Innovative, risk-taking and a number cruncher, Karan Bhagat epitomises the quintessential Marwari entrepreneur, whose story could very well be a case study of a successful Marwari entrepreneur. Meet the wealth management expert and founder of IIFL Wealth Management Ltd, who has scripted the firm’s skyrocketing success as its MD and CEO.
AS A MAN WHO HAS HAD FAILURE AND ADVERSE circumstances as his starting points, life has moulded Karan Bhagat to be unafraid and undaunted in business. Originally from Nawalgarh in Rajasthan, Bhagat hails from a family based in Kolkata that was into the fabrication business. However, with his father closing shop some 20 years ago, it was up to the next generation to take the family’s business legacy forward. A Marwari to the core, Karan Bhagat too forayed into the world of enterprise soon after and launched his own travel agency at the age of 17. However, the venture failed, which had him turn his focus to academics instead and proceed to IIM, Bangalore (now Bengaluru) for his MBA.
MBA done, Bhagat got an offer from Cluster Consulting, a strategic consulting firm in Barcelona in 2001, which disappointingly was revoked in the wake of the World Trade Centre tragedy. Rather than brood, he bided his time teaching English and Maths to MBA aspirants, until a placement in Kotak Mahindra Bank took him to Delhi the same year. Six years on, in 2007, a promotion brought him to Mumbai. “I was made the head of the bank’s wealth management practice for Mumbai,” says Bhagat. “The seeds of my dream of turning an entrepreneur were sown at that time.”.
How it all began
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