KATHMANDU: Besides rewarding staffs for their achievements through promotions and performance incentives, work-life balance is of prime concern in creating a conducive work environment, believes Vivek Jha, general manager (GM) of the newly rebranded Nepal Life Insurance Company Limited (NLIC).

Having earned his CA degree from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Delhi in 2002, Jha initially worked as internal audit chief at Machhapuchchhre Bank. As an auditor, he often felt he could better manage a company boosting its financial health and his desire came to fruition when he was appointed as senior deputy general manager at the comp-any in 2010. He then quickly rose to the position of the GM in 2011.

Comfortable with the current position at the company, also known as NepalLife, Jha is ever driven by his passion for

constant improvement. “I have a growing hunger to do and achieve more by trying out new things,” he says.

He reminiscences his internship while still a CA student, where he earned a mere IRs 300. “IRs 300 is not a lot of money, but that was my first earning and the feeling was ‘It’s mine’,” shares an elated Jha.

He compares the role of a GM to a driver and says that he has a huge responsibility of steering the company in the right

direction. Jha believes that a successful manager needs to understand the vision of the company, set goals and most importantly, set plans into motion. “Effective execution is essential,” he says. He also believes that corporate governance is a fundamental part of doing business.

Jha develops plans considering stakeholders of the company and the country’s situation and his clients are his first priority. The role of a GM initially appeared to be a formidable challenge, he says, but things went smoothly, thanks to his

prior experience and support from the entire staff. “Once you have a sound functioning system, all you need to do is fix flaws here and there sometimes,” he shares.

Expressing that successful leaders are those who can

generate leaders, he adds, “I’m working on nurturing leaders in my organisation who will be competent enough to handle

any enterprise.”

Jha believes in democratic way of doing things, which is why his staffs are encouraged to feel a sense of ownership regarding certain responsibilities. Supervisors’ report of execution activities is forwarded to the GM and he is constantly updated on the company’s activities devising further goals, plans and strategies. The company builds its network aided by its agent force and IT facilities. Jha revealed that his company is preparing for aggressive market expansion armed with the tools of awareness and educating the masses on the value and need of life insurance.

“With re-branding, we want to communicate that it is the same company coming with more passion, energy and new

products. In the past one decade, we proved to be one of the best in the industry. But there is always room for improvement and we are constantly marching towards betterment,” claims a jubilant Jha. NepalLife’s branches exceed 100 across the country and it also owns City Centre, a modern shopping mall in the capital.