My contribution to a board
I would contribute experience of the obligations that continue after a manufactured product is sold. My work connects parts access, configuration, service capacity and ownership with the capital choices a board must examine. I can help directors ask whether a new channel or investment is consistent with commitments already made, and whether the financial account preserves what has been given up. I also bring the experience of correcting my own premature component approval and changing a dividend recommendation in which I had a personal interest. I serve on our board as an executive, which is useful experience but different from an outside non-executive role. I would need to learn the receiving enterprise and work with complementary financial, technical and sector expertise. The contribution should improve collective scrutiny of management's proposition, not create another operating instruction or imply clinical authority from manufacturing experience.
Judgement in practice
01Examining the commitment hidden inside a new channel
The proposed ₹26 crore two-year chair-sales opportunity carried a spare-parts restriction affecting existing service relationships. We sought a reservation, failed to agree it and declined the proposal, retaining ₹31 lakh of spent bid cost. At board level I would ask which existing relationships a new contract changes and whether the company has understood the consequences before approving it. The forecast should remain distinct from earned revenue, and an argument about preserving access should not become an invented health or financial result. My contribution is to make the contractual condition, alternative considered and actual concession visible together. Directors can then assess whether management has made a reasoned choice, rather than hearing only the size of the opportunity or a broad statement about customer commitment.
02Comparing the work purchased rather than subtracting proposal prices
A 2,400-order review found 1,440 standard and 960 configured orders, exposing work outside a proposed automation sequence. The board approved a ₹4.2 crore fixtures and training programme instead of the original ₹12 crore scheme, and the chosen programme was completed in 2024. I would ask another board to examine the scope represented by a demonstration and the capability left outside it. The ₹7.8 crore difference was not a like-for-like saving, and completion did not prove every expected performance benefit. The oversight question concerns the relationship between actual demand, the capability being purchased and its remaining limitations. Technical colleagues should retain detailed design responsibility while directors understand enough of the proposition to make the capital commitment deliberately.
03Keeping personal ownership visible when a distribution recommendation changes
I initially supported a ₹4.8 crore total dividend and later recommended ₹1.2 crore after the finance and board review of parts working capital. The final distribution followed the applicable approval process and ₹3.6 crore of parts working capital was separately funded. My 6% shareholding meant the change affected my own return. For a board, I would insist on a clear account of the alternative use, declared interests and the distinction between cash, inventory, expense and profit. A lower distribution did not create earnings or establish a service outcome. The case offers experience of explaining a difficult allocation to colleagues who are also owners, without replacing financial scrutiny with an appeal to shared purpose or presenting the executive's recommendation as sufficient approval.
My first year on a board
I would begin with the receiving company's product and financial model, then follow several existing commitments through its operations and governance. Which promises continue after the initial transaction? Which professionals approve the relevant work? How do their requirements appear in the capital and cash plans? I would ask the chair to help me understand where those questions would be useful and where other directors have stronger expertise. My executive habit of moving towards a solution would need to be balanced with the non-executive task of testing management's account and holding it responsible for the response. I would review how disagreements and changed assumptions reach the board, including examples in which a preferred proposal was revised. A good first year would leave me better able to contribute to the whole enterprise, with a practical understanding of its people, obligations and risks beyond the manufacturing cases I already know.
Conflicts and their management
Before receiving confidential material, I would disclose my current executive appointment, 6% shareholding and relevant relationships through Zavqumi's employee owners, investor, suppliers, distributors and service partners. The prospective company would need qualified advice on eligibility, independence and the applicable company-law or listing requirements for the proposed seat. The review should consider actual and potential commercial connections, relevant committee and directorship limits, and how any conflict could be managed without making my contribution ineffective. Our board's consent and the time position would be part of the same assessment. Confidential product, partner and financial information from my present role would remain within its proper boundaries. Disclosure would continue as relationships changed; a declaration made at appointment would not settle every later issue. I would decline a role if necessary exclusions prevented meaningful participation in the board's work.
My independence statement
I hold 6% of Zavqumi within the employee shareholders' combined 65% and serve as its executive director. Ownership, investor, partner and commercial relationships require assessment for a proposed outside seat; my current title and databank registration do not establish independence.
Governance learning and readiness
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Registered
IICA registration in August 2026 is part of the fictional career. My fictional record does not yet contain an assessment pass or an exemption. Appointment-specific eligibility, independence and applicable company-law or listing requirements need qualified review, including relevant committee and directorship limits.
- Extend executive-board experience into effective outside non-executive contribution
- Learn the receiving company's financial and sector obligations
- Practise oversight without taking over technical or operating approval
Committee contribution
Chair and member readiness| Capacity | Committees |
|---|
| Ready to join | Risk committee examining product-service obligations · Strategy committee considering manufacturing and channel investment |
|---|
Board and committee exposure
Served as a director
Zavqumi Mobility Equipment
Executive director on the seven-member board; no committee chair claim
February 2022 onward
Participates in collective oversight while leading the executive team; presents capital, service economics, channel commitments and distributions with relevant specialists.
Capacity and preferences
- Time available
- 22 days per year
- Current directorships
- 1
- Sectors
- Assistive and other service-dependent equipment · Manufacturers with configured products · Employee-shareholder enterprises
- Company type
- A product enterprise willing to examine its continuing service commitments
- Company stage
- Reassessing investment, channels or ownership expectations
The seat I am pursuing
I am interested in one outside non-executive appointment where product obligations, manufacturing investment and ownership choices are material to the board's agenda. Risk or strategy committee membership could be relevant after assessment of the role and requirements. I do not claim readiness to chair a committee simply because I lead a company or sit on its executive board. My August 2026 IICA registration is preparation within this fictional record; the assessment remains unfinished and no exemption is asserted. Twenty-two days is a provisional allowance to be tested against induction, reading, meetings, travel and exceptional demands alongside the CEO role. I would value a chair who encourages challenge and learning, and colleagues whose expertise complements my operating experience. The next appointment should fit a clear board need, workable relationships and enough capacity to exercise judgement responsibly.