Jul 30,2024
Entrepreneur's Corner - August 2024
August looks at Namita Vikas, founder of auctusESG, a sustainable finance and ESG firm. Read on to find out more about the company, and Namita.
Born: 1971
Homes: Mumbai, London and New York
School: Canossa Convent Girls High School, where Wren and Martin books were not only used to refine language, grammar and composition, but also, placed on the head as a posture corrector
University: Columbia University and Mumbai University
First job: Giving demos and selling mixer grinders outside a white good store (Curry’s equivalent)
Cars: First car was a Fiat. Now a proud owner of a Mini Cooper. As a climate action evangelist, not so proud of my buy - the hybrid Mercedes GLE 53 AMG.
Last Holiday: Cayuga Lake, Ithaca, New York
Favourite book: The Godfather, Mario Puzo and I Do What I Do, Dr Raghuram Rajan
Favourite film: The Big Short- lesson learnt is that patience is not just a life virtue, but can be transformative in the realm of finance and investing
Favourite music: 80s and 90s pop like Celine Dion
Favourite drink: Rhubarb and ginger gin on the rocks, with a nice squeeze of a lemon
Favourite watch: Chopard- Happy Sport
Favourite gadget: My iPhone. Lost without it
Cat or dog: Love dogs. 2 in the family, Rufus and Winnie
Charity: Charities aimed at environmental protection and food and water security, with Finance at the helm
Q: Could you sum up your company for us in no more than 100 words?
A: auctusESG is a sustainable finance and ESG advisory firm that works with the global financial sector on sustainable finance, climate risks and the climate transition.
With practitioners in leadership positions, the firm has successfully completed many impactful projects with marquee clients, including the governments of the UK, Chile, Zimbabwe and India, UN agencies including UNDP, UNESCO, UN Women, DFIs like the ADB, Proparco and international organisations like the World Bank, and the Rabo Foundation.
The firm works extensively on skill enhancement and so far, has trained 1500+ credit and risk officers across large public and private sector banks, in India, Latin America, Central Asia and APAC specifically on climate risk management.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received or given?
A: ” If failure is likely, fail fast” – advice by my ex-boss, (Harsh Mariwala, Chairman, Marico Industries). It is good way to mitigate losses
Q: What is something you wish you’d always known?
A: The loneliness and isolation of being an entrepreneur
Q: What does your typical working day look like?
A: Depending on my time zone, I start my day between 0300-0900 hrs, with internal emails, calls, ensuring speedy decisions, eliminating bottlenecks for the team. Followed by attending to tasks at hand, client meetings, project deliverables. Prep for any public speaking engagements for the week. With 25-30% of time allocated to upgrading knowledge, given the fast-evolving space and frequent regulatory or banking updates within climate finance sector.
Keep an eye out for our next Entrepreneur in the EC, coming in September.