Shruti Iyengar
- Programme: Masters in Finance Full-time
- Nationality: Indian
- Job Pre-programme: Senior Strategy Consultant, Eden Strategy Institute, LLP.
- Job Post-programme: Early-stage deep tech Investor
From India to Singapore and now London, Shruti has had a career that has seen her cross continents and become increasingly involved in emerging technology that is driving environmental and social impact. Read on to see how the London Business School Masters in Finance helped her make the transition from consulting to venture capital, as well as widen her horizons.
What were you doing professionally before coming to London Business School?
I studied Mathematics & Economics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, before joining a boutique innovation and impact consulting firm where I spent four years. We worked with various organisations, from UN Women to multinational banks to the Government of Singapore and a range of SME programmes and impact measurement projects. That role required being a bit of a generalist, but it gave me exposure to a wide range of sectors and most importantly early-stage companies. While I enjoyed consulting, I realised over the course of those years that I wanted to be an impact investor and be instrumental in the growth of innovative teams and propositions. All of this motivated me to apply for the Masters in Finance: I knew the kind of role that I wanted, broadly, and I knew that studying finance would be essential to get me there.
“The Masters in Finance gave me the clarity I needed and the opportunity to make that change.”
Was there a particular skill you learnt at London Business School that you draw on today?
The elective Venture Capital: Financing the Entrepreneurial Business with Gary Dushnitsky was invaluable. It was very immersive and is probably the module I refer back to most now that I’m working in the field. Professor Dushnitsky brought in people from the VC space who gave us a good flavour of the types of professionals we might end up working with after graduation. I was also part of the Social Impact Club Committee, where I organised various panels and the first Impact Investing Trek to Asia (albeit virtually due to COVID). This expanded my network and gave me exposure to the VC ecosystem that I would eventually join in London.
“When I came to London Business School, I was still somebody who was dreaming the dreams I had seen other people achieve. Now, I allow myself to dream things that I feel others haven’t achieved yet, which is a lot harder but has been really energising.”
My biggest surprise was…
I felt that my time at London Business School really helped me connect with the rest of the world. I considered myself a pretty well-travelled person — I had lived away from home for a while, and had worked with people from diverse backgrounds in Singapore. But when you come to a place like London Business School, you get this feeling that the world is your oyster. It’s eye-opening and enriching to work with people from all walks of life, and it’s something I’ve been able to carry into my work and my life going forward, especially because networking and building/maintaining relationships is a big part of my job as an investor.
What has been the most significant impact of the programme on your career so far?
My time at London Business School helped me to finesse what kind of career I wanted — I went in thinking maybe I would pursue growth-stage investing, but through everything I learnt, I realised that early-stage investing was what excited me the most. More broadly, it changed my mindset on some fundamental things. I now follow the mantra that you never know when something could be an opportunity, and to give everything a shot. A good example of this was an internship I did during the programme with the British Red Cross’ Global Innovation Finance team in February 2020. While I knew it would likely be a good experience, I could never have known that COVID was about to change the world in the way that it did, and that suddenly securities like catastrophe and pandemic bonds would become extremely relevant. It was incredibly broadening and gave me great exposure to people working across different functions across the organisation: one day I would be talking to the Kenyan Red Cross team on strategic aspects, the next to a colleague on water and sanitation-related projects.
Looking back at your Orientation photos, how do you feel you’ve grown personally since then?
It’s quite surreal looking back to Orientation day — it makes me realise none of us knew what was next, or what life-changing moments were around the corner. I think I’ve probably had my biggest and steepest growth journey in the last five years. I’ve had the privilege to have studied and worked with some great people in the last 6 years, and that’s really helped me become much more in touch with the world, while growing more self-aware and assertive. I also think I’m far less myopic in how I look at the world and the future. When I came to London Business School, I was still somebody who was dreaming the dreams I had seen other people achieve, which is quite limiting in terms of what you think you can achieve. Now, I allow myself to dream things that I feel others haven’t achieved yet, which is a lot harder but has been really energising.
If you had to describe your overall London Business School experience in three words, what would they be?
Immersive, broadening and pivotal.
Immersive because you take on many different roles across everything you do at the School (e.g. study groups, club committees, sports teams, mock interviews, etc), and since you’re constantly meeting people from a wide range of industries, you learn on a daily basis to mould yourself to effectively deliver in these varying roles.
Broadening because while I already had a good grasp of what was going on in the world, I felt far more exposed to it all, and to the range of countries and cultures that London Business School attracts. It makes you realise that the world is much bigger than you think.
And pivotal because it led to a very important career change. A few years ago, someone asked me what I would be doing if I weren’t in the VC space, and I struggled to give them an answer because I couldn’t imagine anything else that felt like such a perfect fit for me. Looking back now, the Masters in Finance gave me the clarity I needed and the opportunity to make that change.
