Forging Paths with a New Family Office
Seema Arora Nambiar is the CEO of Shubhan Ventures, a first-generation family office in Mumbai, India. When her brother sold his medical diagnostics business to a larger company and decided to start up a family office, he asked her to set it up for him. Although she had a 30-year career across industries and a 21-year track record as a senior executive at McDonald's India, Nambiar knew that setting up a family office in India was a unique and complex undertaking. Seeking greater clarity on the structure, governance, and investment challenges, she enrolled in the Family Office Wealth Management program at Harvard Business School.
What made you decide to attend the Family Office Wealth Management program?
I did a lot of research locally about how to manage a family office, and people kept saying that India runs things very differently from other countries. Traditionally, there's the older, richer class and the younger working class. In the last five years or so, more of the younger startup money has been coming in, but the role of the wealth advisor has not really changed, and there was no real family office industry in the country.
Finding a significant knowledge gap in the country, I decided that I should participate in the Family Office Wealth Management program to learn more.
As you began to set up your family office, what learnings from the program did you put into action?
Understanding how to structure the office is key. Before the program, our view was very simple since we're a one-generation family office and the only thing to understand was wealth deployment. After the program, the number of questions significantly increased, and the implications changed. When the professors pointed out how differences can creep into households and families, we began to consider how we transferred values into writing the family charter. With young girls in the family, we asked how we should preserve our family legacy while allowing them to adjust to their new homes.
I realized how important the charter is. It makes it easier for you to plan ahead for those situations. So, the charter was one big piece, and the second was understanding asset classes beyond the ones that are visible to me in my country. If I have to manage cross-border investing, what different asset classes could be possible, and how do I structure them properly? What is a hedge fund, and can I invest as an Indian citizen? These are important questions that I needed to ask.
Did anything surprise you about the program?
I was surprised by the wide diversity of perspectives and experiences—a lot of first-timers and a lot of seasoned players who were currently running family offices. It was a good balance, and our cohort was fantastic. We actually have a texting group going and are planning to try and connect once a month.
The second thing that surprised me was the number of people from the same family who attended. There were three families with five or six members, and the commitment they made to do the program together amazed me. As a result, I've said to my family that if we can't all go to the U.S., we should take Family Office Wealth Management—Virtual. I believe there's value in everyone going through the same learning experience together.
How would you describe the value of the program to someone who is considering it?
For me, there were several key takeaways: greater concept clarity around wealth advisors and family offices; a deeper understanding of governance around asset classes; and a global network of professors and colleagues alike. These are long-term relationships that you can keep going back to for advice, support, and camaraderie throughout your career.