Entrepreneurship has seen a rise over the years. With new talent emerging every day it is necessary to have influential leaders that guide them through the journey. One such influence for the millennial workforce is Ritu Agarwal (COO and Director of Lumata Digital), who believes in doing things differently and going against stereotypes. She has over 21 years of experience in helping build new businesses and transforming old ones. She has overseen the company’s meteoric growth while protecting and scaling its uniquely creative and entrepreneurial culture.
Ritu was exceptionally lucky to come from a family that understood how important building a career was. From a very young age, her parents ingrained in her to dream big and then try and achieve it by dedication and hard work. Her parents were extremely supportive of her throughout the journey and have been a constant inspiration. Professionally, she has been highly inspired by Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Founder of One97/Paytm). During her stint at One97, she worked closely with Vijay, an experience that carved her skills as a leader and a phase she cherishes. Today, Ritu serves as the COO and Director of Lumata Digital India Pvt Ltd. Her vision is to create a sustainable fast-growing business that would bring professional and personal satisfaction to all employees while creating value for its customers.
From an Accountant to Entrepreneur
Ritu’s career started as a CA, in the core of accounts and finance function in 1997. Over the years, she shared her time working in varied industries like hospitality and telecom. However, she states that her career really started when she joined One97/Paytm in 2006. At that time the startup was in its initial stages of growth. She was appointed as the Head of Accounts and Finance, but she soon saw her role expanding to other areas of the organization like HR, Legal, Administration, Business, MIS and she found herself taking up almost every other responsibility. Encountering new challenges daily made her more enthusiastic. “This is the opportunity that only a Startup throws at you. You don’t wait for something to be given to you to work on; you just take it up on your own initiative and set things right,” said Ritu.
At One97(Paytm), Ritu started developing the entrepreneurial bend of mind that people aspire for. The 7 years tenure taught her to look at the business from not just an accountant’s perspective but as a whole ecosystem. Later, she became a part of Lumata Digital India Pvt Ltd, a part of Lumata Holdings, headquartered in London. The experience she gained while working at One97 helped her become an exceptional leader, handling the position of the CFO and Board Member on Lumata India’s board. In 2016, Ritu and a colleague took over the Indian company of the Lumata Group in a management buyout. “We believed we could do better things with ownership of the company than we could do being employees,” concluded Ritu.
Innovative Approach to Digital Transformation
Lumata Digital is at the forefront of transforming enterprises for the Digital Age. With its established set of Digital Transformation solutions, Lumata has been helping enterprises across the globe to enable and accelerate their transformation journey and helping them engage with the new-age of Digital Consumers. The intelligent suite of data-centric applications, digiAPPS™, are based on the proprietary omni-channel engagement platform, digiENGAGE®, and have already proven to be Robust and Modular to help enterprises quickly scale with business demands. The distinctive quality of Lumata is its innovative approach in devising solutions where the customers get exactly what they need and this is their unique proposition. Its solutions encourage optimum utilization of enterprise resources with quick turnaround time.
Lumata has a team of dynamic and energetic professionals that are passionately engaged in enabling enterprises globally to better engage with their customers and resources. Good culture helps the workforce to thrive. Since Ritu has been an employee for a large part of her career, she understands what is important for an employee to perform and bring added value to an organization. “Everyone can ask questions, everyone can suggest anything, ideas influencing strategy are also welcome,” said Ritu, describing the culture of Lumata.
Tackling Challenges and upgrading Lumata’s Offerrings.
“Like every other business, challenges are continuous and several but there is nothing that is in alien space and nothing that we are not confident of addressing,” said Ritu optimistically. While tackling these challenges, Ritu with the Lumata team looks forward to continuously upgrade their solutions keeping up with changing business dynamics keeping their unique proposition intact- giving the customer exactly what they need, in the most efficient manner-efficient in time, money, resources and results. Lumata has offices in Delhi/NCR, Dubai and New York. While continuing to grow in the Middle East and North America, Lumata aims to expand to other geographies like Europe and Australia in the near future.
Stay Dedicated and Focused
As an aspiring leader, the journey may become overwhelming for the individual. Ritu has experienced it in her personal journey and believes that being professional changes too many things. Talking from a woman’s perspective she states that if one has chosen to work and develop a career then one should always treat oneself as a professional and not as a woman professional.
Ritu added, “As women, you can experience priorities shifting between work and family at different times depending on the circumstances but if you are serious about what you are doing, you will always be able to strike a balance. This balancing will become effortless and happy as you move forward in your career.”
Also Read , Influential Women Leaders of 2020
