CFO Chats with Anuj Maheshwari, CFO at Kanmo Group

Tell us about yourself and your role, please.

I am a chartered accountant from India, currently based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Before moving here seven years ago, I spent 15 years in India working with startups in the telecom and food and beverage industries. A major highlight of my career has been navigating the Kanmo Group’s financial journey. Despite delays due to the pandemic, we successfully raised a private equity round in 2022 and completed an IPO in 2023. These have been exciting milestones in my career.

How did you first get into the finance field, and what has been your career journey to becoming a CFO?

My interest in finance started in my college days, which led me to pursue a chartered accountancy qualification—a challenging path with a very low success rate. I began my career 21 years ago as a finance executive, handling day-to-day processes. Over time, I transitioned into more analytical roles and gained crucial experience on the business side.

This taught me a vital lesson: finance cannot simply be a ‘brake-pad’ for the company. It must be an enabler and a co-pilot to the CEO, understanding the business’s needs and challenges. This philosophy has guided my 20-year journey across different roles to becoming a CFO.

The financial landscape is constantly evolving. What challenges are you currently facing, and how are you addressing them?

I categorise challenges into two areas: external and internal.

Externally, we face significant macroeconomic challenges. The last few years have been highly volatile, and factors like forex fluctuations and GDP growth directly impact our retail business. While we can’t control these, we address them through close monitoring and balanced hedging strategies. Geopolitical dependency is another external factor, which we mitigate by optimising our supply chain through local sourcing.

Internally, technology adoption is a major focus. The modern finance function must be a lean team that leverages AI and other technologies for speed, efficiency, and fraud detection. The second internal challenge is talent management. We must constantly attract, train, and retain a talented pool of people. This involves creating a supportive culture that understands and responds to the needs and preferences of the modern workforce, including Gen Z.

What’s the biggest financial mistake you see companies make, and how can they avoid it?

The biggest mistake I see, particularly in the startup domain, is resorting to a quick fix without addressing the root cause of a problem. Companies often believe that more funding—whether debt or equity—is the solution to their financial challenges. However, funding is not a panacea if the underlying business model is not viable.

Financial issues don’t appear suddenly; they are the result of a journey. Instead of simply plugging the gap with money, leadership must first reflect on what triggered the problem, understand the core levers of the business, and fix them before injecting additional capital.

How do you think the finance sector will evolve in the next three to five years? What major shifts are on the horizon?

The most significant evolution will be driven by technology adoption. In the past, ERP systems were seen as the game-changer for productivity, but today, they are no longer sufficient. Over the next three to five years, I expect robotic and agentic AI processes to take over many monotonous, SOP-driven tasks like payment inquiries, invoice processing, and account reconciliations.

This will fundamentally shift the role of the finance professional. Day-to-day transactional work will be automated, allowing the finance team to become more analytical and strategic, focusing on providing deep insights and guiding key business decisions.

What trends or technologies do you believe will have the biggest impact on financial strategy and decision-making?

I believe high-quality decision support systems will have the biggest impact. In finance, we are constantly faced with requests for funding. The challenge is that these requests are often not backed by a proper decision model that answers the critical questions: “Why do you need this?” and “What are the benefits?”. Technology that can refine these decision models will be in great demand. It will help formalise the justification process, moving beyond a CFO’s personal judgment to a more data-driven approach for approving or rejecting expenditure.

How do you balance the need for financial innovation with the demand for risk management and compliance?

There is no perfect formula; it is a balancing act. On one hand, compliance—be it statutory or regulatory—is non-negotiable. A business cannot survive without it. On the other hand, innovation always involves cost and significant change management, as people naturally resist changing their established ways of working.

The key to balancing this is purpose-driven communication. When driving an innovative change, you must clearly articulate the vision and the ‘why’ behind it. For example, when implementing a new system, you must explain how it will positively impact the team’s productivity and daily work. If you provide that clear vision, people will get on board. Without it, you will be driving the change alone, and it is unlikely to succeed.

As a CFO, what’s one question all CFOs should be asking themselves today?

The one question every CFO should constantly ask themselves is: “Am I adding value to my shareholders and my internal customers?” If the answer is a clear ‘yes’, then you are on the right path. If the answer is ‘partially’ or ‘no’, then you need to re-evaluate your focus and identify where the opportunities for value creation lie.

How do you approach mentoring and developing the next generation of finance leaders within your organisation?

In my current organisation, we have a finance team of around 80 professionals, and we take a multi-faceted approach to their development. We organise regular ‘Finance Know-how’ sessions with both internal and external trainers. We also have a quarterly ‘Fun Department Night’ and a praise and recognition system to celebrate great work and motivate the team.

We foster a culture of knowledge sharing, where team members can present best practices in areas like Excel or coding. I also make it a point to condense and cascade down learnings from external research and my own continuous professional education. Crucially, development is a two-way street. During our annual appraisal process, we ask team members about their desired professional development opportunities, and our HR department uses this feedback to create a tailored training programme for the upcoming year.

Reflecting on your experiences with knowledge-sharing discussions, what’s been the most memorable insight or takeaway you have applied in your work?

The most memorable insight came from a mentor early in my career, who told me, “There is no shortcut in business and life.” This has become a guiding principle for me. I never take shortcuts or approve something based solely on someone else’s assurance. I make sure that I have personally checked the details and am fully convinced before I give a go-ahead. While it can be tempting to avoid this diligence, I have found that sticking to this principle has consistently kept me on the right path and prevented negative outcomes.

For someone attending an Ortus Club event for the first time, what advice would you give them to get the most value out of their experience?

I would advise them to look beyond the academic and embrace the life experience being shared. These events are powerful networking opportunities. There is a saying, “Your network is your net worth,” and it is absolutely true. You have the chance to learn from people with diverse backgrounds and hear practical case studies about what has worked for them. Leverage these forums to connect, mingle with peers, and engage in best practice sharing. That is where the real value lies.