People in Business
Venkat Raman
When Gopal Sreenivasan received the Top Honour as the Number One Loan Market Franchise Business (International) at the 18th Annual Loan International Loan Market Awards held in Australia on September 11, 2017, there was thundering applause but none of the 550 delegates was surprised.
For, he had won the same award last year as the Owner and Director of Loan Market Waitakere, rated as the most successful franchise within the Loan Market Group internationally.
The Awards Ceremony, held at the RACV Royal Pines Resort located at Gold Coast also honoured two other members of his Team- Kevin Tian, who received the ‘Individual Broker Award’ (ranked Number 7 as Premium Elite) and Marco Wang, who received the ‘Emerging Elite Award.’
A two-day Conference that precedes the Awards Ceremony discusses market trends, challenges and ways to overcome them.
The Awards Programme
Loan Market professionals and their partners attended the Awards Ceremony organised to recognise and honour high achievers within the Loan Market Group that accounts for 1000 advisors on both sides of the Tasman.
Awards are given for outstanding performers for the July-June financial year under five categories including ‘Top Franchise Business International,’ ‘Chairman’s Club,’ ‘Platinum Elite,’ ‘Elite’ and ‘Emerging Elite.’
Gopal is perhaps among a few who has won in each of these categories over the years, giving meaning to the dictum that every rung on the ladder takes a person to a new height and that competition is the driving force behind improved performance.
Multi-ethnic expertise
What began as an owner-operated enterprise 15 years ago, Loan Market Waitakere has grown to account for a 14-member strong team of Indian, Chinese and Sri Lankan ethnicity, offering expertise in personal, business, commercial finance and insurance services. Like Gopal, his colleagues combine the strength of multifarious disciplines including Banking, Sales, IT and Engineering.
Graduates, fresh out of university, have also had an illustrious start to their career at Loan Market Waitakere.
Confronting challenges
We have often written about the formidable world of financial advisors who alone are qualified to work as mortgage and insurance brokers under an increasingly stringent and robust financial markets regime. In a sector that imposes rigid standards of accountability, transparency and integrity on its practitioners and in an environment that is characterised by restrictive market exposure by lending institutions, improving performance and profitability year-after-year is a feat that should be acknowledged and applauded, just as Loan Markets International did last week.
Perseverance personified
Humility and self-effacement may be the wont of Gopal but his self-confidence and spirit of pursuit are almost inimitable but nonetheless inspiring. With postgraduate (Masters) degrees in Business Administration (MBA) from Shivaji University (Kolhapur, Maharashtra) and Information Analysis and Management (MIAM) from Bond University (Gold Coast), Gopal commenced his career as a Lecturer in Information Systems at Stamford University in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and successively at Unitec, AUT and MIT in Auckland. A seven-year career (1995-2002) at ASB as Business Analyst, Personal Banker, Business Banker and Lending Specialist gave him the encouragement to look for more challenges.
The Top ‘Business Banker Award’ that ASB accorded him (2001-2002) could have been an impetuous to seek the change.
Entrepreneurial Venture
Establishing his own company called, ‘Creative Mortgages Limited’ on September 23, 2002, he began his entrepreneurial venture as a Contractor for Ray White Financial Services. Auckland’s property market was on the threshold of development and as such offered potential for growth.
A year later, Gopal opted to work only on Commission, a decision that seemed incommodious at that time, but proved to be propitious in the ensuing years. When Ray White Financial Services was rebranded as Loan Market in 2006, Gopal purchased the right to name his Company as ‘Loan Market Te Atatu,’ which is today known as ‘Loan Market Waitakere.’
Mortgage and Insurance brokers work more for individuals and small businesses than corporate clients; which is why, people like Gopal have no scheduled business hours, weekends and public holidays.
He is believed to entertain at least 70 phone calls every day and attends to almost as many emails, which must be a record.
Loan Market Group is arguably the largest in New Zealand’s home finance market, securing more than $1.8 billion annually. With the largest panel of lenders, advisors of the Loan Market Group service the widest range of loans.
Loan Market Waitakere is a significant franchise within the Group securing about $250 million worth of loans every year.
Meaningful Anniversary
As New Zealanders go to polls on September 23, 2017, Gopal and his team will be celebrating the 15th Anniversary of his Company. Among the voters will be thousands of people who dream of having a home sooner than later. Their choice of the next government will spell another era of growth for the construction industry and the property sector, which in turn will make people like Gopal and companies like Loan Market Waitakere busier and more innovative.
That in essence, is how the wheel of progress keeps turning.
www.loanmarket.co.nz/waitakere
Photo : Gopal Sreenivasan with his ‘Number 1 Franchise Loan Market International Award’
