Even a few decades ago, Asian financial markets were frowned upon as they were a bit hard to access. In order to provide the perfect conduit for global families to come and invest in Asia, Access Alts Asia was born. The organization was founded by a pioneer in Asian investments Aradhna Dayal, who also serves as the CEO of the company. She is a proud global citizen who believes that Asia with its rapid transformation, innovation, and multi-culturalism, holds the key to the global economy. She is always passionate about people and connecting them as global communities.
Aradhna explains, “For as long as I can remember, my biggest joy has been traveling the world, eating at local haunts, chatting with cabbies, exploring cultural nuances, and understanding what makes people who they are.”
Aradhna’s other passion is social justice and societal global challenges that threaten humanity’s future; she has devoted her life to harnessing the power of people to solve them. “In many ways, AccessAlts is my way to create an interconnected community of remarkable people from all around the world who are passionate about making a difference and protecting our future,” explains Aradhna.
Early Career
During the late 1990’s Aradhna moved to Hong Kong and started her family investment office. Hong Kong provided her with the best seats to witness the transformation in Asian financial markets. Soon she witnessed the transformation of countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. With many Asian countries becoming economic powerhouses, the potential for global investors to come in grew by quite a few folds.
However, Asia was always frowned upon as opaque and hard to access. So, Aradhna saw this niche and leveraged her wide global network to bridge this gap. She believes that business families are inherently entrepreneurial and they like looking at new geographies. However, they prefer coming through a trusted network. Aradhna provided the perfect conduit for global families to come and invest in Asia, which eventually led to the birth of Access Alts Asia.
Bringing Global Investors to Asia
AccessAlts Asia is a Hong Kong-based platform that brings different global investors and ground-breaking technology to Asia. As we all know Asia is transforming, and it needs ideas and capital.
However, before Aradhna started AccessAlts, Asia was seen as a market that is opaque and hard to access. Aradhna understood the importance of this niche and leveraged her wide global network to bridge this gap. Started as a simple idea-sharing platform in Hong Kong six years back, Aradhna has led AccessAlts’ exponential growth into an influential, global “members-only” investment club with over 350 members, channelizing smart capital into transformative companies.
Aradhna’s unique business idea and vision are the main reason for Access Alts Asia’s growth. Launched at the right time and at the right place. Through AccessAlts, Aradhna inadvertently created the first East-West investment bridge that tied global family offices together. It was also the time when Asia was creating the largest number of Unicorns in areas like transportation, financial services, deep technology, and e-commerce.
Amidst this, Access Alts pioneered the concept of discreet, intimate Member Meets in key financial centers: New York, Dubai, London, Washington, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, giving the club a global footprint very quickly.
When the Pandemic Wreaked Havoc
According to Aradhna, Covid was disastrous for her organization, which relies on physical meets to bring its members together. The business stopped for three months. However, the organization soon leveraged the opportunity to pivot into a Digital Consultancy on Business Preservation and Impact Investing;
- The club started providing 360-degree consultancy to family businesses, from digitalizing their operations to entering new markets and verticals.
- The club also incubated multiple start-ups in Asia. The start-ups serve in areas like e-payments, electric vehicle batteries, e-education, etc.
- Also the club has done many landmark deals with companies like SpaceX and Beyond Meat during the pandemic.
- It used various innovative techniques to begin hosting Virtual Meets to replace physical meets, creating an online network of investors and experts from around the world. This led to a more powerful community than ever.
Preparing for the Future
Having created a formidable network, Aradhna wants to leverage it to empower women business leaders and entrepreneurs. “I have always been passionate about creating a just and diverse society that provides equal opportunities to all,” said Aradhna. “Covid has allowed me to take a pause and think about the legacy I want to leave behind.”
“We want to fund women-led businesses and create a formidable ‘she-economy.” We also want to nurture female talent and have launched a Women on Boards initiative that handholds talented young women for corporate boardrooms roles.”
Aradhna, along with her children, Pradyumn and Pankhuri Dayal, also runs the aid platform Move4Migrants to integrate migrant and minority communities into mainstream society.
Finally, through Access Alts, Aradhna wants to direct capital and resources towards technology that creates a fairer world. “As I head towards my 50s, I have become cognizant of the importance of focusing on social ROI rather than financial ROI,” explains Aradhna.
Quote: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Company Name: Access Alts Asia
Management: Aradhna Dayal, CEO, and Founder
URL: accessalts.com