Only as strong as the team around you

Sushil Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer of Aavas Financiers, never aspired to be CEO of a financial services company.

Call it a twist of fate, or maybe destiny: Despite having other plans, he emerged as one of India's most promising corporate leaders. Now, Agarwal runs one of India's most prominent retail and housing finance companies, primarily serving low, middle-income and self-employed customers throughout non-urban India.

Aavas still has a lot of growth potential, and Agarwal is ready to meet it with the help of his managerial team. For him, the key to success lies in strong succession planning and being ready for the future.

"Today our management team is ten people strong. It's not just me who takes decisions for the company. When you create an organisation for the future, you create a team that [sees things the same way.] But it's important that everybody sees a growth path for themselves,” he concludes.

From ICICI Bank to Aavas Financiers

Agarwal spent his first professional years at ICICI bank, where he quickly rose into senior leadership positions. His true nature, however, insisted that he take on a project of his own. “Since I belong to a business family, I always wanted to do something of my own. At the age of 32, I got this opportunity to run the housing finance company. On the day of joining, I bought my equity. That's how the journey started in 2012.” He uses these four guiding principles for leaders to navigate today's workplace - both in hiring and for larger success:

Be open to hiring from different backgrounds

The former Chief Manager of ICICI Bank Limited, Agarwal has also worked with Kotak Mahindra Primus Limited as Assistant Manager. On top of his business experience, he is also a qualified Company Secretary and a Chartered Accountant who secured the tenth rank in his final examination. It wasn’t until Agarwal’s recognition as a top student that the tide of his future employment truly turned.

“I belong to a middle-class family in Jaipur. My Father used to run a cloth shop. During my graduation, I used to spend a considerable amount of time at my father's shop. There was no intention to come into the financial world. My father allowed me to do a job after I won the gold medal for CA,” he recalls.

Learn about your customer - then learn some more

From the very beginning at Aavas Financiers, Agarwal was adamant that he would not be sitting inside an air-conditioned office, but a hands-on leader. Says Agarwal, “We began our journey in a tier 6 city, and 73% of our customers have taken a loan for the first time in their lives. In the first year when we had 1200 customers, I had personally met 1100.”

Invest in the right talent and skillsets for the future

He says that through the years, Aavas has also made significant investments in information technology systems to make the business sustainable. “Today, we have 60 software engineers, and 5 IIT-IIM guys managing the software side. Further, 100 percent of sales leads come through the mobile app. We have reduced the turnaround time from 24 days to 10 days.”

Ramping up the high-tech solutions is just one half of the Aavas story. The other is a strong management team. Agarwal often speaks in plural, talking about the company in terms of “we” more than “I,” which belies his belief in the value of strong teams.

“You will need the right kind of people to make your company sustainable. If you don't have people, you will not be able to grow. So, we created a robust management team. Under every leader, there are three other people to assist him.”

For more insights from Agarwal, read his full interview here. He is just one of many leaders who are Powering India's Future.