We hear from Rohini Gupta, Co-founder, FinregE, about life inside and outside of the office
Can you tell us about your current position?
My name is Rohini Gupta and I am the Co-founder of FinregE, a regulatory compliance software solution which successfully applies Machine Learning and NLP to legal and regulatory texts to automate the understanding and management of compliance against regulatory requirements.
Being the Co-founder of a start-up and a small team, I wear many hats. Along with being a Co-founder, I am also a salesperson, account manager, marketing executive, PR, IT support and software release tested at FinregE! I get involved in everything that goes on at FinregE – from the minute a lead comes in for a demo, to a support query from a current customer not being able to log into the platform, to writing blogs on trending regulations, project managing implementation and identifying all the key insurance regulation applicable to a client in Argentina. I love every aspect of my position because I get to work at the heart of it all.
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?
It would be winning the Smart Grant from the UK Government. The Smart competition is one of the most competitive funding streams, with a success rate of only 5%-10% of applicants per round and a passing score of over 80%. And as it’s an open call with no specific theme, it’s even more competitive as you have to make a very strong application – we could easily do that though as we already had sure-shot ideas and a vision.
We’re now more than halfway through our project and are really proud to say that we are now supporting the UK Government’s Future of Finance vision and Better Regulation framework, as well as making strides in Machine Learning and regulation compliance and access.
What style of management philosophy do you employ in your current position?
At FinregE, we work by the following philosophies:
- A business is all about relationships and if you help people get what they want, you can get what you want in your business. Throughout my career, I have learned that if I understand how my actions can help colleagues or business stakeholders, my dreams are easier to achieve.
- Always maintain honesty and integrity, as this cultivates your reputation. After all, your reputation is the only thing that will follow you throughout your career and help your business thrive. I always say that we should live in such a way that if someone spoke badly about you, no one would believe it.
- Don’t get sidetracked by other people’s or other businesses’ successes. As a start-up, it’s very easy to get sidetracked by what other people are doing or the achievements of other businesses. This can make you lose focus on your core business model, waste your resources and halt progress.
How do you unwind outside of the office?
My biggest ‘wind down’ is spending time with my daughter. During the week she is busy with school and clubs so we never get more than 15 minutes in the morning to catch up and then only 45 minutes before bedtime. As such, on the weekend I make sure we do something together. We’ll either go for a bike ride or to the playground and if the weather isn’t great, we’ll go to swimming or to the gym.
What’s your go-to productivity trick?
Waking up early and meditating before starting my day has really helped with my productivity, creativity and organisation. I’m constantly in and out of meetings, with us only being a start-up, so I like having time to myself in the mornings. I only started meditating this year, and I’m surprised by how much my productivity and energy have skyrocketed. Having that 45 minutes to myself in the morning helps me tackle the day.
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment within the finance space?
Definitely FinTech, and within the FinTech space, payments and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. If you follow the focus of VCs and regulators, you’ll see hot talking points are cross-border payments, digital currencies and the use of AI and ML in supervisory and regulatory technology.
What are your predictions about future technologies emerging within finance?
I think the financial sector will take a more sustainable approach – focusing on managing green finance, climate and environmental risks. This is a fast-developing space, but still very fluid with regulatory frameworks being developed and finalised. The use of technology to gather and analyse data on an institution’s environmental footprint is something that will not only be beneficial in meeting the green agenda but also an extremely powerful use of technology.