Livemint interviews Josh Talks co-founder Supriya Paul
Delhi, 12 May 2019
Josh Talks Co-founder Supriya Paul, along with 3 other business leaders Radhika Gupta, Shailja Dutt and Shanti Ekambaram shared the money lessons she learnt from her mother in a special Mother’s Day edition article in LiveMint. The issue covered saving habits, usage of debt, financial independence along with planning and flexibility in decision making.
Supriya Paul, 25, co-founder of Josh Talks, an impact media platform, remembered how her mother insisted her to keep away all the gifted money from birthdays and other occasions and how that affected her savings habits. She also shared her mother’s philosophy of not being financially liable to anyone, including banks and how that ideology has changed a bit since inception of Josh Talks but still rooted in the idea of taking only as much credit that is within her capacity to service. Recalling a mock stock market investing exercise that her parents introduced her to wherein she was given an imaginary ₹50,000 to invest in stocks of her choice, she shared how it helped her decision making in regards to investments she holds now.
Shanti Ekambaram, 56, president, consumer banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, talked about her mother’s emergency fund that the family would have to fall back on every month when the income would fall short for unplanned expenses. And recalled the stress her mother went through to pay off the one borrowing the family had made to buy some property. All of which she referred to as the three pillars of women empowerment—education, financial independence and financial literacy.
To be able to manage with what you have and prioritizing are lessons that Shailja Dutt, 49, founder of Stellar Search, a global leadership advisory and talent management firm, learnt from her mother’s experience. She remembered debt as the root cause of her mother’s troubles while she was growing up and how that has made her avoid borrowing completely. And ascribed her fierce need to be financially independent to seeing her mother struggle to manage after a messy divorce.
Radhika Gupta, 36, chief executive officer of Edelweiss Asset Management Ltd, talked about her mother’s secret stash of money for rainy days and its importance towards teaching her about savings. And how her mother inspired her to be financially independent yet responsible.
The article concluded with incidents and anecdotes that these business leaders learnt from their mothers’ discussion and their opinions on the way women take monetary decisions in the country.