Page 55 - MASALA Vol8 Issue4 February-March 2017

His iconic moustache that is inspired by the Spanish painter Salvador
Dalí is the rst thing you notice upon meeting the courteous Arbind
Bhatia, better known as Binny. Born in New Delhi, he began his
world travels at the age of two. He and his family went from Kuwait
to California to London to New York to Dubai and then to Bangkok
where he nished high school. The Gulf War in Kuwait in 1990 forced
Binny’s father to rethink where to live, so he was picking up projects
all around the world. Circumstances, albeit completely di erent, put
Binny in the same boat in 2008 when he was managing a portfolio of
investments in Singapore. His portfolio was suddenly worth half of
what it had been. The dwindling banking industry convinced him to
move into corporate nance where he could get closer to the assets
and see how they work, instead of just nancing them.

Today, the 37 year-old who calls Bangkok his home is currently the
Chief Restructuring O cer and Interim Chief Financial O cer (CFO)
for a notable steel company and a nancial consultant to start-ups.
His previous work included his role as an interim CFO at Synergia One
Group of Companies.

However, Binny is not just a man of numbers, he surprises us with his
love for vivid strokes, de nitive lines and rhythmic rap. This creative
consultant can be found once a month playing djembe in Bangkok’s
alluring bars and rapping in poetry slams.

What in your past has shaped how you are today? What are your short-term and long-term goals? What do you do
It was the whole process of going to di erent places in the world. to make sure that you achieve them?
I was going from California to London to New York. Even from My short-term goal is to nd the right environment where I can
California to New York, the cultural di erences are so apparent. take all the learning and experiences I’ve had throughout my
My education from kindergarten to 12th grade, having lived in career and implement them into a place where I’d be accepted
so many places, seeing so many di erent cultures and di erent and a place where my career in corporate nance can blossom.
people from di erent walks of life has made me the person I am The long-term goal is at the end of my career. I want to say I
today. And ultimately nding what lacks in today’s world is the acted as an agent of change which positively impacted the
unity in humanity. Everyone likes to di erentiate for whatever bottom-line and the people I spent years working with. Then
reason, whether it is politics or religion. I’m glad I was exposed to ultimately, I want to focus my time on doing the other things
so much at a young age through my education path. That makes I like, such as calligraphy, painting and drawing. To assure I
me grateful. achieve them, I maintain discipline. I get up early every day and
I plan, so I know exactly what I’m going to do. Of course, certain
What experiences in your life have made you a better things that are not in my control will happen, and managing
leader today? such situations comes from the discipline of balancing the
As you progress through a career, you learn the acumen. three elements of existence — emotions, mind and body.
Ultimately, you have to understand the team that works with
you and the people you work for. And understand how to balance ...having lived in so many
not only the abilities of the people, but also the requirements of places, seeing so many di erent
shareholders. What I’ve learned is how to align them; there are cultures and di erent people from
a number of di erent people involved — you have subordinates di erent walks of life has made
and bosses. You also have a dynamic environment where things me the person I am today.
are constantly changing. In certain cases, you have operations
which depend on revenues that come from customers, while the
company acts as an intermediary. To align the dynamism of the
environment and how it changes with the people around you,
along with the aspirations and goals of the shareholders is crucial.
Every industry and every company is di erent, so nding that
balance is imperative. There are times where you will be unable
to fathom the binding complexity of issues and people, but once
you do and you share it with your shareholders and subordinates,
that’s when you can be a leader.

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