Built, Not Born
Built, Not Born: The Devang Mehta Story
From 37% in a Borivali 2BHK to Building a Tax Practice Across the Gulf.
Some stories begin with privilege. This one begins in a 2 BHK in Borivali — a Gujarati joint family, a father running an AC business in Masjid Bunder, and a carefree boy scoring 37–40% at St. Francis School.
The Wake-Up Call
Then his elder brother sat him down: Papa’s business won’t scale. We have to get serious.
The boy who hovered at 37% scored 84% in Class X (2008) — and chose Chartered Accountancy.
The Long Road to Qualification
The road was anything but smooth. CPT was cleared in the first attempt (2010), but the finals took multiple attempts before he qualified in 2016 — studying while the family cared for a bedridden grandfather, waking at 5 AM, juggling Vile Parle for college and multiple locals to Worli for his articleship at Dalal Doctor & Associates.
Learning the Corporate World
KPMG Risk Advisory (2016–2019) was a different universe. The challenge wasn’t technical — it was learning to dress, speak, and carry himself in the corporate world, absorbed quietly by observing his manager, Kapil Sharma.
Seeing the Door
When Kapil moved to the Gulf, Devang saw the door. Armed with the ICAI Dubai Chapter newsletter, he wrote to sponsor firms one by one — and joined MCA Gulf (2021), rising from Senior Consultant to Manager.
Building From Scratch
In 2025, he made his boldest call yet: leaving comfort to help build a practice from scratch across KSA and Dubai — an opportunity earned through relentless ICAI networking.
Six stepping stones define him: the awakening, the persistence, the adaptation, the timing, the network, the courage.
The road ahead is more challenging still. But Devang looks forward with open arms — because professionals aren’t born.
They’re built.
Built, Not Born is an editorial series by Mustafa G. Daudi profiling professionals who constructed their success through grit, reinvention and quiet persistence. If you know someone whose story deserves to be told, reach out via learn tax with muustafa / mustafagdaudi@gmail.com.
