Ashish Thekkekara (PFM 2007–09) is the Senior Director & Head of Financial Institutions and Digital Business at Northern Arc Capital. His work entails identifying emerging financial services companies and asset classes, diligence them, and lend to them. He also helps these companies raise more capital through their structured financial products and debt capital market offerings. His role also involves leading the rollout of digital products for stakeholders and the digital transformation for the company.
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
The journey from IIFM to the current role has been fairly in line with the aspirations that I had while passing out from the institute. My first job was with Villgro where I worked closely with Paul Basil (PFM’94) in incubating early-stage social businesses. The role at Villgro provided me the opportunity and access to meet many fouchnders, CEOs, senior industry professionals at a very early stage in my career. This exposure helped me in sharpening my skills sets and broaden my outlook towards my career.
Also, being amid entrepreneurs, the energy and ability to hustle kind of rubbed on to me to built my confidence and increased my risk-taking abilities. These skills came in handy when I joined Northern Arc Capital in 2012 in the risk team without any prior experience of financial services industry and was able to learn about different sectors on the job. In the last 8+ years with the company now, I have had the opportunity to start various business verticals, lead large teams, and eventually head the flagship business of the company.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
I would like to share three major learnings of this journey: 1) Never be complacent or take things for granted rather be open to learning at every stage of your life. 2) Always think about the long term while building your career because shortcuts and short-term gains do not last long. 3) Stay connected to people – family, friends, batchmates, colleagues, clients, well-wishers. Never burn your bridges. The network always comes in very handy.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
Quite a few things are very satisfying in my current role:
1) Working with early-stage companies in the space of financial inclusion. Helping and supporting them in building their businesses.
2) Constantly identifying new businesses/products or sectors to enter.
3) Leading a pack of a highly charged up and ambitious team.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
Absolutely! The time spent in the IIFM campus with my batch mates, seniors, professors influenced me how I evolved as a professional. Apart from academics, I attribute a lot of my skill sets to the work and initiatives I was able to take on as the president of the Student Affairs and Alumni Council (SAAC). Experiences like presiding over long general body meetings (which were fondly called GBMs), dispute resolutions, managing the student’s mess/canteen, preparing/managing annual budgets and running various committees/clubs/cells, preparing monthly newsletters, starting new clubs, enhancing alumni engagements, and managing all stakeholders (Director, professors, admin staff, peers, seniors/juniors, recruiters, external guests, etc.) gave me a well-rounded exposure as a student and it was probably the most fulfilling MBA experience one can get.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
The biggest influence in my career has been the people around me. I had the privilege of working with high-quality professionals, and that made me push myself to match or surpass the standards set by them. I would advise everyone to strive to work with the best people, teams, and companies to improve one’s skills and grow as a person.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
Too many to list down here 🙂 Hostel life, all festival celebrations, night outs with friends, field visits, etc. were some of the few things I would want to relive all over again.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
I think it was the complete package of 2 years at IIFM that shaped me, but my peers and alumni did influence a lot in this journey.
Q. The best buddies/seniors/faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
Siddharth, Ujjawal, Nitish, Sushant, Bela, Rajarshi, Gitesh, Sumit, Parikshit, are some of the batchmates with whom I spent a lot of time on campus. Among the seniors have great respect for Shrey, Shweta, Sunil, Parul, Kallol. Prof. Ashish David, Prof P K Biswas, Prof Amitabh Pandey, Prof CS Rathore, Prof Yogesh Dubey, Prof Manmohan were teachers with whom I had the opportunity to work and interact beyond academics.
Q. As an alumnus, what is your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get the best out of the 2 years there?
Make the most out of the time you are in the campus by being pro-active and taking part in every activity happening in the campus & outside campus ( academics, co-curricular & extra-curricular activities, inter-college events). IIFM provides you the opportunities to do things that can add value to your CV and your personality, and one should capitalize on those occasions.
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
Before the pandemic hit, my usual work involved extensive travel to meet clients and visit their operations. Post-Covid, the day is mostly spent on calls and virtual meetings.
Q. You would like to share about your typical weekends.. Hobbies.. Family..
I like to spend weekends outdoors. Bike rides, watching movies in cinema halls, exploring new food joints are my usual weekend activities. I also enjoy cooking and trying out my hands on new cuisines.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors, ..
I am not much of a voracious reader however I have been inspired by reading “I Too Had a Dream” by Dr. Verghese Kurien.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
I have always gone back to the campus to hire students from IIFM and also recommended alumni for various roles and job opportunities in the industry. I am keen to help in fine-tuning the curriculum and course structures. I am also willing to share my experiences and learnings in my career.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
IIFM is getting more visibility than before and more and more people are now aware of IIFM and I consider this as a positive change.
Q. Any suggestions on who from our alumni you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
Jose PD (PFM90), Paul Basil (PFM94), Sasidhar Tumuluri (PFM99), Satyjit Das (PFM07), Sahil Mehta (PFM10)