Employee Spotlight: Bansari Vaghela
In conversation with someone who’s explored a multitude of roles across Niyo
What’s your idea of a dream job? Would you prefer to spend your entire career working in the same role or are you an enthusiast who likes to explore several possibilities and gets excited at the prospect of trying something new? In this edition of our employee spotlights, we shine a light on Bansari Vaghela who shares that she’s toured all of Niyo and currently works as the Key Accounts Manager at Niyo. Read on to learn more about her impressive journey.
Bansari hails from Ahmedabad, Gujarat and spent her growing up years there. She did her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from the Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad. She started working at 18 to get some experience and soon that became a habit. Bansari is an avid nature lover who finds peace when surrounded by art and nature.
“Niyo gave me the opportunity to explore beyond the boundaries of business development and marketing. I don’t have to hold on to one role. I have the liberty to share my ideas to help make a project fruitful. Even the management is quite accepting of new ideas and suggestions and that’s the best thing about Niyo.”
Q: What motivates you to wake up and go to work?
A: I had never worked in a startup before. At Niyo I get opportunities to test myself. Every day is a challenge, I never know what I’ll pick up that’s new. My entire day tomorrow is planned but I’m sure somebody will come up with something new and I’ll have a new challenge. That’s exciting and keeps me motivated.
Q: What has been your career path before joining Niyo?
A: My professional career began as Admissions Counsellor at NetProtocol Xpert, a company that provided educational services to IT professionals. I worked there for about 1.5 years in a business development role.
I worked for about 3 years at HR Re Engineers, an HR services company dealing with business development and training.
Q: How did you get your job at Niyo?
A: That’s quite an interesting story. I had recently landed in Mumbai looking for a job. One of my friends had applied for a job at Niyo. A consultant who my friend was in contact with, said that Niyo was looking for candidates in multiple roles. My friend suggested I try my hand at it, so I looked up information about the company. By then Niyo had got Series B funding and Niyo Global had hit the market. I gave an interview and got selected whereas my friend didn’t. It was a bitter-sweet moment and I was in a fix whether to be happy for myself or be sad for my friend!
Q: What do you do at Niyo?
A: I joined Niyo in 2019 as Key Accounts Manager for Niyo Global and worked from the Mumbai office. Since then, I’ve had multiple roles on my plate which I’m very happy for. Let me try to sum it up for you:
When the pandemic hit, international travel took a blow and we shifted our focus off Niyo Global. For a short while, I worked with Darpan on Niyo Bharat and then worked closely with Vineet, our CMO on Strategic Alliances and Marketing. Later, Hemant Tathod, Head of Operations and Services at that time, approached me to join his team to work as Moderator for Niyo Community. From there on, I moved to the Product Team and I’m helping Akshit (Product Manager, Niyo Global) with NPS (Net Promoter Score) rating and Ivan (Customer Service) with training and other documentation. I’m currently in a dual reporting role with Akshit and Savitri, the current Head of Operations and Services. Earlier, I had worked with Savitri on Niyo Money too. I’ve taken an entire tour of Niyo and except for Compliance, I don’t think there’s any other department left. [chuckles]
Q: What entails your typical workday?
A: My day usually starts with checking the NPS ratings given by the customers. Since Niyo Global by SBM customer launch is coming up soon, there’s a lot of documentation to take care of. I help with making sure that training is scheduled for the new batches of the L1 Customer Service Team coming in and refresher training to help those who need a nudge.
Q: Are there any specific traditions/habits/culture quirks in your team?
A: There’s no team per se. I work individually collaborating with others in the company.
Q: Are things different now that we’re all WFH?
A: I miss the office. In Mumbai, I live quite far from the office and even though it’s a bothersome task to travel the distance, I still loved going to the office, meeting my colleagues — being in the office has a completely different aura.
Q: What has been your favourite project so far at Niyo? Why?
A: Moderating the Niyo Community was quite an interesting project. Usually, in community forums, users interact with each other and the moderator just ensures that the decorum of the forum is maintained. In Niyo Community, we went a step ahead and began interacting with the users because initially, they were not very aware of the product. With the 6 months of effort that I put in as the Niyo Community Moderator, we have reached a point where users are interacting with each other and we are only ensuring that the forum is functioning smoothly. It was a satisfying project where we actively worked towards making Niyo Community engaging and interactive, and probably the most interactive one amongst all the fintechs. I’m really happy about that.
Q: What do you like about working at Niyo?
A: Niyo gave me the opportunity to explore beyond the boundaries of business development and marketing. I don’t have to hold on to one role. I have the liberty to share my ideas to help make a project fruitful. Even the management is quite accepting of new ideas and suggestions and that’s the best thing about Niyo.
I’m in awe of the way Niyo has grown in the past years. In 2019, when I was joining Niyo, I googled about the company to learn about it and now in 2021 when I speak with you, people across the country know about the company, it has built a brand value and that inspires me.
Q: How has your career grown since starting at Niyo?
A: When I joined Niyo, my learning was limited to business development and marketing but now after working here for almost 3 years, my entire persona has changed. I have gained a lot of knowledge about products and services. Earlier, I just knew how to sell a product and make sure that the product continues to sell, but now I understand what goes around building a product, how customer service works, and how transactions work. I have a better idea about the operations that go around in fintech and that has helped me a lot.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A: My mother said, “Don’t ever get bored of your work or be disheartened about the kind of work you do. You should keep on working because you’ll learn something new every day from what you’re doing.”
Q: What advice would you give someone who wants to join Team Niyo?
A: If you’re aggressive, patient, and want to expand your horizon of understanding and learning new things, Niyo is the perfect place for you. If you’d like to join as a customer service agent, you’ll address various situations that’ll give you a lot of hands-on experience. Be flexible and explore opportunities across the company and I’m sure that during your time here, your career graph will soar higher.
Q: What is the most inspiring part of your job?
A: Currently, I work on NPS and it gives an insight into the features that customers like and dislike which in turn helps us to improve the product. In a nutshell, making the product best in all perspectives is what I like, umm…making the product perfect.
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to grow up to be a fashion designer. I’m the kind of person who won’t step out of the house if I’m not presentable. That’s how inclined I am towards clothes.
Q: What’s something most people don’t know about you?
A: I’m very emotional.
Q: How do you unwind from work?
A: Things have changed of late. I was COVID infected and now I try to take extra care of my health. I give myself some time and try to take a walk or listen to music. I’m not a TV person so, I’m not following the current trend of “Netflix and Chill”. I love art and when I’m surrounded by art, I’m really at peace. Oftentimes, I try to paint something to calm myself down. Also, I’m a nature lover and enjoy camping, long drives, and I take every opportunity I get to enjoy the serenity of picturesque locales around Mumbai.
Would you like to work with Bansari on your next project? Do check out Niyo Careers for any open positions in your field of expertise. To get a sneak peek at Niyo’s culture and the cool people who turn ideas into reality, check out Niyo behind the scenes.
