Arifa Khan

Managing Director at Genius Incubator | Founder at FinTech Storm

London, United Kingdom

@misskhan | @FintechStorm | LinkedIn Profile

You grew up in rural India. How did your early years shape your character in the challenges you had to meet head on in your early education and career choices?

My early upbringing was a unique combination of peace and quietude and glamour. I was the first born in a traditional conservative Muslim family and was brought up by my maternal grandparents. My grandfather was a leader everyone in town looked up to as he had built a national business out of nothing, with no family background in entrepreneurship. He believed in giving me exposure so we traveled a lot ever since I can recall. I remember calling on Ms Indira Gandhi at her Allahabad bungalow when I was barely 6. Also as a parent figure he took personal interest in me and spent a lot of time having conversations with me so I was close to him. He was broad-minded and knew how to build character and especially took pride in my brilliance. This developed my self-confidence and personality early on. Because he was the family head, while no one dared oppose him I would have views of my own. This built in me a strong sense of self-worth and hunger for achievement. My town did not have good colleges or a library. I remember having a voracious appetite for books and knowledge, which was not met by the books I had access to. I had strong beliefs. One such was that genius is something you acquire with discipline. I also believed in vegetarianism and disciplining ones mind through control of senses to sharpen one’s intellect. I took no coaching for IIT entrance. My grandfather had ordered me a problem book for IIT coaching from the capital Delhi on my request, though I seldom made such requests. I had this strong philosophy of self-reliance as a kid. I would devour the book everyday and solve problems. I took responsibility for my success early on as I was aware that my educational environment could not compete with the best in India, and yet I wanted to compete with the best students in India. My grandfather was also a spartan who believed in living a simple life , as he was a deeply spiritual practitioner. So I naturally imbibed his nature and never asked him for money.

Lack of resources like availability of books and quality of schools etc. made my resolve steely while at the same time I was under absolutely no external pressure to perform. I never believed in tuitions so I had a lot of free time. This gave me an enormous sense of freedom to chart my own course. For example, I would disregard the class teaching schedule and would make my own schedule for preparation and exams. I kind of had an epiphany of my future and aware of my childhood limitations so I valiantly battled each of my challenges; like public speaking, in areas where I naturally did not excel. My mind was so sharp with this constant exercise that I was always getting ahead of myself. So despite lack of external stimuli, this unique combination of resource constrained environment, personal freedom and a disciplined mind drove me to higher and higher goals.

What was your decision process to focus on Financial Services at a young age? Did anyone provide guidance in this process?

I was mathematically gifted as a child. The preciseness of mathematical science fascinated me. If you are a great student of English, you may not score 100% marks, but if you are great in maths you always score a 100%. There was zero guidance. No one expected me to go beyond school as Muslim families believe in getting their girls married in teens. The excitement of self-discovery was the propelling force as I had to train myself without relying on coaching classes. For example, students in cities would be enrolled in IIT JEE coaching classes for 2 years. I only took a month long course in Chennai and my grandfather had to put me up with a family of his Brahmin business partner. I had a huge air conditioned room to myself and they dined me out at Taj Coromandel etc. as they dearly respected my grandfather and were just entertaining him, but I am sure they were surprised by me. I was a vegetarian like them and I finally made it to IIT Chennai. I garnered a great deal of respect wherever I went because I had my own identity as a responsible student who sought unchartered territory. And I had the support of a very strong person who did not believe anything was impossible - my grandfather. Before every exam, I would ask him to pray. He was a deeply spiritual man who had attained special mental powers. I feel he mostly willed and prayed for my success and brought it to life. While I was very young to understand what it meant then, but he told me several times that I was very brave and courageous. Sometimes my confidence made me take risky decisions, but his cautious judgment would temper it down.

After I made it to IIT. When everyone in IIT was preparing for GMAT to do masters in USA, I was very sure that I wanted to pursue a management degree. I had never dreamed of going abroad. Yet I took the GMAT just for the love of a challenge. I could only have chosen finance in subsequent study as a logical extension of my love for mathematics. So I eventually went to Wharton as it is the Mecca for students of finance.

What was your experience like as a young woman studying engineering in the early 90’s in India? Was this consistent with your experience a decade later at Wharton?

My experience at IIT was a dream come true. Not just because I had made it to IIT. I had written in a post earlier that IIT was akin to a gurukul where one acquired knowledge under the tutelage of wise sages, as chronicled in our classics like Mahabharata, and was unlike anything I had seen before.

What was remarkable about IIT was I was never made aware of my gender. I was treated equal to my male classmates in every way - which was exemplary in the 90’s. I was once a part of an institute led Industrial tour of entire India where I was the only girl in a group of over 20. I had to get a special written permission from my grandfather that he was aware I was going alone and he allowed the institute to do so. Such was his trust in me. When we returned from the tour, my tour coordinator and my Head of Department , who later went on to become the Director of IIT Madras, were both praises for me. At IIT Madras I felt home, and was free to pursue my various interests which I did not have the opportunity to explore earlier - like the humanities, English literature, athletics, public speaking, writing etc. I got to practice much of it for the first time at IIT. My professors were very family like and never discriminated us on the basis of gender or anything. I once got an unbelievable 9.6 CGPA in my third year and none of my professors was surprised though I had been an average student earlier because of my focus on grooming myself as a well rounded personality.

At Wharton, the experience was more traumatic as it was my first visit to USA and I had no friends and family there and I felt intensely homesick for India.

Within a month of going to Wharton, I returned to India to be at my sister’s wedding. She looked so beautiful that I felt just a look at her as the bride was worth the entire trip.

Wharton was very intense and we were constantly on the verge of a burn out - unable to decide on the dozens of options available at any single instant. There was pressure to nail that Investment Banking internship right from the go. I wanted to be a banker and so did everyone else. I had no idea how to make small talk with those Wall Street bankers who came for informationals. Yet I nailed it and it was serendipity again. I had returned from my internship with Shell in London having shopped for a month for the best suit and finally settling for a black Georgio Armani suit. I walked so gracefully and confidently into this interview with Mr. Lee Lebrun, a Managing Director from UBS New York, that he shortlisted me and invited me to New York for second round of interviews. All my anxieties were put to rest when after some 20 interviews in New York in one day, I was hired into the Swiss bank - UBS. A few years ago, when I had made a stop at Zurich enroute to London, I was spellbound by the huge imposing doors of UBS. Perhaps subconsciously I had desired it. So I have a fashion designer to thank for making my banker dream come true! I absolutely swear by Georgio when I have to nail a high stakes gamble.

Because of my cultural unpreparedness for America, harsh weather, and the long commute to India, my London stopovers came as the cool mid-summer showers of relief. But Wharton reset my life back as a student - which I always loved, and quenched my thirst for going deep into every advanced finance subject - and knowing that I was learning from the very best in finance. I also felt like a millionaire - having signed up to pay a bomb in fees! Prof Jeremy Siegel, the authority on investing, held us in awe every afternoon with his markets update. The economy was terrible for MBA grads in 2003 so I helped place students in India for internships. I founded the Wharton Culture Club and hosted a fashion show, without knowing yet that I would be a painter one day! I have been playing the official global cultural ambassador for India ever since!

How did your career progression at global Financial Services companies you worked at (BNP Paribas, Standard & Poors, HSBC) influence your approach as a FinTech investor today?

I did not have an informed view of career options available to me at 20 when I got the first job as an executive with HSBC. I was awed by the glamour of being a female executive in a big bank and I showed my family the glitzy Hong Kong buildings on its brochure. Then came the surprise 3 month training in the wildly romantic and picturesque Bricketwood, London, which offered me my first trip abroad.

HSBC gave me the first taste of serendipity in my career. I had just watched a blockbuster DDLJ whose claim to fame is everyone who watches it falls in love, with the movie at least. The protagonist couple meet on an unplanned Pan European trip. It was the first movie which so beautifully showcased the visual splendor of Europe. Lo and behold, I was on a similar breathtaking trip. Though there was no one to romance, it was still one of the profoundly beautiful experiences of my life! I got to tour Europe as a care free trainee unencumbered by the stresses of a corporate life, without planning it. When I first saw Paris in moon lit night, I thought no less of it than a paradise.

I fell in love with London at first sight! The training program gave me a 360 view of retail, corporate and investment banking and the securities world, and this fueled my desire to go to Wharton.

At Crisil India which was Standard & Poor’s subsidiary then, we had a unique organisation where our output was a ratings report and week after week we had to present our rating analysis to the Board which comprised of the most respected finance heavyweights from India, and defend our ill formed views. Our board could assess the character flaws of promoters as easily as spotting an undeclared contingent liability on an innocuous balance sheet. So I learnt the right and practicalities of analysis while also blustering my way through the views of senior board members with unflinching confidence. I had trained with the best.

It gave me my most potent arsenal - the confidence to be myself - in any setting. This ability has seemingly won me many personal friends who are global leaders on the boards of fiercely competitive and revered global companies, and I debate with them as if my views are as important as their vastly superior, informed ones. This came from my ability to hold my own before my grandfather - a strong man who was humble enough to love and respect a child equally.

I traveled the length and breadth of the country on company visits assessing manufacturing plants, meeting executive teams etc. This experience would come to haunt me later in my Leveraged Finance stint at UBS and Credit Suisse where I would tour Europe and US doing the same, only in much more glamorous settings like limousines and the like that reminded one of settings of 007 movies. I once literally landed in Atlantis Paradise in Bahamas and was chasing my boss with a laptop to make a presentation on - hold your breath - Indian pharma.

So having seen so much breadth and depth, one tends to hone acute instincts which are key to spotting a winner.

What makes London so unique as a FinTech hub in your opinion?

The answer is a cliche. It has bankers like me who came here with a dream and lived in a very surreal world. It has creative design firms and artists with the creative thinking in design. It is the global art capital. It has the diversity of cultures that makes for building compelling multi-dimensional teams. It has ordinary people who protest the old ways of banks and bankers. It has the most concentration of Fortune 500 companies. It has the Govt. support for the entrepreneurial ecosystem and unparalleled policies like tax schemes encouraging investors in startups. And it has this throbbing ecosystem where we encourage, inspire and teach each other all the time. Everyday you have 100’s of ecosystem enabling platforms, hackathons and events happening all over London showcasing the best that London has to offer - and most of them are free for the intellectually curious and the adventurous in spirit. Perfect for a startup.

You founded FinTech Storm events. What was your motivation behind this and what has surprised you the most about the events?

I was intrigued by this emerging hotbed of activity and wanted to learn all about Fintech.

London ‘s potential as the ideal magic recipe for Fintech industry’s success and my own overlapping interests in banking, startups, technology, and art, and my unique intuitive ability to spot winners compelled me to launch Fintech Storm to discover raw talent, to host Oprah like shows and debates, to truly navigate the landscape in the deep, like a submarine not as a surfer, and to be glamorous! It’s glamorous to call a few CEOs who know their stuff and to debate with them fearlessly.

What surprised me most about the events is the number of people it has inspired to take their act a notch higher inn their entrepreneurial journeys. And the diverse array of people it fascinates - from academicians and researchers to investors, explorers and very successful companies looking for ideas and talent.

You are an accomplished artist. How does your love of art translate into your business methodology? How important is art in your ‘life balance’?

Finding the artist in me was exhilarating. I spent some years rejoicing that discovery. Art opened up a hidden dimension to me that lent a richness to my personality. Charisma helps business. Just the fact that I am an artist has opened a lot of doors for me as everyone is intrigued by an artist and wants to figure them out. You have more parts of your brain working, so thinking and problem solving are far superior.

Art is also pure meditation so it has taught me the ultimate secret to generate joy from within. Entrepreneurs are so driven and blinded in their pursuits that they can easily overlook the big picture and lose sight of the vision and get lost in details. Art lets you reconnect with your core where all miracles reside, waiting to manifest. I feel extra ordinary when I paint. The rush of endorphins and the joy of creation take me to the field of all possibilities. But besides any accomplishment - art helps me live my raison de etre - of being blissfully content. Art has also made me a far more intuitive, perceptive, insightful , compassionate and playful person as art takes you to the higher planes of existence.

Who(m) do you believe has had the most influence with respect to your own career?

My grandfather, for shaping me into a very strong character from early on. Without that character building, and the confidence building I would not have made the choices I did, and I would not have stayed the course.

I would like to pay a tribute to my late mentor, my then CEO at Crisil , Mr Ravimohan , who nurtured my career and gracefully maintained a friendship till he died. He was one of the most influential celebrity leaders of India. He had a razor sharp mind, was multi faceted and an intellectual force to reckon with in the echelons of power and corporate board rooms. He told me very early on that I was extremely talented and he cherished and nurtured my career with great compassion and perhaps a concealed pride. He would often send me a request to write his next speech.

He had a way of unexpectedly pushing me to take charge of crucial responsibilities and therefore into the limelight. Once he was to give a lecture at IIM Kolkata, and at the last minute he announced to the packed house of students that I would give the lecture instead! I was least prepared but sparkled in his attention. More importantly he was generous with his time, his accessibility. By that time I had lost my grandfather so that was a golden memory in my life, of enjoying the confidence of a fiercely strong leader.

He passed away a few years ago, but not before I embarked on my adventure of entrepreneurship. He had once told me that I would not be challenged enough by anything other than entrepreneurship.

In hindsight, his contribution to my career has been immense.

I think I have been lucky the third time as I am once again building such a special symbiotic relationship. And I feel the wind beneath my wings and the force of my dreams…

To these special men that have been instrumental in my incredible life story, I would say your legacy will live on - though you may not have lived to see it!

What do you see as the 3 leading future trends for FinTech?

• Peer to Peer Banking - this is a trend which is yet untapped, but I see this coming.
• Blockchain
• Technologies will replace institutions
• Virtual currencies as token of value