This story is a part of Femvest 2.0, and is a women’s financial empowerment initiative in collaboration with Quantum Mutual Fund. In this story series, we recognize women leaders and achievers in finance who have carved a niche for themselves.

Going against the tide is not for everyone. In the nineties, very few women like Ms. Rina Nathani chose the path less travelled and made a career in Finance. Having an analytical mind, she preferred to be in the structured environment that Finance offers.

Being passionate about Business and Finance, she specialized in these domains by acquiring a range of skills. Determined to make it exceptional, she worked her way right from the beginning to make it to the Board Room.

From her early days at KPMG New York to today as the Chief Business Officer at Quantum AMC, India, her journey has been remarkable. With her most enthusiastic disposition, she has carved for herself an all-round career in Finance having multiple competencies.

She has also demonstrated capability in setting up global retail businesses in consumer goods and services industries. With skills ranging from Strategy, Innovation, Business Operations, Management, Marketing, Business Development, ERM, FRM – she has it all.

Challenges, milestones, and achievements in her journey

Initially, Rina too found it challenging to be known and heard. But she adapted well and got a foothold in the domain over time.

“I am really happy to see more women in leadership roles breaking the glass ceiling. For me, the key thing was really to persevere through all the challenges.”

It’s about your abilities to deal, learn, and respond through the challenging times.

Rina feels challenges are bound to come in anything you do since it’s the nature of the game in the business environment. It’s just the difference in type of challenges one faces in leading. “It’s about your abilities to deal, learn, and respond through the challenging times,” she opines

Being a goal-oriented person, she always focused on performance. 12 years after her joining as a fresher in KPMG, her first major milestone was becoming Director at KPMG with her evolving role over time at KPMG. “Every goal that you set out is a milestone when you achieve,” avers Rina, indicating a business maturity far beyond what’s palpable.

She also set small milestones for herself by setting up her own business and the entrepreneurial journey shaped her into the all-rounded person she is today.

Valuable takeaways from career and sources of inspiration

In her role at Quantum AMC as the Chief Business Officer since August 2020, she is handling diverse functions, a range of business operations, and customer acquisition in the MF market. With the rapidly changing mutual fund industry, she is finding it really exciting to deal with changes in consumer behavior towards investments.

“It’s an interesting time in the MF industry with a huge addressable market and I am happy to be a part of it.”

Only subject level expertise is not enough in the current business scenario. The best leaders are those who can constantly adapt.

Queried on her takeaways from her advisory career at KPMG, Rina declares, “The only constant is change. For women too, it’s equally important to inculcate that, solve problems, innovate, adapt, and upgrade in order to lead. Only subject level expertise is not enough in the current business scenario. The best leaders are those who can constantly adapt.”

Ms. Rina Nathani, CBO, Quantum Mutual Fund

The CBO of Quantum expresses her gratitude to her mentors in her journey. At KPMG, her partner, and founder of QAMC, Mr. Ajeet Dayal, and her start-up mentor Samir Mehra, among others have been instrumental in shaping her. She observed them, followed their footsteps, and walked the talk with them to be where she is now.

On work-life balance

Rina firmly believes women have an inherent strength and are multi-taskers as well as time managers. She too prioritizes important tasks, moving up the non-negotiable ones, and using a process of elimination to get things done.

While she worked very hard in her journey, she adds, “If you are able to show your worth, working from anywhere, organizations recognize that. The best leaders are those who can handle challenges, adapt to the changing environment.”

If you are able to show your worth, working from anywhere, organizations recognize that. The best leaders are those who can handle challenges, adapt to the changing environment.

She believes that Covid has further changed the perception of 5-day work at the office. According to her, if one is reliable and dependable, teams will get the work from anywhere and anyhow.

She has a word of advice for all women: “Don’t be shy, speak up, and build your skill set to be indispensable.”

Rina’s words of support for HerMoneyTalks and its work

“It’s fabulous, commendable work done at HerMoneyTalks in bringing people together, creating a sense of shared experiences, and taking along everyone to move forward as a community. We need more organizations and initiatives like yours.” signs off Rina, wishing us luck.