Reflections on New Year’s Day 2022

As 2021 comes to a close, I’m taking a moment to reflect not only on what this year has looked like, but also the decade that preceded it. 2021 marked the 10-year anniversary of Kinara Capital. Ten years of driving impact through financial inclusion in the MSME sector in India has taught us a profusion of lessons, big and small. But perhaps my greatest takeaway has been the need to stay focused on the customers we serve and the real problem we are trying to address. This past decade has? shown me the importance of having a clear vision and understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish, and adapting along the way.

After 10 years of building and running a company, it’s almost as though your identity becomes one with the mission you’re driving. Kinara is the base on which I have built and molded my entrepreneurial vision. As an organization, what has helped us reach this juncture is standing by our values and having a clear vision of what we wanted to accomplish. We saw ourselves transforming lives, livelihoods, and local economies connected to the MSME industry in India, and over the past decade, we have done just that by constantly striving to close the vast credit gap, which poses such an enormous challenge to the growth of small businesses. Over this decade, not only has Kinara been able to help small business entrepreneurs improve their businesses and lives, but also enabled business owners to generate hundreds of new jobs, as well as sustained employment for existing workers in factories, shops, and service industries.?

I am very proud of the culture we have built as an organization. Coming into this industry, it was impossible to ignore the skewed ratios when it came to the participation of women. While financial services was an evidently male-dominated field, we saw echoes of the same among our customer base. We took it upon ourselves to shatter the barriers by creating an inclusive and equal-opportunity workplace, and by supporting people of all genders and backgrounds. We also took our stance to support women entrepreneurs very seriously, launching HerVikas as a means to deliver access to capital to women-owned businesses. In the process, we have set an incredibly positive example for the industry at large about what inclusivity and diversity really means.

While we have always focused on sustainable growth and adaptability, nothing could have quite prepared us for the pandemic and its devastating aftermath. However, in retrospect, while the past two years have been exceptionally testing, they have been very transformative. As we saw our industry weather the myriad challenges presented by that pandemic, we chose to take this time to further digitize and revamp our technology to help our customers. It brought home the magnitude of the change we had sparked. We enhanced our data-driven credit decisioning such that we can now take an MSME from loan application decisioning to disbursement within 24-hours with our new myKinara app.?

Even though the pandemic is not quite in the rearview yet, what I see in the future of the industry, as well as the economy as a whole, is growth. After all it is true when said, astra inclinant, sed non obligant.

The overall economic recovery towards the end of 2021 has left us all feeling hopeful for what lies ahead in 2022. As businesses start getting back to where they were pre-Covid, I’m looking forward to that breakthrough moment when we will finally be able to put the pandemic slowdowns firmly behind us, and move on.?Through every challenge and setback we have encountered, I have seen the tenacity and resolve that I put into building Kinara, reflected in every member of the team we have assembled.?

This decade has been a personal journey for me, as much as it has been an entrepreneurial one. I’ve explored and experienced some incredible avenues, met a multitude of interesting people, and gathered stories for days. At different stages of the process, the challenges have changed and the goalposts have shifted, but the vision of creating a more financially inclusive world has remained as clear as it was the day I decided to quit my job and move across the world to start Kinara. That’s my secret sauce, stay focused on one goal despite all other changes and challenges that may come your way.

To all of my well-wishers, friends and supporters, I wish you a Happy New Year filled with good health and happiness. Here is to hoping that I can raise a glass with many of you in person this year!?