“I feel it is important to enjoy each and every day, with all it brings, every hour, every day of my life. I want to live it to the hilt. Not every day turns out to be wonderful, but then you have to get on with it, deal with it without regrets,” Satiija tells NRI Achievers of his outlook on life.
Speaking about the stage of life he is in, he says: “I am currently in the fourth phase of my life — as you might be aware there are four phases in a person's life — as a child you are guided by your parents, then it is youth, followed by the family phase and its responsibilities. In the fourth phase your eyes are open and your decisions are based on experience.”
“This is my 'Gold to Golden Apples' project ... my way of ensuring that various delicious apple genera are not merely conserved and protected, but also become part of the genetic diversity of this fauna, in the form of a gene-bank.”— Rejesh Satiija
One of his biggest and most innovative projects in the hospitality and real estate sectors in Guyana and India is the construction of new homes with a difference, through his Aqasia Homes business. Satiija is looking to create “geopathic stress-free areas”, paying particular attention to the surroundings of the home and making it as attractive and as peaceful as possible.
In Canada, he has zeroed in on Prince Edward Island (PEI), where he is looking to acquire approximately 2,500 acres of lush green agricultural land for growing varieties of apples hitherto unseen in Indian markets. He has also kicked off an initiative to acquire more than 2,000 acres of land in Canada and the Republic of Georgia for the agricultural development of apple orchards, and has set up two controlled-atmosphere cold storages in northern India for preserving the apples grown in Canada and Georgia to market them across India.
“The Canada part of my 'Gold to Golden Apples' project will kick in once I am successful in tying up all loose ends and the Canada—Halifax—Prince Edward Island venture starts bearing fruit,” Satiija says, adding that he is also mulling expansion of his trading activities in the agri-business industry by accessing the cashew and cocoa markets in Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire.
He describes his home life simply: a single-malt man with a collection of limited edition single and triple malts, at peace with himself, sharing his life with his wife, daughter Garima and son Atul.