Knowing Noelene

A vibrant pink blazer and three-finger wave from around a coffee cup soar past my desk as CEO Noelene Murray provides her daily overture of good-mornings on her way to the first email or phone call of the day. ‘Morning everyone, morning B1 and B2, morning Chairman, morning guys.’ No matter how much of a rush she is in, every morning begins with Noelene making sure everyone knows they matter.

To say that a company is like a family is a rhetorical indulgence I would not usually permit myself, but Noelene Murray manages to both embody and reinvigorate the expression. From my very first interview at Perdaman, I could tell that this was an environment where people were valued not just for what they do, but for who they are. Sitting down with Noelene is a singular experience that I would absolutely recommend to anyone, whether you are an industry professional seeking expert advice or a fresh graduate nervously walking into your first corporate job interview. She effortlessly generates an atmosphere of relaxed professionalism in any room she enters, stripping away the plastic-coated corporate jargon and engaging in an honest conversation between human beings.

I know this from experience, as last month I had the pleasure of having just such a conversation with Noelene about her journey. It became immediately clear that we had made the right choice for the first member of the Story Board; as we talked, I felt like I was gaining a deeper understanding of Perdaman itself. Noelene’s story is one of community, discovery, generosity and lifelong learning, I am delighted to be able to share it with you all.

The story begins in Collie, a mining town 60 km east of Bunbury in Australia’s stunning southwest. Born into a modest middle-class family, most of Noelene’s early influences were centred around the importance of community and diversity.

Like many country towns, one of the major pillars of the Collie community was sport. Noelene’s father was a King’s Cup rower and skilled AFL footballer, and her mother was an excellent tennis and hockey player. Both were single figure golfers and active members of multiple local sport clubs. It was perhaps inevitable, therefore, that Noelene and her two sisters would become dedicated, high-level young athletes.

‘I played state junior badminton, state and country netball, state/country basketball, state/country swimming—I went to Singapore with swimming… I did triathlons, I was part of a swimming team, swam the Rottnest swim in a team. I’ve always been active; sport was always a very important part of our family.
We were always encouraged to do our best and give 110%, which was very easy because I was—I still am—very competitive. I soon learnt that if I wasn’t good enough, it meant I needed to practice more.’

Noelene’s parents were enthusiastic supporters of her athletic successes, but their focus was never on winning. Hard work and community, Noelene explained, were always more important than the final score. Her parents loved sport, but the reason they were so active was because they were so involved in local clubs and community activities. They were always generous with their time and hospitality, and Noelene grew up surrounded by a diverse group of people from all around the world who had all formed a connection with her parents.

‘Our house was always open… we got to meet these amazing people, you know, the top American coach for the women’s rowing team came down and coached us on the Collie River because of Dad. We went up to Singapore with the swimming team, so we got to meet the royal family in Kuala Lumpur; we’ve just met amazing people. We always had someone interesting coming and going from the house, and that was because of Mum and Dad, they’d say, “Hey, come down to Collie!” You’d meet someone in Edinburgh who was a brain surgeon in Bloemfontein in South Africa, and then they would come and stay in Collie! Mum and dad were amazing like that, very very sociable.’

Noelene went to Collie Senior High School, an experience she described as simply ‘fantastic’. From a high-achieving peer group to friendships lasting decades, her academic experience reinforced the sense of community she had discovered in sport.

Although she was a high-achieving student, Noelene told me that her parents never put any pressures or limitations on her or her sisters. There were no old-fashioned expectations that they would become secretaries or nurses, it was very much an environment of ‘if you want to do it, go off and do it’.

While this freedom allowed the girls to explore multiple avenues to discover new passions, Noelene commented that it may have contributed to a lack of focus and drive in her youth. As a naturally intelligent young woman, Noelene was able to achieve satisfactory results without needing to put in the kind of effort that her competitive drive brought out on the basketball court or in the swimming pool.

‘I was [academically inclined], but I was immature. I was lazy. I could do it, and doing it was enough. Reflecting back, could I have done better? Yes. My parents let us make choices, we were never told that “you will be this, you will be that”… I never knew what I wanted to do. I didn’t have any great passion, and I never created—or seemed to listen to—the passion, until I got into my 40’s. I still wandered for many years.’

Noelene went to Collie Senior High School, an experience she described as simply ‘fantastic’. From a high-achieving peer group to friendships lasting decades, her academic experience reinforced the sense of community she had discovered in sport.

Although she was a high-achieving student, Noelene told me that her parents never put any pressures or limitations on her or her sisters. There were no old-fashioned expectations that they would become secretaries or nurses, it was very much an environment of ‘if you want to do it, go off and do it’.

While this freedom allowed the girls to explore multiple avenues to discover new passions, Noelene commented that it may have contributed to a lack of focus and drive in her youth. As a naturally intelligent young woman, Noelene was able to achieve satisfactory results without needing to put in the kind of effort that her competitive drive brought out on the basketball court or in the swimming pool.

Knowing Amit

There is a certain stereotypical colouration to what the average person imagines when they think of an accountant. The word may evoke the image of a man in a drab, grey suit, generally with glasses, staring slack-jawed at a spreadsheet while prodding absently at a calculator, or else a faintly avian figure made of straight lines and pinstripes presenting page after page of complex charts and equations to a glazed-eyed homeowner. In short, you picture someone boring.

Although this trope’s popularity in fiction (and media in general) makes it difficult to avoid, there is one sure-fire way to shatter all of your accountant-based misconceptions: meeting Amit Mondal.

Amit works for Perdaman Corporate Services as Assistant Manager of Accounts, and he is consistently one of the most stylish people in the office. Upon my first time meeting this particular accountant, any stray thoughts of pale pinstripes or circular spectacles were instantly banished by a subtly spiked quiff, dark burgundy shirt and easy smile that showed the music-lover and cricket player behind the corporate professional.

My own experiences with Perdaman have been vastly improved by Amit’s presence. Stepping into the company as a total newcomer to the corporate world, one of the most daunting aspects of my new role was the ubiquity of complex and unfamiliar finances. However, from day one, Amit has always been happy to walk me through each new form and spreadsheet I have encountered, proactively making sure I know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. This is not just Amit’s way of being welcoming to a newcomer; his patience and willingness to help extend to everyone in the office, from giving the new guy a few tips to following up with business heads to make sure they have all the information they need for budgets and approvals. Amit embodies Perdaman’s commitment to creating and empowering leaders, and he does so while also managing to be a genuine, fun person.

Amit’s story may be about growth and change, but it is also about maintaining the core of who you are as you adapt to a new world of responsibilities. I had the pleasure of getting to know more about that core identity when I sat down with Amit to hear his story, and it is a pleasure and a privilege to share that story with you.

Amit Mondal was born in Kolkata, in India’s West Bengal state. Despite being an only child, Amit acquired an extended family of very close friends who all felt like brothers and sisters, so he always felt surrounded and supported by family, even when he was far from home. Family was also the root of Amit’s love of music, with his mother passing on a singer’s natural appreciation of melodies and harmonies. Although he did not become a singer or musician himself, music remains an important part of Amit’s life.

In his early schooling experience, Amit discovered a love of science and calculation. Unlike in subjects like history and geography where he was just expected to commit hundreds of dates and facts to memory, science allowed Amit to actively engage with and apply the things he was learning. He discovered that a formula or equation would stick in his mind much more quickly and easily than the dates of wars and discoveries, being a tool that he could regularly use to better understand the world around him rather than a simple piece of obscure information left to gather dust in his memory. This analytical, scientific brain would serve him well in years to come.

Commerce and accounting were not originally much of a passion for Amit. Like so many of us, he finished his secondary education without a clear idea of what he wanted to do next, so when a friend came to him with a suggestion, Amit stepped up with an open mind and a sense of humour.

‘One of my friends came to me, he’s a chartered accountant, and he said, “Amit, you should be a chartered accountant”, and I thought, that looks really prestigious and nice, and it’s difficult to pronounce so it must be a good profession. So that got me motivated to do it.’

After this initial suggestion, Amit went into the Narula Institute of Technology (NiT) to study a Bachelor of Business Administration. By this time, one of the biggest influences on Amit’s life had taken root in his identity and style: the 1990s. 90s music, 90s films, 90s fashion, Amit developed a passion for everything about the culture and aesthetic of this decade. The impacts of these new experiences and passions ranged from changing how he styled his hair to leading him to Australia.

‘I’m very much widely addicted to Indian Hindi movies from the 90’s, so my culture, my attire, my style, fashion, food and everything, is so I could have a reflection of 90’s movies and stuff. I was crazy about it. I have seen a lot of beautiful places that are outside of India, beautiful places that I wanted to visit the most, so I came to know about Britain, America, Canada, and eventually Australia as well. And that has motivated me a lot, it’s what made me want to go abroad for study and get to visit those beautiful places.’

After graduating from NiT, Amit was given a choice: pursue further study and acquire his full commerce degree, or start working as an accountant. Two of his teachers, Vivek Sir (commerce) and Answar Da (English)—both long-time mentors and major influences on Amit’s life—helped him determine what he was most motivated to do. Several of Amit’s friends were already studying or working in Australia, and Amit knew how beautiful the country was from some of his favourite movies, so in 2008 he decided to go abroad to study and acquire his commerce degree.

Amit moved to Sydney, beginning his degree with CQ University. Although he was studying commerce, Amit’s first job in Australia was far from the world of accounting. Amit worked evenings at a bar in Sydney, beginning as a dishwasher and eventually working his way up to being a bartender. The atmosphere of this workplace, surrounded by music and people having fun, was exactly the kind of environment young Amit thrived in. There was a casual freedom to the work; you had to work hard and make sure everything was being done properly, but you were also singing and dancing with your co-workers and being a part of everyone else’s fun. It was an amazing experience, Amit told me, to work with people who you got on with like childhood friends, and he loved every minute of it.

After a few years of working and studying, Amit graduated with a Master of Professional Accounting qualification and transitioned into the world of full-time accountancy. He moved from Sydney to Perth and spent a year as a general accountant, then transferred to a large firm where he worked as a tax accountant for four years. While the workplace itself was not necessarily a bad place, after leaving the excitement and casual fun of the bar for the rigid professionalism of being a tax accountant, it was difficult for Amit to adjust to the expectations of his new role.

‘I had to adapt to the environment, be more professional. I learned that you cannot be so casual as you could when you work in a bar environment; your attire, what you say to people, you have to be careful in each step that you are going to take, whether you are sending an email, communication, or if you are approaching a client, it’s a different environment—you’re not dancing on the floors, you’re just sitting there, but also at the same time, unsupervised, you have to manage yourself. Managing staff without supervision also came into play.’

It became increasingly difficult for Amit to stay motivated in this new role. He described this as a time of frustration and confusion, a period of his life when he was wondering if he had chosen the wrong path. He had worked so hard for so many years to enter this world and become an accountant, but the more time he spent at his current job, the more frustrated and weary he became. The excitement that had driven him to move to Australia, to pursue his degree, to become the person he thought he should be, was slowly draining away.

In times like this, Amit turns to music. There will always be challenges that come up in your life, he told me, but music is something that has always helped him stay motivated and in control. Whether he was sad, frustrated or happy, Amit would refer to music. Although he had made many new friends in Perth, all of his close friends and family were either in Sydney or all the way back in India, so music was a big part of helping him through this difficult, uncertain time. After his four years as a tax accountant, Amit decided to quit his job. Accounting, he decided, was simply not for him.

Amit found himself applying for all sorts of jobs, anything he could find – anything, that is, apart from accounting. He applied for government jobs and admin positions, searching for something that would help him recapture his lost motivation. That was when Amit discovered Perdaman.

In 2017, Perdaman was advertising an opening for a projects & accounts administrator. The company had been growing steadily over the last decade, and between the Chairman’s reputation and the positive things Amit was hearing from his friends, he decided he would make an exception and apply for one last accounting job. Not expecting any great deal of success, Amit headed into Perdaman’s head office for a job interview.

‘I was looking for any other job apart from accounting, you know, so I came here just for the interview, and I thought, like, it would be for about 10 minutes or so. I came into the office, and it was such a beautiful scene. I thought, I’ll just get some pictures, post them on social media, I’ll sit for the interview, and I’ll leave. I knew I was not going to be selected, and I didn’t think I was really interested in the job either.’

This outlook was suddenly shaken, however, when Amit came face-to-face with the Chairman, who was interviewing him personally. Amit had reservations about stepping back into accounting and the corporate world, but the Chairman saw through his denial. There was something about Perdaman that rekindled the spark of excitement that had been missing from Amit’s work for so long. It was still challenging for Amit to accept that he might be working as an accountant again, but when the Chairman selected him, that spark of excitement allowed Amit to come into the job with an open, optimistic mindset.

His recent struggles had made a significant dent in Amit’s confidence, and when he started at Perdaman, he didn’t know if he would be able to stay afloat in such a prestigious and professional position. However, after years of struggling to work through frustration and a lack of motivation, Amit suddenly found himself in a community that more closely resembled the spirit of his old job at the bar in Sydney than anything he had experienced as an accountant. He was able to find enjoyment once again in using the tools he had been given to break down and understand the tasks in front of him.

There were still challenges, but the leadership team at Perdaman helped Amit find confidence and excitement in his new position. It was transformative, Amit said, to go back into the kind of position where he had had those negative experiences, but this time to actually love his job. When I asked Amit what his proudest moment was at Perdaman, he told me that there had yet to be a single moment when he wasn’t proud.

‘I always feel proud. I always carry that feeling with me, because since I finished my graduation, I’ve been working to be an accountant, but I left that job. I never wanted to be an accountant again, the last thing I wanted to be was an accountant… but working here at Perdaman just gives me so much energy. Now you’re looking at me, and I’m a different person. I’m so positive, straightforward and outspoken, and I love my job. I get a great sense of achievement through my different work experiences here at Perdaman; I get to develop my skills, my communication, really develop as an individual. And the company values me as an employee, so I really feel proud working here. I have since the start.’

Joining Perdaman was just the beginning of this new chapter in Amit’s life, and it allowed him to take on challenges and goals that he would not have even considered by himself. Amit was promoted in July to Assistant Manager of Accounts, and he is currently in his final year of studying for his CPA qualification. The Chairman and Amit’s manager, Perdaman General Manager of Finance Him Rekhi, have continued to push Amit and help fuel his motivation as he takes on these new responsibilities and strives to further develop his skills.

A separate challenge that completely changed Amit’s approach to every aspect of his life was the arrival of his baby daughter. Working at Perdaman had helped Amit grow into a calmer, more responsible professional, but suddenly there was an entirely new dimension to every decision he made. Family is very important to Amit, and he works hard to make as many memories with his daughter as he can, giving her his time and capturing their moments together so that she will be able to keep these memories close as she grows up.

Balancing a full-time corporate job and caring for a new baby is a gargantuan task for any parent, and Amit offered me a wry smile as he commented that motivation and focus can be somewhat difficult to maintain when you’ve been woken up 4-5 times during the night by a crying newborn. Sleep deprivation made everything more challenging, but Amit also had a new motivation—something he could work tirelessly for without losing confidence in his goal. Becoming a father allowed him to discover new strengths that he had not thought himself capable of.

‘I tend to think or judge things more logically. On each and every decision I used to make, it was based on the emotional aspect; I have made a lot of decisions emotionally which turned out to be pretty disastrous. Now I tend to think more before I do anything. Once you become a father, you gradually generate a lot of strength in yourself; you need patience enough to kind of absorb pain and things, so now I can see myself as a different person.’

Even through the sleepless nights and challenging tasks, Amit found himself enjoying his work. Unlike his previous experience with his job only adding to his frustration, there was something about Perdaman that gave him strength and kept him motivated. He still had to work hard, but the community and leadership he experienced at Perdaman allowed him to build himself up to a position that he is very proud of.

Amit works every day towards achieving his professional goals and working his way up the ladder at Perdaman. His promotion was proof that he can achieve bigger and better things with enough hard work, and Amit is looking forward to continuing to grow with the company. Perdaman has a lot to offer, and Amit wants to be able to keep improving himself in order to give back to the company and create a better tomorrow for his family.

Amit welcomes feedback and constructive criticism from his leaders and peers, but when it comes to social norms and the vague, ever-changing criteria of society, he doesn’t pay much attention to what people think of him. He is focused on his career, and he is proud of the person he is, so whether or not people are making judgements or have negative feelings towards him does not faze him. His kindness, generosity and friendly manner are not driven by the need to be liked; they are simply a reflection of the satisfaction and pride Amit feels in his position and his community. Working at Perdaman just makes him happy.

Upon reflection, he remarked, his younger self would probably think that he has become rather boring. He still loves that younger version of himself—the version that had a more exciting kind of fun and would go bang on a friend’s door at 12 AM to sing happy birthday and drag them out for a night of revelry—but there are things he has grown to appreciate now that are more satisfying than any late night or party.

‘I invested my time and money into accounting, and for an international student it’s quite a lot of money and time, but I was happy working in the bar. I never would have thought of going into an industry like this, but now I’m thinking, yeah, I should have a professional career… Now I am focused, but a bit boring. I still love the current version of me, though, because I have a baby, a beautiful baby, my lovely parents, my beautiful wife, great colleagues, my manager, the Chairman, they’re just so fun to work with, so I have nothing to complain about. I’m doing pretty good.’

Amit has not set any particular long-term goals for his life at this point, preferring to enjoy what he has in the present. He visits his family in India every two years (pandemics not withstanding), spends time with his wife and daughter, creating memories and working hard to improve himself, personally and professionally.

Joining Perdaman has had an enormous impact on Amit’s life, far greater than he ever could have imagined. He went from coming in with zero confidence, expecting nothing from his interview beyond some fresh content for his Instagram, to being a competent and capable corporate professional who loves his job, his family and his life. Perdaman empowered Amit to take on new challenges, find new strengths within himself, and discover just how much he had to give—essentially, Perdaman helped him grow up. It has not been the journey he was expecting, but there is no doubt in Amit’s mind that he is on the right path, and he is excited to see where it will lead him.

‘I admit, I was frustrated—I was convinced, based on my past experiences in other jobs, that I would have to do the most work to get the job done. When you’ve invested most your time into becoming an accountant, but you’re so frustrated that you don’t want to be an accountant anymore, you know something is not right.
And then I decided to take up the opportunity and come here to Perdaman, with the same job, and it has had a huge impact on my life and career. To be here doing the job that I thought I couldn’t do ever again, and to actually be really happy and really proud, it’s just incredible. I had lost my confidence in myself, and I didn’t know whether I’d be able to pull it off or not, but my manager, and of course the Chairman, they always just kept motivating me, which has made a massive difference. They have contributed so much to all the positive changes that have happened in my life since I started, and I’d like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.’

Knowing Maegha

It’s rare enough for a woman to rise in business – after all there are more male CEOs named David then there are female CEOs. It’s even rarer still for a person of color coming from an incredibly overpopulated country to achieve even half of the things that Maegha Rambal has. And yet my impression from my first interview with her has been that she has forged through every obstacle in her path with uncommon, unwavering resolve.

Maegha grew up in the Indian State of Kashmir, which as I understand is comparable to paradise on Earth. Glittering winter snow and mild summers make this stunning area feel like a piece of Switzerland that made its way to the Indian border. Kashmir is also home to a sacred Hindu site – the Amaranth Temple – nestled deep in the side of the Himalayas. The pilgrimage to the cave can take anywhere from 20 to 60 days.

‘It’s 3,888m metres off the ground, and that was hard. You know, climbing in the Himalayas, you have to go on foot, you can’t go on anything. It’s scary, because it’s a frozen glacier, it’s a mountain with a very narrow path, so you had to climb all day, all night.’

As a young girl, Maegha made this pilgrimage with her family whom she lived with in a large ancestral home, boasting four different family units of uncles, aunties and cousins.

‘In India it’s more like a joint family. All of the kids, we used to all play together, communicate with each other, share our failings and thinking, everything together. At one time there were eight kids living in our house.’

While common in India, the thought of multiple families in one house was a foreign concept to me. Even more so was the casualness in which Maegha revealed her school classes had been formed in a ratio of 100 to 1. That amount of competition, when coupled with brutal barriers to entry across virtually any field of study – made it quite clear to me that only the strong survive in the Indian education system. And it’s a truth that Maegha’s parental figures were diligent in preparing her to face. Of the eight children in her household, eight of them went on to become engineers, doctors, diplomats and high-profile professionals. Such a crème-de-la-crop batch of individuals is surely a testament to the effectiveness of the family’s parenting, and the almost frightening mastery of discipline and respect they’ve instilled in their descendants. This edge led Maegha to pursue a masters in mathematics, inspired by her mathematician father. It’s also worth noting that you have a higher chance of being shot by a champagne cork than you do of being accepted to the course you want at any of the Indian Institutes of Technology.

Following graduation, Maegha knew that her best option would be a position with the central Indian government. The private sector, she explained, was incredibly difficult to break into and brought less security and lower salaries than a government job. In order to even qualify for such a position, Maegha had to pass the international Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam and score highly enough to be placed above the millions of other graduates who shared her ambitions. Nether less, Maegha prevailed and was appointed to an accounting position in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Upon this success, she gave thanks to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of wisdom and new beginnings. Faith, Maegha explained, is just a natural part of her life. There isn’t a concrete set of rules or laws to follow, but rather a set of values and principles that help explain different aspects of life and morality. These different shapes and interpretations of cosmic energy in Hinduism is a deeply personal and spiritual exploration of the self that is unique to each follower.

Blessed and purposeful, Maegha developed vital business soft-skills through her work with the Indian government, such as attention to detail, independence and leadership. Rising through the ranks, her ambition, dedication, and desire to make the world a better place by leading heart-first eventually caught the attention of Vikas Rambal. At twenty-seven, the couple was paired in a traditional arranged marriage, and in the late 1990’s, the pair travelled to several different countries seeking opportunities to realise Vikas’s vision for addressing the growing food crisis. They evaluated resources and opportunities in Canada, India, and the US, but it was ultimately Western Australia that captured their interests. Welcoming two sons in the early 2000s, the Rambal family moved to Perth. Locally known as the City of Lights, Perth is the most isolated city in the world, with its closest neighbor lying overseas in Indonesia.

Coming from Delhi, a city with a population of 23 million to a tiny city of just 2.1 million people, the Rambals began creating a life for themselves in a new country.

‘Coming from India to Australia, we had to work ten times as hard to be taken seriously.” Maegha reflected. “My husband was working 18 hours a day. I was by myself with two kids, which was hard. I can’t forget that, the first year, how hard it was; explaining to our neighbour that I needed help, they would just say, “what do you mean?” They didn’t know our culture. We can’t just leave the kids, leave them crying there, I need to carry him. “Just leave him in the pram” … that’s just a totally different culture. In India I had the family support, in every aspect.’

In 2006, the family sold their share of a joint venture named Burrup Fertilisers and used that money to start their own company. They named this new venture after the Chairman’s father, Sri Perdaman Rambal, hoping it would become a vessel for the vision he, Vikas and Maegha all shared. Maegha took a step back from her professional career, wishing to dedicate more time to raising and supporting her sons. When asked about her experience balancing motherhood and career, she emphasized that her focus was on instilling the same values in her kids that had carried her through countless challenges, from discipline and diligence to respecting the wisdom and experience of their elders.

‘You can’t be both, it’s not loyal to your children. You need to sacrifice a bit and instill good values. Children can lose their way and get distracted by drugs, alcohol, – you need to be there to guide them. I gave up 18 years of my career to support them and my husband, so they could become good role models and leaders like their father. So they could learn how to manage stress, and control their nerves when challenges wash over like waves.’

Once her sons had grown and moved on to university, Maegha felt it was time to rejoin the world of business – this time in Perth. In 2017, she furthered her education with relevant real estate courses in property management from Reiwa – before taking on a more active role as Director of Perdaman. Maegha found that learning about property management contributed to her leadership within Perdaman Group’s extensive property portfolio, and that connecting with the tenants gave her a tangible sense of contribution to her company and community. Her passion for the Perth community and education also led her to join the External Advisory board of Murdoch University in 2018, where she applied her management experience to further develop the university’s stakeholder relations and financing. Holistically, Maegha felt that her presence across such different facets of her business and networks created the perfect opportunity to fully develop her leadership style, and she strove to balance authority with compassion, honesty, sincerity, loyalty, hard work and care.

‘I thought of my father, he was always sharing his lunch, always tipping the taxi drivers and going out of his way to show generosity and appreciation.’

From helping employees deal with the grief of losing family members, to personally driving the injured and ill to the doctor – Maegha stops at nothing to ensure her staff are cared for and treats them like family.

“It pains me if my employees are in pain. I don’t want people to feel scared or stressed, I want to be approachable to anyone needing help.” Maegha explained that she leads ‘heart-to-heart,’ and that there’s no room for inequality in her business. “I want everyone to be happy and I’ll always volunteer to mediate any problems for my people. I’m very passionate about human connection in life.”

This kind of progressive leadership culture – refreshing in contrast to traditional authoritarian models – is what Maegha has attributed to the continued loyalty and success of her employees, leading to some of Perdaman’s greatest accomplishments such as finding resources in Australia, acquiring a gas contract from Woodside and receiving government approval on a billion-dollar project. Perdaman’s urea project is as much a personal mission as it is a goal for the family business, and Maegha sees that first shipment of life-changing fertiliser in the same light as she once viewed the upper management positions in the central Indian government. Every project and contract, from processing visas to installing solar panels, from translating a passport to building a multi-billion-dollar fertiliser plant, is part of a personal mission backed up by years of devotion and a genuine desire to create a better tomorrow.

Once the urea project has gotten off the ground, Maegha hopes to direct her attention homewards and turn Perdaman’s pharmaceutical manufacturing business in India into an international supplier providing medicine for the world. Perdaman is on the cusp of a whole new era, and after decades of hard work, Maegha is excited to see the collective efforts of her family’s painstaking efforts pay off.