Investment Committee Finance Adviser — Multi-Format Expansion and Capital Sequencing

The mandate

An investment committee is reviewing expansion proposals from several consumer and retail formats that compete for the same capital and management capacity. Each business case appears reasonable in isolation, but the portfolio may depend on simultaneous optimistic demand, timely execution and access to shared resources. The adviser will challenge the comparability and sequencing of these proposals. The remit asks which commitments can be staged, which risks move together and what evidence should precede the next capital decision. It does not replace the finance teams preparing individual cases or the committee's authority to choose among them.

The engagement begins on 26 October 2026 for six months, reserving five days monthly. Quarterly investment-committee attendance is included in the retainer, alongside two monthly working discussions and a written portfolio challenge note. Mumbai is the hybrid base with scheduled domestic reviews within the agreed capacity. A substantive response to decision-critical questions is due within two business days after complete materials are provided, with next-business-day acknowledgement for urgent requests. Additional work beyond the monthly reservation requires the chair's agreement; advisory access does not create unlimited availability during every business-case deadline.

The adviser has no line authority and no executive responsibility for capital deployment, operating plans or investment delivery. Recommendations should expose inconsistent assumptions, overlapping dependencies and downside cash consequences, while formal approvals remain with the committee and designated executives. No directorship or fiduciary appointment is included. Transaction execution, procurement negotiation, valuation opinions and legal due diligence are excluded. The adviser may recommend further specialist work where evidence is weak, but should not invent a composite certainty score that disguises incomparable risks or makes a subjective portfolio preference appear to be a technical financial conclusion.

The appointment permits up to two unrelated concurrent engagements, subject to the five-day reservation and conflict review. Interests in competing operators, proposal counterparties or professional firms supporting the cases must be disclosed before relevant materials are shared. Recusal, restricted access or withdrawal will apply where independence cannot be protected. Renewal is considered by the committee in month five against the remaining need for capital-sequencing challenge. Success is a clearer decision framework and better evidence at each commitment gate, not a claim that advice guaranteed the eventual return or eliminated the commercial risk of expansion.

What you will own

• Challenge comparability across expansion proposals by identifying different demand, cash and timing conventions, recommending adjustments or explicit caveats before the committee treats headline returns as interchangeable investment evidence.
• Examine portfolio dependencies and correlated downside exposure, framing questions about shared resources and concurrent execution assumptions that are not visible when each business case is reviewed on its own.
• Recommend capital-sequencing and learning-gate alternatives to the committee, showing what evidence would justify a later commitment rather than implying that staged investment removes all commercial uncertainty.
• Review selected downside cash scenarios with sponsor-appointed finance owners, highlighting omitted commitments or unrealistic recovery assumptions while retaining their responsibility for the underlying models and formal investment submissions.
• Provide concise monthly challenge notes and quarterly committee participation within the agreed reservation, distinguishing financial analysis, specialist opinion needs and subjective strategic preferences in the advice delivered.
• Disclose conflicts before receiving proposal-specific materials and recommend restricted participation where necessary, protecting independent challenge without using advisory access to support another operator or transaction interest.

Candidate qualifications

• Demonstrate senior strategic-finance and capital-allocation responsibility across consumer technology, retail or multiple business formats. Describe a portfolio choice where individually attractive proposals could not sensibly proceed together. Explain the shared dependency or downside exposure you identified and the sequencing recommendation, including the evidence that would have justified a later phase rather than merely ranking cases by headline internal rate of return.
• Hold a Chartered Accountancy qualification and show strong cash-flow, P&L and investment-appraisal judgement at senior-director or equivalent scope. You must compare unlike operating models without pretending their risks are identical, distinguish financial sensitivity from a strategic preference and recognise when a question requires formal valuation, legal or technical advice. Clear committee communication matters as much as the complexity of the model.
• Evidence independent challenge of senior sponsors whose proposals used inconsistent assumptions or understated concurrent resource demand. Describe how you made the issue understandable, retained an effective relationship and left approval with the authorised forum. Strong candidates can recommend delay, narrower scope or further evidence without presenting every uncertainty as a reason to avoid investment or taking executive ownership of the revised plan.
• Reserve five days monthly for six months and meet the two-business-day decision-response standard. Disclose relationships with competitors, proposal counterparties and supporting professional firms. Demonstrate how you have managed recusal or constrained an assignment to preserve independence, while protecting sensitive investment materials and maintaining the distinction between advisory recommendation, specialist assurance and the committee's own capital decision.

Application

Applications for this mandate are received in one way only: through the India Board Terminal's application process. It is automated end to end. Your Executive Passport travels to the mandate holder in its confidential form, your answers to the three questions below are read before anything else in your file, and every stage that follows is recorded on your applications page.

There is no address to write to and no intermediary to call. The mandate holder reads what the Terminal delivers and nothing else, which is what keeps the process the same for every applicant and keeps your name out of it until you release it. Applications close on 14 October 2026. Mandate reference CVU-ADV-2026-IND-047.