Selected as WCRCINT India’s best emerging CEO at the CEO Awards 2023, Varun Agarwal, COO of mymoneykarma is a dynamic and enthusiastic new age leader who is working smart to reach the stars
In conversation with Varun Agarwal, COO, mymoneykarma
What makes a reliable and trustworthy business leader?
A leader who is able to shine light on the path to success & motivate the team everyday tirelessly through rough & smooth waters- is who is reliable and trustworthy.
How have you strategised and adopted to the digital transformations globally?
Mymoneykarma was initially envisioned keeping the future in mind- to democratize finance available to one and all. To be able to reach this journey, we have adapted technology to offer a dedicated loan specialist at absolutely zero cost to our customer. Our products and services, including our customer service, are poised to match global standards.
What are the clear changes that you have made to your journey in the last decade?
From the corporate job to starting my own startup, this past decade has been quite a journey. Both personally and professionally, I have evolved to take leaps and strides to build a fintech company in a highly competitive space, by just focusing only on the things that really matter.
What is the current vision and mission at your current role?
The vision of democratizing finance still holds strong & we can proudly say that we have made great progress towards bringing financial services to customers across 45+ Indian cities. Our mission is to further grow and shine across several cities & partner with more lenders to achieve our primary vision.
How do you draw a balance between target orientation and empathetic and compassionate leadership?
It has not been an easy task to lead teams across the country from diverse backgrounds, yet, maintaining transparency and having open conversations with my teammates, have helped me set reasonable expectations www.mymoneykarma.com for the team.
What has been your greatest strength and weakness in context of leadership?
My greatest strength is my positive outlook towards everything I handle – both personally and professionally.This has helped me rise from difficult times & learning from them.
My greatest weakness is taking in more tasks and responsibilities at a time, owing this to my confidence in my ability to achieve success. This puts undue pressure on myself, that I think could be avoided in most scenarios.
What has been your driving force or philosophy in life?
My driving force has been to never let success or failure affect me personally, since every rise and fall is a step in the right direction. I believe that eternal learning is the key to success.
How do you plan to drive your business at a global level at your current role?
Our determined effort to grow our company to make finance accessible across India at ZERO cost is our ultimate goal. In order to do so, We continue to bring in the best customer support & products to our customers, and always maintain global standards of excellence.
Your top leadership goals during tough times?
My nature of staying calm under pressure has helped me hold the team together during difficult times & yet achieve success.
Your greatest success mantras?
A few that I strongly believe:
1) Work Smart!
2) To always reach for the stars.
How actively have you been personally involved with corporate social responsibilities? What have you felt driving societal responsibilities?
Financial Education: We firmly believe that financial education has to be given right from school. To bring this vision to reality, our teams make annual visits to schools in rural schools in Telangana to educate high school children, the value of making the right financial choices while highlighting the importance of continued education.
Empowering Our Team & their families: Our companys’ employee welfare policy is constantly evolving & we have always ensured supporting our team in continued education or just even getting them the right financial assistance in times of need. www.mymoneykarma.com
Diversity, Equity and inclusion: Our workplace is built to promote the full participation of all our teammates, without any under-representation or discrimination. This has been our most valuable to our company, since we are able to build the best teams across India, effortlessly.
What’s your vision for the industry and the Indian economy?
There is so much room for growth in the financial services space, specifically adopting technology to make financial services accessible to every Indian citizen, either in India or abroad. mymoneykarma, is set to achieve our mission of democratizing finance and making financial services accessible to customers with a dedicated loan specialist, like never before.
About mymoneykarma
mymoneykarma.com is your one-stop intelligent finance assistant, where you can get anything from your Credit Score to a Loan – within minutes! We strive to empower customers and help them find financial services and products that best fit their needs through financial education, analytics-based recommendations and technology & to top it off – a dedicated Loan specialist.
Briefing:
A group of Stanford alumni with a strong background in banking and technology, passionate about creating a positive impact in the lives of people by helping them manage their finances better. We believe that no two people have the same financial situation, so they should not be given one size fit all financial recommendations. However, many individuals do not have access to professionals who can give them personalised advice to help them manage their finances.
We are changing that by providing FREE and EASY access to personalised financial management using proprietary algorithms developed by our deep understanding of the financial space and technology. Mymoneykarma is democratizing finance and helping people manage their money well to create a better today and a secure future.
