory, Abbas moved to the US in 1973. In the US, Abbas started his life from the scratch, working in a string of shop floor jobs while financing his own pilot training. In 1976, he qualified as a commercial pilot and trained further to become a pilot instructor. Between 1978 and 1984, he went to teach flying in South Florida. Always a technology buff, Abbas spotted an opportunity to supply special purpose computers to the aviation industry in 1990 and successfully launched a company called ADS (Application Designed Systems) Associates.

After specialty computers became less relevant in a rapidly changing technology marketplace, he diversified into the pager business and built a highly profitable company called Pageco International to manufacture pager crystals. As cell phones displaced pagers,he saw an opportunity that had escaped most people. India was a developing country with a booming economy but a minimal and largely outdated communications infrastructure. Wireless Logix Group - the $10 million wireless solutions company that Sadriwalla has headed since 2001 - had the services that could bring modern communications technology to India without having to erect thousands of utility poles and pull miles and miles of cable. Grabbing the opportunity, Abbas moved into Wi-Fi technology. He bought into and partnered with a Canadian company called Palm Hospitality Technologies, which had developed a unique application to dramatically increase efficiencies in housekeeping operations in hotels.

He had definitely caught the opportunity but there was still a lot to be done and they had to be done right. Sadriwalla had to establish a regional office in India, find the right managers to head that office, and figure out a way to bridge the physical and cultural distance between Fort Lauderdale-based Wireless Logix and its employees and customers in India. With immaculate planning and resilience to see his plan through, Wireless Logix found home in India. Today, SiteLogix, the application originally developed by Palm, is the engine which drives V Link Hospitality Technologie, Logix's Wi-Fi applications arm. It was not surprising when Sadriwalla 's hard work started bearing fruits and in 2004, the group posted revenues of $20 million and was ranked as a major player in the North American Wi-Fi technology space. The group made its first foray into India in early 2004, and has since established a beachhead in the shipping industry with a proof-of-concept installation of a low cost wireless asset management solution in the Mumbai port. Discussions are currently underway with several Indian companies with a view to forging partnerships.

"We are seeking to buy into local companies and also forge reseller relations with qualified vendors here," says Sadriwalla. Known for his entrepreneurial and organising abilities, Sadriwalla was named 'Businessman of the Year' by the apex level National Republican Congressional Committee in 2004, in an investiture ceremony presided over by US President George Bush. The Maharana Mewar Foundation in Udaipur also awarded The Colonel James Tod International Award to Sadriwalla. A music aficionado, Sadriwalla is a keen tennis player and a notable social presence in South Florida too. In fact, there is no area of life where Sadriwalla hasn't left his indelible presence felt. A true mark of a talented man, indeed!