Vinay Gupta is the Managing Director of Union Marine Management Services (UMMS), a company that provides ship management services. This service covers the spectrum from assisting owners in ship purchasing and crew hiring all the way to day-to-day operations on the high seas.
Vinay’s story is an inspiring one. Trained as a marine engineer, Vinay spent eight-and-a-half years of his career sailing on the high seas, before joining the ship management industry in 2003. In 2012, he started his own company, UMMS, and in just 10 years grew his portfolio to 61 vessels worth over US$2 billion . To provide a sense of scale, this makes USMS the 8th largest ship management company in Singapore and the 100th largest globally.
Staff empowerment
For all his success, Vinay is perhaps most proud of how he’s been able to groom his 90-strong staff that are spread out across seven locations globally.
“We have had almost zero attrition of staff in our organisation. I’m proud of the kind of leadership we’ve been able to generate. To have leaders who are able to operate the day-to-day running of the organisation without my direct interference.”
Vinay adds that this culture of self-empowerment is something that has up to now been conspicuously absent in the ship management industry.
“It’s a very top-down kind of culture in shipping. Like what the boss says is the law and what he believes – the gospel. So, we have broken the shackles. In our organisation, our people have the freedom to think, speak and act. This is a rare commodity, a rare feature in our industry.”
Writing a different, more honest narrative
Another aspect that Vinay attributes UMMS’s success to is its commitment to transparency and honesty.
“I think every successful business has a storyline that is unique. Our business model is based on transparency. This belief is not limited to something that we put down on paper, but is something that we want to imbibe into each employee’s character, and have it ingrained into everything that we do.”
And how does he achieve this transparency?
“You have to lead by example and let these values percolate down to the grassroots level. Our strength lies in the transparency of our operations, and we allow our clients to oversee the process as much as they would like to. This is the model that has worked well for us.”
A new appreciation for finance
Despite leading UMMS to where it is today, there has always been an area where Vinay has felt slightly uncomfortable in – and that is the area of accounting and finance.
“We are managing high-value assets and dealing with very wealthy individuals and companies – the value of one ship is $35 to $45 million. For such clients, value or wealth creation is a very important part of the equation. This can be hard to manage without knowing the right terminology or jargon. As an engineer by training, with no finance background, I have often felt challenged by my lack of knowledge in this area.”
Thus began Vinay’s quest to bridge his knowledge gap and subsequent discovery of INSEAD’s Finance for Executives (FFE) programme, which seeks to provide a comprehensive introduction to accounting and financial analysis. Whilst excited to have a chance to finally overcome his fear of numbers, he remained sceptical if someone with no finance background could do the programme.
“I remember calling up the admissions office and asking: ‘I have little to no knowledge of accounting or finance, would this programme be suitable for me?’ They assured me it was and after going through it, I can say with certainty that it is great for those with no finance background.
I believe that the programme works because it breaks down financials into smaller packets that we can understand. Our programme lecturer, Associate Professor Pascal Maenhout, is an amazing teacher. He was able to make things look so simple. In seven days, he made me and everyone else in the class believe that we could effectively understand the balance sheet and company valuations.”
Through the programme, Vinay was not only able to overcome his fear of balance sheets, but more importantly, develop forward-thinking and strategic skillsets through a newfound appreciation of finance.
“I went into the programme thinking that accounting was finance, and I’ve come away knowing two separate things – accounting and finance. Accounting is kind of like the rear-view mirror, while finance is what’s in front of your windscreen. With a better understanding of finance, I am able to better assess opportunities that arise, and consequently provide better value for my clients.
Internally, I can also look at my own company’s financials more confidently and have more intelligent conversations with my accounting and finance team.”
Would he recommend the programme to others?
As a firm advocate of lifelong learning, Vinay’s mantra is “To do is to learn, and to learn is to do”.
“Even at the age of 50, I appreciate being able to go and learn something new – to pick up tools that are going to help me better manage and run my organisation. What’s more, to be able to sit down with people half my age and still be able to understand one another, that was a marvellous experience.
If you can, learn while you’re doing, and do while you’re learning. This is what helps to develop your skills. Through this programme, I have acquired the tools, but I will still need to hone these skills. That is a lifelong endeavour."
Going into the programme, Vinay knew that there was much that he could benefit from it, but he came away with more than he bargained for.
“When I went in, I wanted to gain a better insight into accounting. Instead, I came away with an overview of accounting plus finance. So, it was much more than what I expected. I believe that anyone who is going to come into this programme will come away more than informed.”
What Vinay has to say about INSEAD’s Finance for Executives programme
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