According to Allied Market Research, the global wealth management market size was valued at $1.25 trillion in 2020 and is estimated to reach $3.43 trillion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 10.7 percent from 2021 to 2030. Plain investment management alone is no longer sufficient for families with a certain level of affluence. Investor needs have become holistic and are not product-oriented as they used to be. It becomes imperative to fill this gap with a professional, independent, holistic advisory platform. Established in 2019 in Chennai, Conscience MFO (CMFO) seeks to fill this gap by creating a bias-free consortium tailored to the client's needs.

CMFO is a professional consortium specializing in Investments, Fund Raising, Estate Planning, and Financial Advisory, including legal & taxation. The firm's primary objective is to be a ladder between business and private wealth ecosystems with the highest degree of professionalism and transparency, as well as to provide an unbiased platform offering quality services to investors and financial intermediaries. While the wealth management scene in India has seen an influx of huge investments over the last couple of years, it is still very nascent, creating tremendous opportunities for investment management firms and wealth startups.

The ratio of assets under management in Indian mutual funds to GDP is still under 10 percent, whereas, in other mature markets, it is above 40-50 percent. One needs to acknowledge the importance of retail investors' mar-ket size of over $170 billion in 2021, which was the primary factor driving the growth of this market.

Having started their journey as wealth entre preneurs just months before COVID-19, proved to be a blessing in disguise for the firm to lay a strong foundation. The firm decided to utilize the time to get the basics right and build a robust platform with high-quality research, technology, products, and people. To create this platform of wealth managers, lawyers, auditors, and so on, the firm focused entirely on 'people' ­ investors & professionals. CMFO was founded by Ronak Shah and Vignesh Sundararaman.

Ronak is a CFA charter holder with a background in Risk Consulting & Investment Research, and Vignesh has been working in Private Equity & Family Office consulting, adding a much-needed balance of skills and expertise to the firm. Additionally, the consortium includes consulting partners with more than two decades of experience in wealth management and entrepreneurship, along with expert legal counsel.

"The firm likes to keep its capital allocation, growth strategy and outlook simple and stick to vanilla investments. Warren Buffett calls most of his investments boring and simple. A concrete asset allocation plan that is stubbornly adhered to, with room for tactical changes, has been the biggest game-changer for the firm through volatile market conditions”, shares Ronak & Vignesh in a candid chat.

CMFO primarily caters to affluent and HNI clientele such as business families, CXOs and generational entrepreneurs. The firm's core competency lies in understanding and addressing the niche, professional needs of its clientele on a personal level. With CMFO's open architecture platform and absence of fixed-list product offerings, there is ample scope to garner lucrative opportunities across market segments and geographies.

Furthermore, the firm has been able to differentiate itself from competitors owing to its customised offerings in Venture Debt and Alternates.CMFO boasts a clientele of over 200 families spread across Chennai, Coimbatore (Rest of TN), Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kerala and Mumbai with a positive impact on a net worth of over 600 Crores of Assets. Currently, the business operates predominantly in South India and plans to double up by targeting `high-potential' markets in Tier-II/III regions.