This week on SuperChat with SuperCFO, we are proud to present Rajesh Surana, CFO at Holcim (Lanka) Ltd, which is a part of the global Holcim group. Being the market leader in the cement industry, the company focuses on Economic, Social, and Environmental performance along the triple bottom line of sustainable development. Rajesh heads the Finance and Accounts function for them out of their Sri Lanka office. Rajesh has over 14 years of work experience with Multinational Companies (all are world leaders in their respective fields). In this freewheeling chat, Rajesh talks about the lighter facets of life, his passion for writing in the digital and electronic age, why he admires Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani and Narayana Murthy amongst a host of other interesting perspectives and philosophies on... Read More →

Parker Brothers (the inventors of Monopoly), have printed more money for its Monopoly games than all the money the Federal Reserve has ever issued in real money for the United States. If you stacked up all the Monopoly sets made, the pile would be more than 1,100 miles high.  Read More →

Vision in Entrepreneurism! Coca Cola was first discovered in 1886 when Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist accidentally stumbled upon the recipe for the soda in a brass kettle in his backyard. A visionary entrepreneur named Asa Candler bought the formula from Pemberton in 1891 for would you believe; a monstrous USD 2,300/-. Need I say more? The rest is history!  Read More →

You have just stepped out of a restaurant after a great meal with friends! One of them who is drunk, drives up and offers you a ride home! This throws you in a dilemma as to whether you should accept the ride from him! As you are a mathematician by profession, numbers rule your world and as is your wont, you do a quick calculation and figure that there is a one in a 10000 chance that your ride with him will be fatal. On the other hand, if you accept his offer, you save the GBP 1 metro fare. After some quick thinking, you decide to go with him. After this decision of yours, what do you think your life is worth at the most? Hint: Don’t think so hard on this one! It is a no brainer!  Read More →

Are you headhunting for finance professional for your business but having a tough time finding one? Or rather are you a finance professional who is preparing for that job interview for a dream job that you so desire? Or rather are you an academician who is having a hard time figuring out the right mix of students for your new semester’s batch? If you have replied in the affirmative to any or all of the above queries, read on about the pioneering thought leadership initiative by SuperCFO called SuperCFO Challenge (www.supercfochallenge.com), an online Finance and Accounting Test (currently in beta testing), which stretches the limits of your Finance IQ! Over the past few months, there has been frenetic activity at SuperCFO. A dedicated team of CFOs, Finance Professionals and Business Analysts... Read More →

This week on SuperChat with SuperCFO, we are delighted to present a tete a tete with Manish Dawar, who is the Senior Vice President – Group Controller for Reckitt Benckiser (RB) in the U.K., a GBP 10 billion – FTSE 25, company with leading household brands like Dettol, Nurofen, Strepsils, Durex, Lysol, Finish, Vanish, Veet, Airwick etc etc. Manish is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary, having completed his Bachelor of Commerce from Panjab University in Chandigarh, India. Manish has a prolific professional experience of over 22 years in organizations of repute like Unilever, Reebok and Reckitt Benckiser. He was designated as CFO for Reebok India at a very young age of 31 and appointed as the Regional Finance Director for RB at the age of 36. He moved in his current role with... Read More →

Emails are ubiquitous in this day and age. The traditional method of writing letters and mailing them by post is almost obsolete. This makes it imperative that we all are aware of the basic courtesies to be followed when communicating via emails. This is more so in the professional arena where basic overlooking of common business email etiquettes can mar professional relationships. It is quite amazing to note the gaffes in email writing from employees across the hierarchical divide. In my 16 years of professional life, I have been witness to some really hilarious and at the same time serious and totally unavoidable errors in email communication; sometimes from people really senior in the hierarchy including CMDs and CEOs. Some of these have led to bitter altercations between the protagonists... Read More →

Do you think your business has reached a point in its lifecycle where you think an infusion of private equity will take it to the next level? If your answer is in the affirmative, you need to be aware of the critical success factors that would make such a PE investment viable for you and your business. We may think that our business could not go wrong, our white papers and business plans are perfect to the T. However all entrepreneurs need to think through their value proposition that they want to present to the various PE firms they plan to meet during the road show and essentially think from the point of view of the Private Equity players. What would be the due diligence points that most PE firms focus on while evaluating a potential deal? I think one needs to think through these critical... Read More →

This week on SuperChat with SuperCFO, we are proud to present Rishi Vig, CFO at ZAFCO, which is the largest distributor of auto ancillaries in the Gulf Region. Rishi heads the Finance and Accounts function for them out of their Dubai office in the UAE. Rishi has a prolific experience of 21 years in his professional career setting strategic direction & precise execution and funds mobilization through both debt & equity including IPOs. Rishi is energetic and proactive in his management style and believes in tenaciously employing his financial acumen and leadership abilities to innovate ideas that enhance profitability and growth for his employers. In this SuperChat, Rishi talks about his admiration for leaders like Jack Welch, Steve jobs and Warren Buffet and the critical importance of... Read More →

The benefits of drafting a solid, crisp and effective resume are only too obvious. Firstly, it opens the doors to your dream job by landing you with interview discussions with your potential employer. Enumerated below are some important tools and tips that one must not overlook whilst drafting an impressive summary of one’s professional achievements. Know the Raison D’etre – The purpose of drafting a resume is to land up as many interviews as possible and not land up jobs. Oftentimes, people write long pieces of prose which gets boring to peruse and usually lands up in the trash can. Know Your Job Search Objective – It is wise to ascertain your job search objective and then structure your resume around that objective and not the other way around. Brevity is the Name of the Game... Read More →