Episode 24: You can’t take anything for granted.
Ketaki is quite the outlier- an economist by training who you really want to keep talking to! Plus, she’s a corporate warrior turned successful entrepreneur. Ms. Sharma is not just an interesting person but has informed views on a range of topics relevant to young professionals and one question led to another. All of which explains why this podcast interview happened.
So, the interview covers a raft of insights on economics, using big data, the importance of coding, how to stand out, women and resilience, the entrepreneurship mindset (and why you don’t have to quit being an employee), work/life balance and mental wellness, the importance of reading etc, all important topics that I strongly believe in.
Practical, positive and persuasive.
Enjoy!
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
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Binod Shankar:
This is Binod Shankar and you’re listening to the real finance mentor podcast from the realfinancementor.com. The real finance mentor is your go-to resource for insight and inspiration on careers in finance, CFA and more. Now you might think, why this podcast? Well, my goal is to deliver insight and inspiration for your financial career, by making it, one: relatable. I mean this is not theoretical stuff. We zero-in on the critical, practical issues. Number two: authentic. No bullshit, no side-stepping. The topics, guests and questions are all from that perspective. And number three: insightful. Take a Chartered accountant and a CFA charter holder, add 17-plus years as a corporate warrior, mix in 10-plus years of entrepreneurship, throw in a decade of full time CFA training. Add speaking, mentoring, cycling, mountaineering and other endurance activities, and that’s me! Welcome to The Real Finance Mentor, or as I call it: RFM.
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Binod Shankar:
Hi everyone, this is Binod Shankar here with the 'Real Finance Mentor' podcast, delivering insight and inspiration for your finance careers. We've got a special guest today who's going to speak about various matters regarding career and (give) tips for youngsters. I'm going to introduce today, Ketaki Sharma, who is the founder and CEO of 'Algorithm Research', a bespoke analytics and research firm, based out of the UAE, which has been part of the 'Y-Combinator' startup school, as well as winner of various regional entrepreneurship awards.
Ketaki is also a senior economist who's been tracking the MENA and the Indian markets over a region for over a decade. Prior to founding algorithm research, she was involved in setting up the research desks from scratch at two of the leading banks in the UAE and has also worked with Nomura Securities as India Economist in Mumbai. Ketaki has a sovereign rating background, having worked with Standard and Poor's, as a rating analyst covering the MENA region. So welcome, Ketaki, to the show.
Ketaki Sharma:
Thanks so much Binod, for having me. I'm really excited.
Binod Shankar:
Thank you. I'm going to start with a curveball of a question. What drew you towards, what I shall call, the 'dismal science' of economics?
Ketaki Sharma:
Well, you know, economics is something that is so relevant to everyone's daily lives, right? So, I think the relevance part of it, the aspect of its utility to improving your daily life, improving your financial aspects, for instance, understanding personal finance, has a lot to do with understanding of economics. So the interconnectedness of these two streams, I think, that got me really interested, to begin with. And then of course, the fact that you can actually forecast consumer behavior, you can understand mass trends, I think those things got me really into economics.
So I wouldn't call economics (a) science. I would call it (a) social science because it studies people. And science tends to be exact, whereas social science is never an exact science. And it's because different people have different preferences. So, when you have different preferences, there cannot be an exact yes or no. So is cold weather? What is cold weather? And is it good for us? That's a very personal choice. So, just as you can't have a specific answer to something, similarly, you can't have a specific solution for everyone. That's why economics is not an exact science. So, I love that part of it where you know it's not exact, but still, it does a pretty good job of solving a lot of problems in the financial world. So, I think those things are very attractive to me.
Binod Shankar:
Interesting, I've also gone through your profile, and I noticed that you've picked up Python and AI-related skills. You apply these at work, you mentioned to me a few days ago. The recent example being the Saudi Arabia report. So, I've got two questions for you here. Why is learning these, so important these days? How did you learn this?
Ketaki Sharma:
Okay, that's an interesting question. So, I think the world is increasingly moving towards tapping that immense amount of data that is available digitally. So I'm so back in like, say, the early 2000s, we had adopted these Excel-based modeling techniques, and back then we would rely on say, the company information that is released or say, government data that is released to make forecasts. But during today's day and age, there is so much more data that's available on the internet, through digital sources, that relying on just these would be like leaving that that immense amount of wealth on the table.
So you've got to tap into that set of information sources as an important information source. And in order to do so, you've got to learn those skills. So for instance, you should, you should know basic programming skills. It's no longer optional to know it. I think it's more like a life skill. It's like learning to cook. So you must learn how to code. It's like you're learning to use the computer. So I think those are skills that you've got to adapt to. It's no longer optional. So we've got to remember that- it's no longer optional, you've got to learn it, and the sooner the better.
In terms of the next question as to where I got the skills from- so, everything is available online. I learned these through the lockdown period last year, and from this university called Georgia Tech, and the course was done by this amazing Professor called David Joyner. So I would, I would recommend this to all those who are going to start from scratch and are confused about where to begin with. I think this course is the course for beginners in programming because the course is designed for absolutely new programmers.
Binod Shankar:
Interesting. Now, most of the audience for this podcast, Ketaki, are young finance professionals, Chartered Accountants, MBAs, CFA charter holders or CFA candidates. A lot of them work in or aspire to work in credit or equity research, sell side by side. So how do they (improve) skills and you know, those courses that you mentioned? How exactly would you say it will help a young finance professional break into, or stand out in these two areas of credit and equity research?
Ketaki Sharma:
Yeah, that's a great question. So, like I said, equity research, the way it was done earlier was the DCF modeling, Excel-based modeling. Now, that just taps into one specific data source and leaves this immense pool of data available digitally. So I think it's very important. Now. In fact, that's the way to stand out, everyone has been doing Excel-based modeling, everyone knows the DCF, every single person has been doing it for decades. What is it that you bring to the table? How do you stand out? So if you know how to program, if you know how to tap into big data, if you know how to do basic statistics, you are much better prepared to face the future finance industry. So you've got to learn these skills ASAP. So I would say that so far, what we are seeing with the fourth industrial revolution, is that quickly things are getting digitized. Everything. In fact, a lot of finance jobs have been eaten away by digitization.
So, in this day and age, you've got to know how to make sense of the equity markets; and cycles have become shorter. So that is much more happening. And there's a lot of data to process, and everything is interconnected. Globally, everything is interconnected. So you can't just, you know, study the impact of something like monetary policy in your country, in isolation. You've got to link it up with multiple things happening across the globe; which wasn't the case 20 years ago. So the world is far more interconnected. The impact of monetary policy in the US, or the impact of fiscal policy in the US can be felt everywhere in the world. And therefore, those should be built into the model. And there is data lying out there on the internet that should become a part of the model for you to have better recommendations for your client.
Binod Shankar:
I'm going to ask a follow-up question on that. Because to segue from what you mentioned about data, Ketaki, because this is an important application related question. So, you have a young finance professional who has got a CFA or CA and suppose he has learned coding and he knows his financial concepts and economics and accounting and things like that. But then, what you are basically hinting at, you're mentioning is things like non-traditional sources of data, high-frequency data. So, I have a couple of questions for you, and of course, I appreciate that you can't go into great detail, but, where do you get this data? How do you know about the quality or integrity of this data? How do you clean up the data?
And what I'm trying to say is, there's a huge process to be followed between identifying the data and finally getting it in front of your client for decision-making purposes. So, broadly speaking, what is the thinking around this and how should somebody think around this? I've heard words being tossed around like commercial acumen, apart from the basic skills like data analysis and Excel and programming. So, where does this leave this finance professional? What is that he needs to know, apart from just the skills that we mentioned?
Ketaki Sharma:
So, the first part about the credibility of data- let's address that first. So for instance, you are taking your data from say, Google. Is that a credible source? Yes. So, similarly, from YouTube, from Twitter, from Instagram. So all this analysis is say, based on the IT giants. So, from Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, and your analysis is based on real consumer interaction with posts, for instance. So, these are actually revealed preferences, these are the preferences of consumers, that they have said out of their own accord. And they haven't really been asked in a survey as to what their opinion is, where they have to care about being politically correct, or pretending to be something. Here they are their actual selves; or liking the comment.
So, when we are talking about taking data, we are not talking about taking data from some random site we have no idea about. We're talking about taking data from Twitter, from Instagram, from Facebook, from all these tech giants. It's like trusting the company that has released their data, right. So, if you can trust the data released by the same, say, P & G on their performance for the year, you can trust this as well. So, I think I think these are, these are credible sources. And that's where most of your analysis would be based out (of).
So these are big data sources, and you take data from these established firms, and you analyze this data. You don't present your client with the data dump. It's a data dump, if you give it to your client, it's a data dump. You analyze this data for the questions you want answers to. So you basically look at it, analyze it, and that's where the whole thing is- to develop the skills to handle this kind of data, which is big data, and be able to clean it, be able to analyze it, be able to perform statistical operations on it, be able to read what it means. So you can no longer be just a finance professional or an economist; you've got to be a programmer, you've got to be a statistician, you've got to be a bit of a data scientist. So the world probably needs more of generalists; not like generalist managers; like generalists with skills, with more than soft skills. So that's what I mean when I say that you've got to build on these skills.
Binod Shankar:
I like it when you economists...I think you have this unique ability to capture complex psychological phenomena in a few words. I liked your phrase "revealed preferences".
Ketaki Sharma:
Yes, that's a very popular economics jargon, and it is, it is what it is.
Binod Shankar:
It is what it is. exactly. Now, I want to go on a little bit of a different track here, and talk about something that members of the audience, especially women, would like to hear, and that is a your experience, Ketaki. What are the challenges specific to a woman in finance or in economics that you think exist? And during your own journey, both corporate and entrepreneurial, how did you tackle these?
Ketaki Sharma:
Oh, that's an interesting question. But a very often...I mean, I think it's a frequently asked question. I would say that the challenges faced by any woman professional, any professional, especially a woman, pretty much the stay same at the boardroom level as they are at the household level. So, it's not like that's a new thing that you are facing.
So for me, I think the main question to be...I mean, the whole world has discussed so much of this, that what are the issues that you face? I think we've talked about the issues, we hardly ever talk about how we can solve them. I mean, I would say that as a woman, we have a lot of power in the sense that we can alter how we behave, and how we raise our children at a household level. And that means preparing your kids for the future. And when I say kids, I mean both- boys and girls. So while we are preparing our daughters to take on the responsibility of running a household financially, we have to prepare our sons to take on responsibility of the family, much more than they are doing it now.
So there's a lot. I think we can change things in a big way through how we raise our children so that 20 years from now, it will be a very different scene. You don't have to ask this question anymore. It is different. It is harder. And I think we are probably because we've been seeing it from childhood, sometimes we don't really see it, we don't really feel it as much.
I think what really helps would be to be able to just go on without worrying too much, about what it is; "Maybe I'm a woman, and maybe that's why I'm being differentiated or discriminated against". So, I think the point here is that the solution to the problem is to alter how we raise our children, both boys and girls. And I think having a solutions-minded approach to it would be more helpful than to just generally talk about the problem because I mean, everyone is talking about it, but not doing anything about it.So, I think having that solution in mind would be...I mean, that's my solution to the problem.
Binod Shankar:
I understand the mindset Ketaki, and I understand your answer. But you still haven't given the answer, how did you tackle this specifically? I mean, what was your approach at various stages? Because you must have...you would have encountered situations.
Ketaki Sharma:
Like I said Binod, when you're faced with a certain set of issues from your childhood, so if there's discrimination, it just doesn't pop up when you are a professional. You face those issues growing up! Like if you get excellent marks in school, "Oh, wow, you've done well", without the kind of support that maybe a son would have. Or say, you know that how society is like, they would probably (say), "Oh, you've done well, you're too intelligent for a girl". Those kinds of comments, you've heard them before. So I think you get to develop that thick skin. You no longer hear it. So that has really helped me. I know, I've heard this before, but that's their problem, not mine.
Binod Shankar:
Interesting. So that's exactly the answer I was looking for. So I think the answer I found is probably, to capture in one word, is 'resilience'.
Ketaki Sharma:
Probably, yes. But we women are extremely resilient.
Binod Shankar:
Right. So, that is about your experience as a woman and as an economist. Let's talk about what prompted you to leave the corporate world and start on your own because that's, especially in this region, quite unusual, where most ex-pats come here on a two or three or five-year contract, tried to save some money and either go back home or head west to Australia or Canada, emigrate, whatever. But you are probably an outlier in the sense of having attempted entrepreneurship. So, what was the trigger?
Ketaki Sharma:
I think, multiple triggers. So of course, I think there was this deep desire to start a business someday. That was like a childhood dream. But I think what triggered it in terms of timing was the fact that I had given birth, I was a new mum, and I was commuting from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. Every single day, and I was sleep-deprived and overworked. And it was the deadly combination, where I had to just take a call on what I wanted to do with my life- whether to kill myself, or to give it a go and see, and start something of my own. I was involved in setting up the research desk at two banks already so I had done something similar with my last two jobs.
So, I thought maybe, if I were to start a research desk of my own in this country, it may work. And I had built that network of clients. And I thought I could tap into those. And yeah, I just decided to take that leap of faith. It wasn't as calculated as it may sound right now. But back then, I just wanted to do it. Because it felt like the right opportunity, to do so.
So, yeah, it was a massive leap of faith, it wasn't easy. And then it is more difficult, especially when you've worked for eight-nine years in a corporate job. It's harder; because you have developed that employee mindset, which is very different from an entrepreneurial mindset. So, it was unlearning and learning a lot of other new skills. So, it has taken its time, and today, in fact, coincidentally, we are five years old as an organization. And, I mean, I told myself, "I'll give myself two years; "if it works, we'll go ahead. If it doesn't, I'll just look for a job, and that will be it". So, five years down the line, it's still going strong, touchwood!
Binod Shankar:
You mentioned something very interesting, I was listening carefully to you about the difference between the employee mindset and the entrepreneurial mindset. I want to dig a little bit into that, because quite a few of my former students, ex-colleagues, friends, are probably in their 30s and 40s, and for lack of a better word, stuck in their career at VP or director or senior management level, in a bureaucratic organization, where they can't really be authentic, or free or make an impact. And they would love to start their own business. But of course, there are hurdles. So can you please tell me more in detail of what you experienced as the critical difference between an employee mindset and entrepreneurial mindset?
Ketaki Sharma:
That's a great question Binod, actually, that's a really deep question.
So, when I say, "developing an entrepreneurial mindset", I don't necessarily mean that you've got to be an entrepreneur to develop that mindset. In fact, you can do very well if you develop it as an employee in certain roles; it can be of great help even as an employee. So, I would say, an employee and an entrepreneurial mindset is one wherein you are open to new ideas. You are, you have a very open-minded approach to solving problems, and then going all for it.
So, suppose you've had an interaction with someone who's narrating their way of solving a particular problem, and that's an insight, that's a novel way of thinking for you. You somehow decide to experiment it, and then you don't have the skills. So, you decide either to hire or you get more team members within the organization to help you implement it, or you develop those skills on your own and implement; and have the necessary power in place, have the necessary authority in place, in the organization to do so.
So, I think, to be able to do this, you don't have to necessarily quit your job. No way. I'm not at all recommending that.
What I'm trying to say is that you could be working anywhere. You could be working for yourself, you could be working for another organization, but you could still have an entrepreneurial mindset, and which means- that be open to new ideas and being open to experimenting, and being okay with failure. Because failure helps you learn and pivot. I mean, you view failure as a learning point and you learn that and you change your pivot. So, "Okay, this doesn't work, maybe this will". But you keep going on, you don't stop. So, that's the mindset that I'm talking about.
Binod Shankar:
Now, of course, you mentioned you've completed five years, Ketaki, in business. So, congratulations! You're long past your two-year milestone. So, I think you're well on the way to entrepreneurship success, if not already there.
Tell us, (I think you've already mentioned a few points, but regardless) tell me more about it. And I'll be more specific. Tell me more about the top three factors for that success that you have achieved at Algorithm Research?
Ketaki Sharma:
Oh, yeah, well. So, I think it'll be about being open-minded. So, I was just a researcher, I was into research from the very beginning. I was trained to do things a certain way, think in a certain way and present our findings in a certain way. When you're on your own, you don't have a brand to support you. And when you're working with a brand, a big brand, you don't realize the power that it gives you. You don't realize how it strengthens your voice as an analyst. And when you decide to set up on your own, that's when you realize that you are no longer that brand. You are a person who has to build that brand, to be able to convince people to listen to you. Why should someone listen to you and not to, say an economist at, say, a leading firm? So, those were the things that you start with.
So, I think one of the first things I realized was that you can't take anything for granted. And you've got to work from scratch, be ready to behave like a novice. You can't treat yourself like "Oh, I was an economist with such and such place, I have worked with such and such organizations. Well, good for you!”
But I mean, what do you bring to the table? How are you different? What is special about you? Where is your niche? Why should we listen to you? So, ultimately, it's going to be your work that speaks for itself. And therefore you've got to make yourself and your work stand out and make itself heard. It should be that good. And that's where I talk about upskilling, coming up with things that no one else is doing right now.
And it's very new to the region; the kind of research that we are producing is very new to the region. So, I think that has...the fact that we are ready to experiment, fail, and improvise and repeat. And we've been doing that for five years. And I think that helps, that helps a lot.
Binod Shankar:
Yes, the combination of many things, as always, like you said. I love that phrase, again, which you mentioned, "The fact that when you're an analyst working with a renowned brand, you just don't realize the influence that brand has on the strength of your voice as an analyst!”. I think, you hit the nail on the head. And stepping out and setting up a brand from scratch is quite a challenge.
Now, you must have had quite a lot of ups and downs. Not just in your entrepreneurship career in building a brand, but going back in your corporate career as well, like most people! And a lot of the audience are youngsters, they have gone through that, or they will go through those issues in corporate, and some of them struggle to keep themselves motivated. And sometimes they drop out or they fall behind.
How did you keep yourself motivated and stay focused? What are the specific strategies that you used, and probably with a focus on your corporate life, specifically?
Ketaki Sharma:
Sure. So, I think, passion for the subject. Firstly, I just love economics; and doing what you love helps you keep motivated. So, I think it's important to do what you believe in, it's important to do what you love, and that helps with the motivation. There is no real secret recipe there. But I think, overall, in general, everything is interrelated. So your emotional well being, your physical well being, your spiritual, mental well-being- all are interconnected.
And I think you can't be just doing one thing, you can't be like just your job title. You've got to be much more as a person, you've got to be like a curious person wanting to know more. So, for instance, if you are someone who was into photography, you could do that. I mean, that can provide that necessary channel for, say, your emotional well-being. You do tend to find that peace when you are taking photographs, or maybe editing photographs.
I have many interests. So, for instance, I paint, I ski, I do yoga, I swim, I've learned to play golf. And apart from painting, (which I've been doing since I was a kid) a lot of these are skills that I've picked up over the years. So, every year, I pick up a new skill. And last year, it was golf. So, I started with golf, and then I tend to carry on, pursue it further. So, I think when you learn something new, or when you are constantly challenging yourself in any field, it kind of in a strange way gives you that perspective to find out your way, or maybe to discover a new path in what you are trying to do, in, say, your professional life.
So, for instance, there was...while learning new things, such as while learning to play golf, there was this important skill that I learned. I've never been a sports person really, but last year when I started playing golf, and we tend to have these partners. So two of us played in a team, I just realized how important it is to have a team member with complementary skill sets. So you are completely relying on them for certain shots, and they are completely relying on me for certain shots. So you've got to get your part right, in order to win the game. So, those are smart Insights that you basically find doing something. And then you say, "Oh, but this is relevant for me, even as an entrepreneur and this is so relevant for me in life, in general".
And it's just that apart from the fact that you are venting out on your stress in your muscles, etc, (it's releasing) you're also learning things that you would have not learnt otherwise. So I think having a multi-dimensional personality, or having multiple interests is important because it helps you in whatever you are doing, it takes you further in every stream, essentially.
Binod Shankar:
I suppose that also covers what I was thinking in terms of hobbies, or the importance of hobbies, and the importance of having a proper work-life balance, and the impact of that on physical and mental wellness.
Ketaki Sharma:
Absolutely.
Binod Shankar:
No, of course, the three things, (at least three things, let's put it this way) that struck me about you, in the long conversation we had last week and this conversation, is that you come out as remarkably confident, articulate and engaging.
Now, these are traits that you don't normally see. Especially, I've not seen that in many of my community of finance professionals, young finance professionals and fresh graduates, who often struggle to demonstrate these traits of being confident, articulate, engaging, and hence lose out at interviews, group discussions, job opportunities, presentations, you name it. And that's not limited to just youngsters. You see that all the way to people in their 30s and 40s.
So, what I'm very curious to know about and what you could share with us is, how did you develop these? Do you recall how this came about? I mean, surely part of it is genetic, but part of it is also upbringing and part of it is also what you have done to yourself, I suppose in terms of self-development.
Ketaki Sharma:
Yeah, well, um, so first, thank you. Thank you for all those lovely compliments. It's nice because when you have that imposter syndrome, you’re constantly doubting yourself.
But what I can say is that there are two ways; I've heard a lot of people saying that "fake it till you make it". But it doesn't work for me, like, I can't fake it till I make it, especially in my line of work. I don't think you should do it. Because, it's so easy, you just read the report and it's easy to catch that. So you can't really do that. In fact, it is counterproductive because you lose that credibility.
So, for me, it was, it wasn't at all like that. For me, it was more like doing things that I loved. And then just trying to upskill, be the best in the in whatever I decide to take, and give it the time, because it doesn’t happen overnight. Be patient, but be persistent. I think that really helped.
And, yeah, I know that for a lot of people and a lot of professions 'fake it till you make it' works. You've got to try it for yourself. So if that works for you, you should definitely do it. But if you think that, for you, if you're genuinely good, if you are training to be good, if you're persistent, I think that helps in building that confidence that "Oh, no, I know this. I know how to do this. I know how to implement this, something that my counterparts would not be able to do". So, being good at your work helps you become more confident. And generally, being happy also helps you become more confident. So, whatever makes you happy whatever makes you feel fulfilled, I think you should try and do more of that.
Binod Shankar:
Did you have mentors at various stages of your career who probably pointed you in the right direction, or sort of groomed you or helped you develop yourself? Do you recall in such an instance?
Ketaki Sharma:
I think so. Yes. So in my working career...so I don't think I would go to them and say that they were my mentors-mentors, but I learned a lot from them. I mean, there was not a formal mentor-mentee relationship. But I would always tap into some of my bosses during my corporate career, who really helped me through leading by example, was really, really important in my career. So, there were two of my bosses who were incredibly, incredibly articulate, incredibly good at their jobs. Both had different plus points. One was very articulate, the other was so diligent, so perseverant, that she just outshone everyone. So, I've learned different things from different bosses of mine. And I think those were actually my mentors. And I know that these days, they have these in the corporate world, where you have this mentor-mentee thing. But I wasn't...there was no formal agreement per se.
Binod Shankar:
So, of course, now we're run out of time, and I wish we could go on for a lot more, and ask you more questions and explore your fascinating journey as an economist and a corporate warrior and entrepreneur. But I must ask you like I ask all my podcast guests. What are your three top tips for youngsters, on education and career, based on your own experience?
Ketaki Sharma:
So, number one is read, read, and read. So, there is no shortcut there. You've got to read all the amazing books out there. And there are plenty depending on what are your interests. So, if you're interested in something and you want to excel, there are no shortcuts. You've got to read those books. There's a wealth of information, wealth of knowledge out there. It's so well documented. It's right there for you. So I think number one is to read read and read.
And number two would be...so, if you have role models, it's so easy to access them now. And in this day and age, YouTube is there for everyone. It's for free. So, if you want to, say if you're inspired by Warren Buffett, you can any day go and look him up on YouTube, listen to his talks, listen to his most recent talks. So, for instance, if you're someone who's looking for tips on, say, financial markets, look it up, look him up (Warren Buffet), look up your heroes and just go ahead, listen to them. So, having those greats, having those professionals so accessible to us is a blessing. And it's free of cost. What could be better? So, go ahead, listen to them.
And third, I would say, is for all those young guys and girls out there, go and intern! So, if you think, if you are wondering what it means to be, say, a data scientist, stop wondering, start acting, go there, take up an internship, learn it. If you're wondering what it means to be an analyst, apply to all these positions globally, everyone today is working virtually. So, say, you're in India, you want to work with someone in the US, it's possible today. Go and apply there, to any firm you want to, go to all these websites. Use LinkedIn, use Angel list, go and apply, talk to people, and get that internship. Know what it is to be a data scientist, know what it is to be an equity researcher, and then take the call. We did not have this option when we were their age. But that's the opportunity you have, and make the most of it. So, I think, being aware of that opportunity is important and then making the most of it is equally important. So, I think those are my top three tips.
Binod Shankar:
Right. Thank you so much, Ketaki.Thank you so much for sparing the time for today's interview. I'm so glad I connected with you a few weeks ago; never knew that it would come to today. And a very interesting, insightful interview hopefully for the listeners. I think it's quite impressive what you've achieved, both in corporate career and entrepreneurship. And to have a young female Indian entrepreneur succeeding in the region is, I think, a matter of not just pride, but also hopefully should lead to introspection and inspiration for youngsters who want to go down that path, if they wish to do so. And know that probably you are your own limitation. And quite a few useful tips in this podcast, Ketaki. Thank you so much once again, and I wish you all the best for yourself and the Algorithm Research. And hopefully, I see more of your reports on LinkedIn. Saudi Arabia was previously and now turkey next. And then what next? I don't know.
Ketaki Sharma:
Thanks so much, Binod. It's been an absolute pleasure. I have been seeing your posts on LinkedIn. And even though we were first-level connections, we didn't really connect. But I would follow your posts pretty regularly, and impressive stuff, great stuff that you're bringing out for the kids out there. We didn't have it when we were growing up. So you're doing a lot of good work. We know. Keep it up. And thanks so much for your time today. Thanks so much for this opportunity.
Binod Shankar
Thanks, Ketaki.
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Binod:
This podcast is brought to you by the real finance mentor. Thank you so much for listening and I really hope you found it insightful and inspirational. If you did enjoy this episode, please drop us a review and spread the word. You should check out more exclusive content on therealfinancementor.com and my LinkedIn profile which is: Binod Shankar, FCA, CFA. Let’s keep in touch! Just add your name to the mailing list on therealfinancementor.com, and we’ll tell you about new episodes plus book reviews, upcoming events and blogs. Till the next time, onwards and upwards.
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