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Seniors Who Still Rock Business

The sprightly Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair has come a long way from his army days. Just when everyone his age was retiring, Nair turned hotelier at age 65. The chairman of the Leela group (named after his wife), he first entered the textile and garment business in 1950 at his wife's insistence, and soon began exporting to the U.S. and Europe. Having acquired a taste for staying in the best hotels around the world, he then entered the hotel industry. Today, Leela has four Indian hotels and Condé Nast Traveler magazine recently named the opulent Leela Palace in Bangalore the world's No.1 business hotel. A self-made businessman, Nair is at ease hobnobbing with the Indian powers as he is with world figures like the Dalai Lama, who often stays at the Leela in Mumbai. Nair oversees his business, but the day-to-day operations are run by his son Vivek. Ask Nair why he named all his business ventures after his wife, and he says, "Leela is worth it."

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