CREATING HIS OWN DESTINY

Investment management and advisory firm White Oak has increased its India-dedicated assets under management (AUM) to USD 3 billion in just a few years since its inception in 2017. MARWAR talks to its founder Prashant Khemka, to learn about his remarkable entrepreneurial journey.

- Pooja Mujumdar

PRASHANT KHEMKA’S BRILLIANT ACADEMIC credentials, successful stints in leading multinational organisations and the ability to build a business from scratch corroborates his inner drive to excel. But what is most amazing about him is his lifelong dedication to follow his passion for investing, which was ignited in him in his childhood. Going down the memory lane, Khemka, now 49, says, “My father, who owned a modest clothing shop in Mumbai, used to invest all our savings in the stock market for some additional income. This sparked my passion for investing at the age of 13.”

As the founder of White Oak, a fast-growing investment management and advisory firm that caters to globally renowned pension plans, sovereign wealth funds and endowments as well as many individuals and family offices, Khemka gets to live his passion every day. But though there has been an entrepreneur in him all along, it wasn’t before decades that he started on his own. Khemka says, “While my father’s income from his shop and stock-market investments took good care of our family, my parents always wanted me to start a factory of some sort, as that was what most of our wealthier neighbours and relatives were doing. The desire to start a business thus took root in me during my early childhood. It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, however, to finally combine my entrepreneurial aspirations with my passion for investing and start White Oak.”

Broadening horizons