A Financial Services Whiz and Top Consultant | Nisha Sanghani

Overcoming Barriers & Becoming a Mentor

The biggest challenge has been proving herself, and the company, as a credible entity in an inefficient market where lots of advisory firms do not care as much as they should do about the quality of delivery. As a result of this inefficiency, there is a lot of misinformation to wade through to prove that you are the one that has the right answer or solution. Sometimes it is easier for clients to listen to wrong advice when this is what others have been advising for years without further challenge. “I have now mastered the art of ‘gracefully’ correcting the errors of the industry’s past, and Rosediem’s reputation as a market leader now speaks for itself but it has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to get the approach right.”

Whether it be female business owners, or females trying to work their way up a career path, Nisha is a big supporter of women making their mark. As a mother of two (under two), the guilt she faces daily is very real, so whilst being successful can be fulfilling, she can also understand what sacrifices are required to carve a path to success. Add to this the very real issues on gender inequality, which sadly still exist in the financial services sector; Nisha believes that the pressure on certain women is often more intense than meets the eye.  

To support women in this challenging environment, Nisha Sanghani provides mentoring to certain women who work for client organizations. “Outside of financial services, I also actively provide business advice (and support) to small businesses run by women. This is a real passion as I can also get involved in other industries and creative businesses.”

Nisha believes that having confidence is 90% of the battle and therefore takes time to assist team members in achieving a better level of confidence in themselves and their delivery. “Nisha leads by example and takes every team member under her wing as a personal responsibility – she always makes time for each and every one of us so that we may reach our potential. Nisha also inspires us to enjoy what we do which in turn promotes a good energy and the motivation to succeed,” asserts a coworker.

Finding Success

Whilst Nisha has been fortunate to have a very steep and rapid career path, she has worked extremely hard to get to where she is today. “Based on the hours worked, I am probably at retirement age already (!!). Jokes aside, my main advice would be work hard and never lose confidence in your own abilities. In addition, over the years I have found that despite working hard, you have to find time for yourself away from work,” she explains. “Even if this is as simple taking the weekend off away from your emails, or taking a holiday with your family, this time away will help you to be the best version of yourself at work, and you will much better be able to balance a challenging work load and the stresses which go hand in hand.” Over the years, Nisha has also learned to let stress drive her rather than consume her and has found that this is the best way to stay healthy and clear-headed when facing a problem. “My final and most important rule is to maintain humour – despite the seriousness of the regulatory engagements we support at Rosediem, we will always ensure that there is some humour to any meetings we chair, and the engagements that we lead.”

Nisha has never once believed that being a female leader is a disadvantage in running Rosediem and acting as a Board member with her client firms. “I may not be the loudest male in the boardroom, but I have learnt to always make sure that my voice is heard and that I am fair. I will also always pursue the right answer, even if this makes me unpopular in the short term. This is especially important in financial services, where risks can often be missed if the loudest voice, or most difficult person is allowed to dominate.”

Taking the Company to New Heights

Rosdiem was founded nearly nine years ago as a regulatory consultancy firm; however, based on their credibility and reputation in the industry, they now work on some incredible engagements covering much more. Over the years, clients have seen that Rosediem has an immense amount of knowledge on the blueprint of any financial services firm. As a result, Rosdiem has helped firms build new businesses and revenue streams. Most recently, they assisted a client with setting up a new investment platform and a new entity and are also helping another client develop an exciting stock lending proposition for its extensive client base. As part of these engagements, Rosediem are helping with the scope of the services, feasibility work, legal work, risk considerations, and operational set-up, which gives them an interesting end-to-end reach, which is unusual compared to the traditional consultancy and advice model. Rosediem also partners with external law firms to assist firms with interpreting legal advice and ensuring that legal advice has factored in the relevant operational considerations.

In addition, as Rosdiem works hand-in-hand with clients, as part of their organisations, rather than for them, they have also had the unique opportunity of sitting on the Forums and Committees of a wide range of firms. This has been invaluable in growing Rosediem’s breadth of experience and assisting with some of the industry’s most complex governance and risk management challenges.

As the company continues to see growth in client engagements and turnover, Rosdiem plans to grow the team through recruitment or strategic alliance with another advisor-based firm. This is  Rosediem’s biggest challenge as they want to grow but do not want to compromise on the quality of delivery and the company’s founding principles. Rosdiem is also working with a software company to see how they can do something innovative to support clients.

“As one of my personal goals, I would like to see Rosediem continue to support innovation within financial services and rather than just providing consultancy advice to new firms, or new business line, I would like to take on equity stakes where possible. As an approach, this would most definitely work well with Rosediem’s work ethic and engagement objectives to go above and beyond,” says Nisha Sanghani.

Rosediem is unique in terms of its target client base as it services a wide range of financial services firms, ranging from Investment banks and large Wealth Managers to medium-sized brokers to more boutique asset management firms and start-ups. Nisha also acts as a governance specialist and an expert witness for individuals and firms in the financial services sector.