To mark South Asian Heritage Month, Mortgage Solutions is spotlighting South Asian professionals in the sector.
Hiten Ganatra, managing director of advice firm Visionary Finance, established the firm in 2008.
The theme of this year’s South Asian Heritage Month is ‘Free to Be Me’, so Mortgage Solutions asked Ganatra what this meant to him.
What does ‘free to be me’ mean to you?
This is a fundamental right for all and means being part of a fully inclusive society. I have always viewed life as being ‘me’, as it is is all I can be, and as I have built businesses and am responsible for the livelihoods of many, I owe it to them to be true to myself and demonstrate that it’s okay for them to be ‘them’ also.
Why is it so important to bring your authentic self to work?
As mentioned earlier, how can you expect others to do the same if you don’t follow that rule? Authenticity is key in all relationships, whether that’s your family, your colleagues or your customers. Living a lie is no way to live – embrace individuality; it’s what makes us.
How can workplaces make people feel free to do this?
In my experience, by recruiting the right people, a culture of inclusivity is organic and just happens. I have not purposely set out a policy and values for people to follow, but by hiring simply good people, both for their work attributes and who they are as people, we have built a fantastic team full of inspiring individuals.
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
