Shweta Jalan joined Advent in 2009 and is a Managing Partner in Mumbai. She advises on investments in the business & financial services and healthcare sectors. Shweta has advised on 20 investments during her career, 14 while at Advent.
Prior to joining Advent, Shweta worked for ICICI Venture, which at the time was the largest private equity firm in India. Before ICICI Venture, she worked at Ernst & Young in their corporate finance division.
Shweta has an MBA from the National Institute of Management, Calcutta (NIMC) and a BSc in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta.
How does Advent differentiate itself in India?
Advent has created quite a niche for itself. When Advent invests in a company, we help to ensure that the right management team is in place so the business can be operated like a public company, with appropriate governance, risk, and compliance oversight. That was a differentiated offering we introduced to the private equity sector in India.
How does working with Operating Partners improve your investing?
In every business Advent would like to own, we try to develop a real right to win. That means establishing a strong relationship with the founder or seller in advance of the deal process, and the Operating Partners and Operations Advisors that we bring are vital to this. Suppose Advent is buying a consumer business in India, and you have the former Asia head of a large multinational with you. The conversation immediately moves up a few notches. The seller can see you’re serious about discussing what you can strategically do with the business. Having that expertise alongside you adds credibility to your own story.
How do you maintain a culture of continuous improvement at Advent?
Our philosophy is that we know what we know, but we also know that we don’t know everything. If you’re willing to admit that you don’t know it all, then you’re open to listening to people and learning from them. This holds true no matter who we’re interacting with – whether it’s portfolio companies, Operations Advisors, or Operating Partners. Culturally, we’re about as distinctive as you can get, and it comes down to being humble in our dealings. It’s something that percolates from the top.
“If you’re willing to admit you don’t know it all, you’re open to listening to people and learning from them.”
Shweta Jalan
Managing Partner, Advent International
What is it about your role that inspires and drives you?
Every situation is different, and every challenge is different. For me, it’s about the joy of solving complex problems. You spend your time tackling business, regulatory, and management challenges, and there’s no cookie-cutter approach you can take. You’re quite often doing three different jobs over three days. You have to be an HR manager one day, a business transformation expert the next, and then you go back to being an investment professional, as you try to sell your company. You’re always learning.
Which person has had the greatest influence on your professional life?
I’m asked this question a lot, and I have to say I wouldn’t choose just one person. There was a woman I worked for early in my career, who taught me to raise my level of aspiration and become more ambitious. And there was someone I worked with at Ernst & Young, from whom I learned a lot about relationship building. If there was an associate in the room, he’d treat them with the same respect as the CEO. I think it’s about taking different things from different people: trying to absorb what they do well, and seeing whether you can include these things in your own personal and professional journey.
