Varun Agarwal, MyMoneyKarma: Working with heart to win consumer trust
Varun Agarwal, COO, MyMoneyKarma is led by passion, exuberance and dynamism of a young leader who is excelling with innovations and strategic ideation. Varun has been selected by WCRCINT as India’s Fastest Growing Business Leader 2022.
WCRCLEADERS in conversation with Varun Agarwal, COO, MyMoneyKarma
What makes a strong leader? What are your key leadership strengths are make the strongest attributes of success.
A strong leader comprises focus, communication, kindness, and grit. The key leadership that make the strongest attributes of success is being an effective communicator, accountable, setting clear goals and persisting in achieving them, having a vision for the future, fostering creativity, innovation, promoting teamwork, and lastly creating good relationships.
An accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career? What challenges did you face to reach to the success.
As children, we are often taught to practice humility; to not show off in social situations because it is considered rude. Consequently, as adults, we often feel awkward discussing our achievements, even if we are asked about them directly. We subconsciously worry we are coming across as unlikeable or obnoxious. Of course, in many situations, including at work, humility is a useful trait. So, start embracing what makes you great.
Challenges you face to reach success – To have a negative mindset. Let’s face it, it is hard to avoid negativity in today’s environment, losing focus as most of us have many goals in life but we drift away from it by letting toxic people draining your energy are the daily challenges which today also I face it but now I know I have mastered the art of it.
What is a role of leader in these challenging times.
- Lead with empathy by focussing on health and safety
- Communicate quickly and clearly.
- Don’t make yourself the bottleneck and don’t centralize all decisions to self
- Contain context and provide focus
- Do not add further uncertainty that leads to confusion
What is your vision and how do you share that with your shareholders, employees and others?
My vision is to transfer the ability to make decisions to every person. If we are clear about why we do what we do, our vision becomes a filter through which any employee/shareholder can make their decisions that align with who we are and what we are about, but all of this is predicated on us as leaders regularly sharing this stuff.
How do you drive active business renovations and how does that impact your subordinates?
Set up a roadmap with realistic timelines by keeping employees and customers informed about latest changes/developments and simultaneously keeping company/MMK/organization image on point. All employees should be aware of the company’s vision and direction it is heading towards.
How do you integrate corporate philanthropy or corporate social responsibility as a part of your business strategies?
We religiously do volunteering by driving campaigns along with Philanthropy as it starts from home and during pandemic time made a point to take extra special care of our employees in every possible sense.
What has been your driving force or philosophy in life?
My driving force has been setting the right goals & following through each step to get there. At mymoneykarma, Customer will always be the King & their trust in our brand will continue to pave our path to success.
How do you plan to drive your business at a global level?
Our ultimate goal is to make every Indian, either in India or residing outside India have access to financial institutions minus the bank trips. Spearheading our reach to Indian customers, we are looking to take our product to customers across the globe following the same mantra – Customer first.
How do you define success and how do you measure up to your own definition?
Our success is very measurable. Getting a loan for a customer in any town in India, from the comfort of his mobile phone – that’s our success! A happy customer defines our company’s growth.
In your opinion what is the most significant aspect of leadership?
Most significant and yet difficult aspect of leadership is inspiring the team and its partner to believe in your vision, your dream, every single day. Being able to share your faith and belief to others is what holds the team and the organization together.
Your perception of an empowered society. How far your industry has/can contribute for the same?
We are on a mission to empower our society with a transparent lending process. mymoneykarma evolved out of the pain to approach multiple banks for a loan – to democratize finance. Our ultimate goal has been: To make finance accessible to every customer across the country (and the globe, too). We are proud to say that we have made progress & achieved success, today, with our partnership with over 70+ financial institutions.
Esprit de corps: How do bring fairies and equality to all?
At mymoneykarma, we have a flat organization style of running our business. Our employees have a clear understanding of the company’s vision, and their expectations to achieve goals together as a team. At mymoneykarma, we work as a family and hold their best interests in mind, at all time
