Board of Directors

We provide access to financial solutions empowering people living in poverty to transform their lives, their children’s future and their community.

Name
Mr. Alok Prasad
Designation
Chairman (Independent)
Qualification
Master of Arts from University of Delhi
Experience

Mr. Alok Prasad is a veteran banker with over 35 years of regulatory, banking, and financial services experience. He is regarded as an expert for financial inclusion and more broadly, access to finance matters. Currently, he is connected with a number of Banks and NBFCs as a Strategic Adviser and Board Member.

From 2010-15, Mr. Prasad was the Founder Chief Executive Officer of Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), the premier industry body and Self- Regulatory Organisation (SRO) for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in India. Prior to that, he held very senior positions at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Housing Bank (NHB) and Citibank.

Amongst his many accomplishments in his career, Mr. Prasad steered the Microfinance industry through its crisis phase. The subsequent mainstreaming of MFIs and their integration into the national financial architecture was an outcome of the advocacy work and constructive policy level engagement by MFIN under his leadership. Mr. Prasad is an expert in connecting the Government & Regulatory world with that of the private sector and has served on a number of committees of the Ministry of Finance, Govt of India.

From 2013-15, Mr. Prasad also served as the Chairperson of South Asia Micro-entrepreneurs Network (SAMN).


Name
Mr. Jayendra B. Patel
Designation
Managing Director, Vice Chairman
Qualification
B. Sc.
Experience

Mr. Patel is the founder of the company and he has more than 25 years of Senior Managerial and board level experience in the finance sector. Mr. Patel was in U.S.A. for a decade where he completed his education. After completing his education he joined business firm in USA namely Kapps Pharmaceuticals Inc. as Company Executive. During his stay in USA he successfully turned around two sick units into profitable position. Later he returned to India to concentrate and expand in the field of finance, he devoted fulltime attention to Arman in 1992. Mr. Patel is a founder member of the Gujarat Finance companies Association and presently secretary of the Association.

His Affiliations
  • Mr. Jayendra Patel was Member of the Finance and Banking Committee of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI), Ahmedabad.
  • He is the secretary of Gujarat Finance Companies Association.
  • Managing trustee of B. M. Patel Foundation


Name
Mr. Aalok J. Patel
Designation
Joint Managing Director
Qualification
B.S. Accounting & Finance; M.S. Accountancy, Certified Public Accountant (USA)
Experience

Mr. Aalok Patel brings a vast array of innovative knowledge to the Company. In India, he completed his schooling in Lawrence School, Sanawar and continued his higher education in the U.S. at Drake University. At Drake, Mr. Patel graduated with High Honors with a Bachelors and a Master’s Degree in Accountancy & Finance. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the U.S. Mr. Patel worked as an independent auditor for KPMG for almost 4 years, where many of his clients were included in the Fortune 100 list. He also brings experience from John Deere Credit, the equipment financing arm of John Deere & Co.

Furthermore, Mr. Patel excels to equity analysis and valuation as well; his research has been quoted in reputable business journals. He currently works for Arman full-time as an Executive Director since 2010.



Name
Mr. Ramakant Nagpal
Designation
Director (Independent)
Qualification
F.C.A. (1972), CAIIB (1980), Bachelors of Commerce - Punjab University (1968)
Experience

Mr. R. K.Nagpal is a performance driven professional having over 3 decades of experience in Banking & NBFC sector. He has worked as Vice President of Centurion Bank Ltd. for 7 years and on various senior positions with Central Bank of India for 21 years. Last Position held in Central Bank as AGM-Mumbai Main Branch. He is also founder MD/Chief Executive of Central Bank Home Finance Ltd, A Subsidiary of Central Bank based at Bhopal, Jointly promoted with NHB, HUDCO& UTI.

In his long and vast career in Banking, Mr. Nagpal acted among other positions as Senior Internal auditor of Central Bank of India and played a crucial role in unearthing scams and frauds. He has also carried out large number of special audit assignments involving inspection of large borrower accounts for reporting of diversion of funds and unearthed Maritime Import/Export LC frauds.

Mr. Nagpal has also carried out Statutory Audit of Urban Cooperative Bank, Ahmedabad, and Audit of various Toll Plaza units of National Highway Authority of India, Concurrent Audit of State Bank of Saurashtra, Information System Audit (ISA) of 40 branches of District Cooperative Bank in Gujarat.

He has also 5 years + experience of Heading Finance Department of Leading Central Government Pharma Company (August 2007 to May 2013) post his banking tenure & is handling BIFR Matters on behalf of Creditors against defaulting companies.

He iscurrently a Partner with Sharma Kathuria& Co Chartered Accountants.


Name
Mr. Yash Shah
Designation
Director (Independent)
Qualification
F.C.A., Bachelors of Commerce
Experience

Mr. Yash has completed his Bachelor of Commerce from H.L. College of Commerce. He is a Fellow member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) since 2006. He is currently partner with DBS. His prime area of expertise is consulting for clients in the fields of Mergers & Acquisitions and Valuations. Prior to DBS, Mr. Yash was with KPMG for nearly 3 years wherein he was a part of the MA division. He has worked for various clients such as Siemens, Orchid Pharma, Pratibha Industries, Siyarams, WIMCO etc. He has written various papers on the topic of Domestic Transfer Pricing, and Cross Border Transactions. He has also given lectures in various forums in the topic of Mergers & Acquisition.


Name
Mr. Aakash J. Patel
Designation
Director
Qualification
B.A. Computer Science, Business Management; Masters of Business Administration.
Experience

Aakash Patel has a B. A. degree in Computer Science and in Business Management from Gettysburg College in the USA, and an MBA from Bentley College in Boston-USA. He has over 8 years of computer and business experiences, which includes over 3 years of experience as a consultant with Deloitte, 2 years with Intellitools as a software developer, and amongst others companies such as Hewlett Packard, EMC Corporation, SoftscapeInc, Sumtotals Systems. Currently, he works as a Manager- PMO (USA) for Bullhorn Inc.


Name
Smt. Ritaben J. Patel
Designation
Director
Qualification
B. A. in Economics
Experience

Mrs. Ritaben J. Patel, is a Graduate in Economics. She also hold Banking qualifications from First National Bank of Chicago, USA. She has worked with various US banks like First National Bank of Chicago, Golf Mill Bank, Morton Grove Bank in various capacities for more than a decade.


Name
Ms. Geeta Solanki
Designation
Independent Director
Qualification
M.B.A.
Experience

Mrs. Geeta Solanki is a serial social entrepreneur in Women’s health, hygiene, and social development. Post her career as a marking professional, she was involved in improving women’s health during pregnancy by providing guidance on exercise, diet and medication for 6 years. As a woman with family roots in rural agriculture, she was acutely aware of the issues and taboo surrounding menstrual hygiene in rural areas. This led her to establish a company with unique products tailored towards educating and providing women hygiene care to bottom of the pyramid customers; and creating a supply chain to empower rural women to find financial independence in the same areas. In the last three years, she has helped 1.2 million women. She received the ‘Bharat Ki Laxmi’ award from The Ministry of Women and Child Development, and also serves as an expert on numerous panels and summits on Women’s hygiene. She is a Postgraduate in Management.