Born and bought up in Jatni, a small town near Bhubaneswar, Odisha, IFA Sudhashu Sekhar Mohapatra started financial advisory in 1997.
Mohapatra's first brush with financial advisory came during his college days when he gave recommendations on mutual fund schemes and stocks to friends and family members. It was easy for him since he had a keen interest in capital markets and mutual funds.
Though Mohapatra began his professional journey with an accountancy job, he always wanted to do something on his own. Financial advisory was his natural choice. In 1997, he floated Subham Capital in Khurda, near Bhubaneswar.
Initial days
The initial days were a struggle because investors had no knowledge of mutual funds at the time. He had to educate prospective clients about the basics of mutual funds. Mohapatra had to meet prospects at least 5 times before he converted them into clients.
Mohapatra believes that investors should start their investment journey with less risky products. Even then, he used to recommend debt funds to the first-time investors and slowly graduate into riskier high yielding investments.
His conservative strategy paid rich dividends during the dotcom bubble burst. Since most of his clients had invested in debt funds they saw double digit returns despite the market crash.
The whole episode helped cement Mohapatra’s reputation as an astute wealth manager and his clients happily referred him to their contacts. Many of his clients now come through referrals.
Acquiring new clients
Mohapatra also acquires clients through investor awareness programmes (IAPs). He prefers to conduct these sessions jointly with two-three IFAs to reduce costs.
“Getting investors to attend IAPs is no cakewalk. It involves rigorous follow-ups. Then there are costs involved such as hotel, food and logistics. Hence, a joint session helps us divide our responsibilities equally and share expenses. Also, we get access to large audience,” he said.
Mohapatra and other IFAs of his association Odisha Mutual Fund Association of Advisers (OMFAA) conduct around two IAPs a month.
Managing association
Mohapatra founded OMFAA in 2009 with the sole purpose of raising the intellectual capital of IFAs. This association holds a knowledge session once a month in which at least one member has to share business development tips that have helped him grow business.
“In these knowledge events, one of us has to deliver a presentation on tips that have helped grow business. The other members give feedback. Basically, members share their recipe for success and business development tips such as targeting millennials, asking for referrals and so on.”
The association has helped many IFAs in Odisha to learn best business practices to grow business.
Client engagement
Mohapatra reviews the portfolio of his clients bi-annually. This helps him rejig his clients’ portfolio, if there are crucial changes in their life events and financial goals. From a client’s perspective, such meetings reiterate the importance of his financial advice.
Summing up
Currently, Mohapatra advises nearly 1,700 investors and manages close to Rs.75 crore.
However, his true asset is creating a workforce of IFAs. Mohapatra has encouraged many to take up mutual fund distribution business and provided fellow IFAs of Odisha with necessary training and skillsets critical in the advisory business.
