Norton Kothari

Chairman, Kothari Group

A 1969 engineering graduate from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India (B.E. Hons. – Gold medalist), Mr. Kothari did his Masters degree in Engineering from Cornell University (USA) in 1970 & M.B.A. from Bridgeport University (U.S.A.) in 1973.
 

He was involved in various real estate projects in Assam, West Bengal & New Delhi since 1974 till he migrated to Canada in 1988. He was also involved in global commodities trade having offices in Singapore, Hongkong & Myanmar.
 

He has successfully developed & managed Canadian Real Estate since 1996 under ‘Kothari Group’ of companies of which, Mr. Kothari is Chairperson. The group has built three hotels (Four Points Sheraton in Cambridge; Hampton Inn & Suites (Hilton) in Winnipeg & Hyatt House in Winnipeg). The group’s latest hotel (Marriott Town Place Suites) at Hamilton is expected to be ready for operation by September 2020. Hyatt House in Winnipeg is first Hyatt House in Canada. The Group has planned two more hotels in Markham & one in Victoria (B.C.).
 

The Group has large interest in condominium developments in Winnipeg. At present, Group has more than 400 condominiums under construction in Winnipeg apart from several hundreds already built & sold.
 
Apart from real estate developments & hotels, the Group has vast interest in real estate mortgage lending in both Canadian & U.S. markets. The Group holds mortgage portfolio of more than 200 million dollars.
 
In 2014, The Group founded a real estate Mortgage Investments Fund which has been giving handsome dividends of more than 8% per annum to its Investors since inception which is more than returns given by most of the investment funds in Canada.
 
The Group also owns & manages an 18-hole Golf Course in Orlando, Florida close to Disney World.
 
The Group is involved in quite a few charities in Canada & India. Through its family foundation (Kothari Family Foundation), the Group has donated several million dollars to various charities like Trillium Health Partners (more than one million dollars); Human Rights Museum at Winnipeg ($500,000/-); Waterloo University; Various Food Banks; Concordia Hospital (Winnipeg); Cancer Society of Canada; Sansar; Stars; Indo Canada Cultural & Heritage Association, Winnipeg; Vedic Vidyalaya, Indore; Manav Seva Trust, Indore; Aim for Seva; Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons & many more charities and cultural organizations.
 
Apart from above, Kothari family has established four perpetual annual scholarships to deserving students at Waterloo University – two for $15,000/- each & the other two for $2,000/- each. Similar annual scholarships are awarded to deserving student at Winnipeg through ICCHA.
 
Recently, Mr. Kothari was able to successfully establish BITS69 Scholarship Fund, an endowment fund at his Alma Mater (BITS, Pilani) for perpetual annual scholarships to five deserving candidates with initial capital of 1.5 crores contributed by him & some of his peers at BITS, Pilani (India).