Naina Lal Kidwai is Chairman, Max Financial Services; Senior Advisor, Advent Private Equity; a Non-Executive Director on the global board of Nestle, CIPLA Ltd and Larsen and Toubro and Past President of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry). She retired in December 2015 as Executive Director on the board of HSBC Asia Pacific and Chairman HSBC India.
A team player, Kidwai is always supportive to help the team members. Says Kidwai, "I am always passionate about the work which I do. Desire to excel is something which drives me always."
Her interests in water and the environment are reflected in her engagements with The Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, International Advisory Council of the Inquiry of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Global Commission on Economy & Climate.
"I will always stand for the issue which I believe in. This, I think, will certainly make a difference in the social sector," she says. "My advice to the younger generation is to go ahead with courage and integrity in which ever field you are into. This can really help young women come up through the system," adds Kidwai.
In her long spanning career, from 1982-1994 Kidwai worked at ANZ Grindlays, where her assignments included Head of the Investment Bank, Head of Global NRI Services and Head of the Western India, Retail Bank. From 1994 to 2002, she served as the Head of Investment Banking in Morgan Stanley India and JM Morgan Stanley. She also served at Standard Charted Bank from the year 1982 to 1994 and as Chief Manager of Retail Bank from 1984 to 1991. From 1989 to 1991, Kidwai was the Chief Manager and Head of Investment Bank India and as Manager of North India of Investment Bank from 1987 to 1989. Naina Lal has also served as the Manager of West India of Investment Bank based in Bombay from 1984 to 1987. From 1977 to 1980, she worked at Price Waterhouse & Co.
Naina Lal Kidwai served as the Group General Manager of HSBC Holdings Plc since 1 October 2006. She also served as the Chief Executive Officer of HSBC India of HSBC Holdings Plc since 5 May 2006. Since 15 April 2009, Kidwai also served as the Country Head of HSBC India. Besides, she also served as Managing Director of HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India.
Incidentally, Kidwai was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School and also the first woman to guide the functioning of a foreign bank in India. She is also a qualified charted accountant.
Her interests include microfinance and livelihood creation for rural women and environment. Naina, also supports the world's largest youth driven organization - AIESEC as a National Advisory Board Member to AIESEC India. Naina Lal is very fond of Indian classical and the western music. She also loves to go on trekking tours to the Himalayas. Kidwai is also a nature lover and also has keen interest in observing the wildlife. Kidwai has repeatedly ranked in the Fortune global list of Top Women in Business, 12th in the Wall Street Journal 2006 Global Listing of Women to Watch listed by Time Magazine as one of their 15 Global Influentials 2002.
Naina Lal is also the recipient of awards and honours in India including the Padma Shri for her contribution to Trade and Industry, from Government of India.
"Enjoy what you do and put your right foot forward. Be it in family, with friends or in the society, stand up for your rights and hold on to your values," concludes Naina Lal.
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The author is associate editor at BW Businessworld
