Kapil Jawa is an alumnus of the 1998-2000 batch of the MFM (Masters in Financial Management) course from Prasanthi Nilayam. He is currently serving as the Global Analytics Leader for the Banking and Capital Markets vertical at Genpact. As a Vice President and a senior leader in his organization, he is leading 2,600 + analysts who are responsible for the delivery for various processes in Data and Quantitative Analytics, Investment & Business Research, Commercial Credit and Financial Crime Risk Management supporting global clients across corporate banking, commercial lending, capital markets, investment banking, private equity and retail banking. He started his illustrious career with Citigroup as an Officer in 2001, before he joined Genpact in 2005. He has two decades of experience under his belt and is a domain leader who has also helped several banks drive process transformation. Among the many teams he leads, the engagement which is the closest to his heart is leveraging analytics and research to trace criminal money and prevent financial crime, terrorist financing and drug trafficking.
Kapil’s education in Swami’s institutions started in 1993 when he joined the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School as a high school student. He went on to do his B.Com in Brindavan from 1995-1998 before joining the MFM course in Prashanthi Nilayam in 1998.
Professional journey, challenges and leadership lessons
Kapil embarked on his corporate career at the command of Swami. After finishing his MFM in the year 2000, Kapil had waited for Swami’s instructions. In August of 2000, Swami asked him to pursue a career in banking. Kapil is a stickler when it comes to observing Swami’s command. Following Swami’s instructions, Kapil visited every bank in Delhi submitting his CV. However, the destined banking career was elusive. Several months elapsed, before Kapil found the opening into the world of banking and finance as a credit risk analyst at Citi Financial. Ever since, he never looked back and went on to build his career in the domain.
Kapil believes that the most important thing is to feel Swami’s presence and to be rest assured that Swami’s guiding presence is always there, giving one the strength to face the ups and downs of life and career. He believes that education in Swami’s institute grooms a person into a value system where the benchmarks are very high. As a leader, he had to take difficult decisions many times. Sometimes the businesses themselves go through challenging circumstances straining the leaders to think differently. During such times, he allows Swami’s value system to guide his choices with a constant prayer that he lives up to Swami’s principles and does the right thing. The corporate world, he says, has strong in-built compliance systems already, but to him, the true compliance is to live up to the standards of conduct set by Swami. Kapil is thankful to be a part of an organization which has a strong value system of its own which is why he has continued to serve the organization for over sixteen years now.
Kapil remembers how Swami was very particular that students were sincere towards academics. This, he says, is fundamental to a successful career and translates in the form of technical skills and domain knowledge. However, he also believes that the lessons of people leadership and man management learnt under Swami and in the hostel play a crucial role in becoming a leader. One must lead from the front and demonstrate in action the same work ethics that a leader asks of his team.
Learnings for life in the hostel and under Swami
Kapil says that Prasanthi Nilayam is the best place to learn leadership skills. He fondly recalls his hostel days when he was in-charge of the fruit stall, and he had the opportunity to practice skills like management, finance and forecasting. The simple acts of managing the fruit-stall finances, forecasting the requirements of different food items ahead of the week, plan for exigencies during festivities, pricing them, coordinating with the different canteens in Puttaparthi and work with students across batches, were management workshops in running a portfolio of one’s own. Fruit-stall also evokes in him the wonderful memories of seeing the immense joy in the faces of the boys eagerly awaiting the mirchi bhajjis, pizzas and pastries.
Kapil believes that Brindavan and Prashanthi Nilayam abound in leadership role models. He recalls how all the teachers demonstrate high accountability and leadership by owning and running very complex events like the sports meet and Birthday celebrations. It is here that he learnt the real lessons of leadership, by observing how to manage crises, be resourceful, build relationships and execute at the highest levels of quality. It is an ecosystem of leaders at the helm of which sits Swami, personally grooming all the teachers.
While mentioning the principles by which he leads his life, Kapil narrates a beautiful incident with Swami. After he had landed his first job, Kapil’s daily evening ritual was to go to Swami’s Shirdi avatar temple at the end of his tiring work. There he used to observe some people doing Narayan seva. Despite his desire to participate, Kapil decided to save the money because he wanted to offer his first salary to his Divine Mother Swami. With this in mind, when in Parthi, Kapil sent a letter to Swami with his first salary cheque inside. In the evening, he was summoned by brother Satyajit who informed him, while handing him back the cheque, that Swami had lovingly kept the letter alone. Kapil was a little disheartened. However, later in Kulwant hall he was informed that Swami spoke about him at His residence on receiving the letter and mentioned that Swami only wants three things of his students – bring good name for oneself, the Institute and parents. This is Kapil’s guiding mantra for his career and life.
Participation in Seva
For almost a decade, Kapil has been involved in a unique programme called “Life is a game, Play it”. At the heart of this programme is Swami’s teachings and principles and is designed to inculcate in young college graduates a holistic approach to life covering essential life skills like leadership, managing relationships, stress management, career management, service to society and personality development among others. This programme is run in ten colleges in Delhi as a collaboration between SSSIHL alumni and other Sai youth and has benefitted close to 5,000 + students over the last 10 years.
A Word of Advice for the Young Alumni
According to Kapil, one must always adhere to the fundamentals learnt at Swami’s lotus feet and not be distracted by anything else. One must keep their head down, continue to do good work and sincerely give their utmost to their duties such that no one can point a finger at them. One must be ever wakeful to the fact that through their actions one can either uphold or bring disrepute to oneself, to their parents, to the Institute and to Swami. One must bear this responsibility with care and awareness. To Kapil, one must always be conscious of their word, for their word is their commitment and fulfilling one’s promises to the employees, colleagues and customers is the way to live up to Swami’s ideal of Unity of Thought, Word and Deed. Everything follows from there. Kapil exhorts the students to take great confidence from the quality of education received in the Institute, because it is the best in the world and always be bold and courageous, because that is what Swami has demonstrated with His own life and expects the same of all his students.
Team Vidyullekha wishes all the very best to brother Kapil for all his future endeavours.
