Global view

Accepting that initial assignment to Vietnam as BAT”s commercial finance controller has seen Trinidad and Tobago-born Nirala, her husband and two children relocate to five countries on three continents – from Costa Rica and Romania to Mexico and now Bangladesh.

Team spirit

The addition of such vast regional exposure to her professional skillset saw Nirala promoted to her present position in the consumer goods business in June 2023. Leading the financial agenda of BAT Bangladesh, Nirala heads a team of more than 30 finance professionals in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, each at different stages of their career journey.

‘I gain immense satisfaction from seeing my team grow,’ she says. ‘This is perhaps the most motivational and rewarding part of my role.’

Nirala’s duties are broad, she notes, ‘as finance touches every part of the business. It means I am intricately involved in core matters of finance such as setting the treasury and taxation strategy, while also being involved in determining commercial priorities.

‘A critical part of my role also includes driving the compliance and risk management processes of the company, which is a focus area for BAT globally. Together with the rest of the leadership team, we set the strategic agenda which guides the overall vision and ensures that we are fostering collaboration and shaping the culture towards a fit-for-future organisation.’

Additional complexities

Apart from the cyclical domestic and global factors which any multinational corporation must navigate, developing nations also face additional complexities.

‘Bangladesh is an amazing country filled with tremendous commercial opportunities,’ Nirala says. ‘Progressing well on its development journey, Bangladesh is experiencing healthy GDP growth and a continuous rise in economic wealth, which makes for lucrative investment potential. At the same time, ease of doing business needs to be improved. Many systems and processes on which the economy functions require simplification with the ambition of accelerating and amplifying economic opportunities.’

This makes her role both exciting and challenging. ‘I gain a lot of inspiration from unlocking solutions to problems, along with the support of my team, which allows us to take incremental steps towards securing financial sustainability of BAT Bangladesh.

Contributing to economic empowerment in its home country, BAT Bangladesh employs around 1,650 people directly and works with more than 52,000 farmers and approximately 1.6 million retailers.

Nirala applauds the company’s approach to combating the impacts of climate change, citing, for example, BAT Bangladesh’s flagship afforestation initiative that has distributed more than 130 million fruit, forestry and medicinal plant saplings free to farmers and stakeholders across 24 districts since the 1980s.

In support of Bangladesh’s sustainable development goal to achieve 100% access to clean drinking water by 2030, BAT Bangladesh’s safe drinking water initiative now provides clean water to more than 300,000 people in marginalised communities, mitigating waterborne diseases and addressing critical issues such as arsenic contamination and salinity.

Gender focus

Achieving gender diversity is another important goal tracked in BAT both by measurable key performance indicators and female development and support initiatives.

According to research by McKinsey, the percentage of women in C-suite positions has increased from 17% in 2015 to 28% in 2023. Although this upward trend is certainly encouraging, there remains a weak middle link in the pipeline for employees who represent the majority of women in all corporates across the world, Nirala says.

‘Diversity creates better opportunities for creativity, problem-solving, smarter decision-making, reduced employee turnover rates, and, most importantly, increased profits and productivity. We need to continue to build diversity in the corporate sector – not in the name of morality but to create competitive advantage.’

With a financial career in her sight since high school, Nirala aimed for a qualification with international relevance. ‘After careful evaluation, I decided ACCA would be the right qualification to pursue,’ she says. ‘In Trinidad it was easy to use ACCA as a career differentiator at the time, and once I started my international journey, the ACCA qualification allowed me to transition easily into senior roles across multiple countries.’

Membership continues to bring benefits today, she adds. ‘Working in different markets, especially developing markets where financial and business infrastructure is less evolved, requires nuanced navigation in a responsible way, in compliance with legal frameworks,’ she says. ‘The ACCA qualification is continuously updating, providing access to CPD materials and a wealth of online information on tapping into complex markets. It’s always been a source of professional inspiration for me.’

Nirala’s children were just five and two when she was offered her first international posting. ‘Fifteen years ago, this was not as common as it is now, especially when it meant a male spouse putting his career on hold,’ she says. ‘It wasn’t easy, at first. However, my husband and I forged an early, ambitious family goal: to raise our two children as global citizens.’

‘Every move became less challenging as we built the muscle of adaptation as a family, and we are confident that will benefit our children as they move into their adult lives,’ says, adding that she doesn’t believe in the notion of ‘having it all’ but, rather, in the practicality of juggling priorities as they arise.

Her advice to younger members is to be clear in their career ambitions and express them openly: ‘Be willing to put in the work to get there, and think long and hard before saying “no” to an opportunity.’