Listen to this article
Part 1
Part 2
As a part of its 26th anniversary celebration, Franklin Templeton launched ‘Invest For Progress’ Campaign to chronicle the inspiring stories of women mutual fund distributors who have carved a niche for themselves.
Under this campaign, Cafemutual has covered 24 stories to rejoice in the success of these women and to inspire many more to set up a solid distribution practice. And today, we bring to you the final two stories of this series.
These are the stories of Banita Jain and Roopa Venkatkrishnan.
Chapter: Banita Jain – The PoetFrom making meals to performing other household chores, Banita was a homemaker for close to 15 years. As much as she enjoyed looking after her home, she had an equally strong desire to do something on her own.
One day while talking to her friends, she came to know about mutual fund distribution. Intrigued to know more, she did some research on mutual fund distribution and sensed an opportunity.
In 2008, Banita started her journey as a mutual funds distributor. Though new to the business, Banita had a professional approach. She rented out an office space and hired a two-member team from day one. She believes that having an office creates a professional image and having a team gives more time to focus on client acquisition.
To start with, Banita reached out to her friends and her husband’s colleagues. She has a unique way of distributing mutual funds. She explains complex financial lessons through her poems. For instance, she promotes SIP through this:
बच्चे कहते हैं बड़ी कार लेनी है,
मन तो मेरा भी कहाता हैं, पर कैसे?
जानो सिप (SIP), होंगे सपने पूरे आज नहीं तो कल
Plan your dream car!
Notably, Banita has written couple of such poems that link investments with financial goals. She believes that poems make it easier for people to understand mutual funds. She also holds educational sessions for investors to acquire new clients. In these sessions too, she explains investment concepts through her poems.
Today, Banita operates from self-owned office premises and manages an AUM of over Rs. 160 crore for close to 3,000 clients under the name of Ashvvy Investment. Interestingly, her husband opted for voluntary retirement to join Banita in her business.
Her story teaches us:
- Having an office set-up helps in creating a professional image
- Using innovative ways like poetry recitation can simplify investments for clients
Chapter: Roopa Venkatkrishnan - The universal mutual funds distributor Coming from a software background, Roopa ventured into the financial industry on her friend’s advice. She started with the merchant banking department of an NBFC and later looked into PMS, mutual funds and portfolio construction.
Over time, Roopa, believing in the potential of mutual funds to generate wealth with modest but disciplined investing, took up mutual fund distribution in 2003. While her acquaintances were her initial clients, referrals and educational sessions won her new clients.
During her journey, she observed that those with modest earnings misconceived wealth creation to be only for the rich. To change this narrative, she educated them about the power of compounding which comes to play with time irrespective of the SIP amount. This gave such investors the confidence to start investing with as low as Rs. 500.
Catering to everyone with equal zeal, Roopa created a diverse client base of over 1,500 investors including professionals, businessmen, farm workers, security guards, house help, drivers and slum dwellers. And this is how she became a universal mutual funds distributor.
As she continued to expand her reach, her AUM grew close to Rs. 1,500 crore. Interestingly, she holds the vision of touching one million lives by making them financially independent!
Talking about her success mantra, Roopa shares that it is important to have a well-defined business purpose, strong skill sets and solid industry knowledge. Also, it is imperative to let clients know how a mutual fund distributor can add value to their lives.
Roopa is also mindful of uncertainties and wants to secure her investor’s interest in the future. She thus merged her practice with Sapient Wealth as a part of her succession planning.
Her story reiterates the importance of -
- Having a succession plan makes investors feel secure about their assets
- Talking about the difference that mutual fund distributors can create in investors’ lives, makes them value their mutual fund distributors even more
