CEO Insights Magazine

Anand Krish Ramani

Group CFO

In the fast-paced world of business and finance, financial leaders are essential in shaping financial strategies, ensuring compliance with regulations, and adapting to the changing business environment. Anand Krish Ramani, a Chartered Accountant with over 26 years of experience, has a strong track record in driving strategic growth, corporate finance, private equity investments, and M&A activities across India, GCC, and Sub-Saharan Africa. He has worked in commercial banking, investment management, financial advisory, strategic development, and financial controls. Anand also played a key role in formulating and executing the long-term business growth and digital transformation strategy for a commercial bank in Oman, and has extensive experience working with leading organizations across the GCC, India, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Below is an excerpt of Anand Krish Ramani’s exclusive interaction with CEO Insights Asia magazine.

You possess over 26 years of strong professional experience in the financial services sector. Could you walk us through the milestones of your growth story so far?

I started my professional career with Deloitte, Bangalore in Audit and Assurance specialising in the financial services industry. I commenced my corporate career as the youngest Financial Controller of a foreign bank in India, at the age of 26. Over the past 26 years of my career spanning across five countries, I have held senior positions in Financials controls, M&A, Private Equity, Corporate Finance, Strategy and Digital Transformation.

In your earlier role as strategy and digital transformation leader, what would you rate as your key achievement?

During my role, I had this unique opportunity to work closely with the Board and the Senior Management to formulate and implement a 3-year digital transformation strategy and road map for the bank. Amongst the various initiatives we rolled out, I would consider the launch of ‘first of its kind’ end-to-end digital crowd funding platform to finance local SMEs in Oman, as one of my key achievements.

Tell us about your experience in pursuing investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa?

As the Managing Director of an Africa focused PE firm, my role was to identify, evaluate, structure and invest in core infrastructure projects across affordable housing, renewal energy, agro processing under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. These initiatives helped us bring about a significant impact to the local communities by creating adequate employment, knowledge transfer and overall social upliftment, without diluting the commercial intent of the PE fund.

How do you plan to apply your long professional experience in this domain to add more stars to the organization's profile?

I have been fortunate to work with large regional banks and investment holding companies across the region at a very early stage in my career. This provided me with excellent insights into their long-term vision and strategy formulation for sustainable value creation to their shareholders. Further, in all my roles, I have worked very closely with the Senior Management and the Boards of these organisations, which made me a first-hand witness to different management styles and approaches within these large organisations in dealing with both opportunities and challenges. I do not hesitate to apply some of these key learnings over the years in my day-to-day operations and management.

What is the kind of effect this can have in guiding and influencing the decision-making process? How does your role become an integral driver of choices?

In my opinion, large organizations having regional/ international presence and having diversified business segments must constantly keep an eye on the key market developments to be able to take advantage of the opportunities or take corrective actions wherever necessary. This implies that the decision-making process has to be swift, effective, and also data-driven. My role as the Group's Chief Financial Officer is to ensure we have the right ecosystem for decision-making supported by sufficient data points.

Describe your leadership approach as a financial expert.

I adhere to an open-door policy and value the introduction of new ideas from the team members, regardless of their seniority within the department. I firmly believe in the limitations of individual knowledge and, therefore, recognize the importance of collaborative decision-making. My team comprises over 200 members, a significant majority of whom are accomplished chartered accountants with diverse industry backgrounds and experiences.

When addressing problem statements, I advocate for a collective approach to decision-making. I actively seek input from subject matter experts, as I am convinced that the amalgamation of diverse perspectives leads to more informed decisions, as opposed to unilateral directives. Open communication is the cornerstone of my team management strategy.

What advice would you give to the upcoming financial leaders in the industry?

Well, I would say learn to embrace challenges and changes in life with an open mind and not to get fixated on what type of role you should and should not accept, especially at an early stage in your life. Earning a professional degree is only an ‘entry ticket’ to the corporate world but the real learning takes place based on how you react to a particular challenge or a change in your life. I have always accepted challenges and changes in my life with a positive attitude and that has definitely helped me a lot in my personal journey.

Anand Krish Ramani, Group CFO, Rezayat Group

Anand Krish Ramani joined Rezayat Group in April 2023 as the Group CFO, directly reporting to the Group Board of Directors. He holds 26+ years of experience in the financial services industry and a strong track record of driving strategic growth, corporate finance, private equity investments, and M&A activities across India, GCC, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

•Hobbies: Trekking and playing Badminton

•Favorite Cuisine: Indian and Mexican

•Favorite Book: The Snow Ball by Alice Schroeder

•Favorite Travel Destination: Sub-Saharan Africa