Woman uninterrupted: Being a boss at home and at work

It is the ability of women to prioritise and manage time even as they anticipate crises from timeto-time that has led her to charter her path as she spearheads many key initiatives at the boardroom level. And with good reason as she is the daughter-in-law of wellknown industrialist, R Thyagarajan, founder of the diversified financial conglomerate Shriram Group. 

Anupama is as passionate about drawing growth strategies as lending an ear to civic issues or attending the December music season without fail, year after year. The Chartered Accountant doesn’t believe in half-baked measures. But she does believe that professional qualification and financial independence are essential for women. The mother of a teenage son, Anupama, despite marrying at a young age, was egged by her parents in her early life to complete her academic pursuit. The fitness buff, a multi-talented personality – Bharatanatyam dancer and veena player talks to us on her journey so far.

I faced the same hurdles as any woman would face anywhere in India. From getting married to shifting to a new city (Kanpur, where I could not locate classes for my CA preparation) I encountered changes of all sorts. If marriage was a disruption, so too was the shift to a new city to a new place. By the time I wrote my final, I got shifted to Chennai. I was lucky, I cleared my CA in my first attempt. There are challenges to passing an exam after marriage. I would recommend young women to complete their education before thinking of marriage.

I was working with the Shriram Group’s engineering companies that included stints at the corporate cell, re-structuring exercises, when the group was still small and growing. 

With the birth of my son, I took the decision to take a six-year break, until he was in school. Attaining work-life balance is tough for most in India as we are family-oriented. We are conditioned to prefer child care over corporate meetings. Despite having all the familial support, I deliberately opted out of a full-time career. 

When I rejoined the corporate world, I worked with Shriram Life Insurance on underwriting investments. 

Three years ago, the Academy was born, primarily for the in-house employees of the life insurance business. With the buzz around eLearning, we started online courses for employees in financial services, covering 6,000 employees and later, added those from other verticals such as wealth management. My passion led me to develop content from scratch. 

Experience gained over the last 20 years, including exposure as the first finance manager in the engineering business to corporate planning to addressing civic issues, it has been a curve of learning and growing. 

I am set to take over the mantle of the Ficci Ladies Organisation (FLO) Chennai chapter that is taking steps to empower women. Ficci FLO is the largest women association in Asia that has 14 chapters nation-wide. The 300-member strong Chennai team has been growing from strength to strength with our grass-root level work including several skilling initiatives, targeting the mid-level and top-level woman leaders. 

Along with KPMG, we have conducted workshops on various subjects including session that will enable women to take Board roles. The Company Law has mandated the presence of a woman Director on a listed company Board. We have organised full-day workshops that covers a wide range of topics such as balance sheet and public speaking. Every year, 25 to 30 women have been attending these sessions across chapters.

Chennai Chennai is the intellectual capital – where the brain power is. Some of the most intelligent and educated women are from here. In my view, for an Indian woman, life begins at 40. 

I have watched closely women who have got married at 18 and who have not even stepped into an office, performing better. They are even able to set up small enterprises and run them successfully.

As part of time management, every woman must parallel process. So, when my son goes to tennis class, I try my hand at a few volleys.

When he goes swimming, I join him. In the evening, I take care of some social and corporate obligations involving groups such as Ficci, the Rotary and other networks, where I get to interact with like-minded people. The trick is to prioritise, manage your time and anticipate the crisis to come. I always carry iPad in the car; whether it is on the way to office or dropping my son to school. I take time out to read in the car and return phone calls.