I am Sonali Puri, an Ex-Banker with 2 decades of Banking experience in the domain of Global Markets and Commercial Banking. On my academics’ front, I am an Economic (Hons) Graduate and an MBA in Finance. I started my career in HDFC Bank and after spending a couple of years, went on to develop and manage the large corporates Forex desk in ICICI handling almost every large listed entity in the domain of Fx Trading. Received my 1st award of being the 1st and the fastest to reach the $ 100 Billion Volume by none other than Mr. K V Kamath himself. My last stint was with Citi, where I spent 12 years in all with a brief stint at Deutsche Bank in between. Overall, I had the most enriching journey, learning from the best both in terms of functional expertise and above all, professional integrity and ethics. After gathering the best of experience, understanding the gaps in the system, the challenges faced by companies and Banks/Financial partners, I then moved on to begin my own journey and created WiredUp.
All about WiredUp
Application catering to
Corporate finance and Fx Risk management needs of companies globally
An avenue to facilitate global trade in a seamless and efficient manner.
After having worked in Banking for nearly 2 decades in Global Markets and Commercial Banking, I have fair amount of understanding what are the challenges faced by both companies on one side as well as banks/ financial partners on the other in consummating a marriage with the right product and at right value and within reasonable timelines. There are multiple partners offering multiple products/services but what is a best fit in each given situation is where I want to play an important role and create value for companies enabling them to get the “Right Product with the Right Partner at the Right Value”, knowing and then choosing the Right Product with the Right Partner should be as easy as ordering a meal.
What are the new features you are going to launch in the latest version of WiredUp?
The 3 main verticals of the App are-
Global Financial Products- Global’s first Corporate Financial Services Marketplace
Banking/Financial products
Learn & Earn
Hire and Seek
Sell Local-Global
FX Live
Global Financial Product’s Marketplace is the newest vertical that I would be launching followed by B2B vertical “Sell Local-Global”. The Fx live has been in the market as a SaaS based Fx Risk management tool since last 2 years.
What are the problems that you are trying to solve by the launching of WiredUp?
Connect with the Right Financial Partner for the Right Product at the Right Value at the Right Time in Facilitation of Global Trade.
Having worked in Banks over 18 years in multiple roles ranging from handing a large client set to developing new customers, one of the aspect that always stood out is the difficulty at both ends to find the right financial partner for clients and right client set for the respective coverage verticals in the financial services industry. With this experience and an attempt to bridge that gap was born “Global’s first Financial Services Marketplace”.
There are multiple partners offering multiple products/services but what is a best fit in each given situation is where WiredUp will play an important role and create value for companies enabling them to get the “Right Product with the Right Partner at the Right Value”.
WiredUp caters to all the financial requirements of corporates on one side by offering a platform to connect with financial partners while on the other offers an opportunity to financial partners to connect with potential customers.
Mode of Operation
Let’s look at what Buyers (Corporates) need from the App-
I want to open a current account
I want to secure working capital facility
I want to understand ECB pricing
I want to secure acquisition financing
I want Buyers/Suppliers credit
What are Nodal accounts?
I want to seek funding on my overseas sub
I want to open guarantees
I want to open a letter of credit
Buyers (Corporates) onboard onto the App with the need to find the partner/s for their corporate finance. The app has list of various financial products at the most granular level to choose from and seek a partner for the same. The functionality of the app is
Buyers raises a query for the product and chooses the partners they intend to send to. The queries can be sent to
Set of own chosen financial partners (saved in the address book section of the app)
Locally present financial partners in any chosen country and city and
To all the financial partners present in buyers chosen location
What do financial partners need from the App?
Business development is a tough, cost is high and return has a long gestation period while targets are sky high. App just comes right here and converts business development from push to pull model.
Banks/Financial partners get
Ready access to potential buyers looking for specific products
Respond to buyer’s queries and connect via App chat
Close deals on App shortening the client conversion timeline
Create teams for responding to new leads
Assign new leads to team basis set criteria
Ask Anything Section of the App is another feature that allows corporates and financial partners to connect with each other on any query.
Learn & Earn
Time is money and knowledge is power, is today’s age mantra and with that philosophy is born the “Learn & Earn” section of the App.
This allows users to
Book Corporate training in specialized areas of Banking with WiredUp team to upscale the team in selected area, helping to build expertise internally that in turn adds to efficiency in day to day operations.
Experts can hold sessions on free/paid basis inviting their own set of connects as well as use the diverse WiredUp subscriber base to impact knowledge as well as connect with potential clients.
Offer/Seek Mentoring.
Hire & Seek
As they say, people are the biggest assets any company can have after all “You are as good as a team under you “. Today, with upteem opportunities, avenues and geographical reach it is not a cake walk to fill the teams with the right people. More often than not, organizations grapple with getting the right employee for the right job and the same hold good on the other side where employees do not get a direct reach to “the people who matter” and here comes the “Hire & Seek” feature of the App.
The feature enables
Job seekers to reach out to relevant companies
Companies to post Job posts and seek candidates
Unique feature of the app is ability to compare companies/candidates across defined parameters for quicker decision making
Over and above, platform allows the companies and candidates to interact directly with each other for quicker closure
Sell Local-Global
Today, in a highly integrated world with boundaries losing relevance and demand for products and services increasing in an exponential manner, there is a growing need to expand reach and cover newer horizons. Catering to increased demand and reach at global level makes access to the right partners even more important and here comes the “Sell Local-Global” vertical of the app with the core USP of facilitating global trade synergizing via the integration with the financial services marketplace.
The feature enables
Showcase products at a global scale
Reach out to buyers in different geographies
Seek Financial assistance for Buying/selling large orders using integrated financial services platform
FX Live
A complete Fx risk management tool. The application offers the following-
Live Currency Rates
Know and Control Fx positions
Exposure management at entity level, currency wise, tenor wise
Exposure management at group level
Ability to set alerts on identified parameters
Establishing entrepreneurship with sensibility and legacy
I have a passion for working and solving banking problems for my clients. I like to stay engaged and invest a lot of time in understanding very granular aspects of “what matters the most” in efficient running of businesses in the domain of the Banking/Finance. While I was working with one of the finest institutions as Citi in my own area of expertise, I was constantly craving to do more and more. After having spent nearly 2 decades in my work life, I still feel the same energy as I felt when I was starting off and the same enthusiasm to handle my clients, looking for the tiniest opportunity to add value to my clients businesses and at some point, I felt if I have to continue to feel the same zeal, energy, enthusiasm and with experience then let’s give my best shot at building something with own sensibilities and legacy and began my Entrepreneurial Journey with “ WiredUp”.
The work and family symmetry
Oh, that is never easy and while as cliché as it may sound, the truth is you can’t walk alone without the support of your family and in my case, I don’t think a step was even possible without the support of my husband, my parents and my son. My husband is my biggest role model and a professional I have always tried to emulate. Above all, his value systems and belief of seeing every woman as being economically independent has propelled me to tread the most challenging times and keep walking ahead. I have always seen a pride in my son’s eyes for me and that has always kept me pushing myself. What can I say about my parents, they truly are “Godly”. From bringing me up to helping me till today, in bringing up our child in the best way possible, their support has been exemplary enabling me to work to the best of my abilities and give my best shot at creating something of our own.
Your ally in the Banking/Financial domain
WiredUp is your partner in your growth journey ahead. From understanding the right financial product for you to the right financial partner to upscaling financial learning to finding the right people as best fit to simply asking and receiving responses on finance queries to managing Forex risk to transact large B2B deals interlinked with the appropriate financial tools is what WiredUp is all about. You will never be left behind for want of the right product/partner in the financial domain, in your race ahead.
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