Trust, with Lata Gullapalli

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Lata Gullapalli. Lata has seen firsthand how, when one woman gains financial independence, she lifts an entire community with her. What started for Lata as quiet, behind-the-scenes mentorship has now become a movement, spanning from rural India to the Middle East to the UK. With the right support, women who were once financially dependent are now building businesses, securing their futures, and rewriting their roles in society.

Lata is an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions, with over 25 years of experience in investment banking across South Asia, Russia and the U.K.

She serves on five boards of both commercial and nonprofit companies as a non-executive Director and is the Chairperson of one of the companies listed on Nasdaq, while also playing a key role on their audit and renumeration committees.

Lata is a recognized expert in mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring and capital raising. She has designed innovative products for raising capital, set up and run startup companies, and developed strategy and finding plans. Her leadership has guided teams into joint ventures and taken a company public with an initial public offering.

She holds an MBA from INSEAD in France and has extensive expertise in corporate law, financial strategy, taxation and economics.

Beyond finance, Lata is also an award-winning author with published works in both fiction and nonfiction. Her writing has received excellent editorial reviews, and she is currently working on a long novel.

Lata is a board member of a Trust primarily focused on education for underprivileged children and young people. She also advises on the restructuring and rebuilding of an institution that oversees more than 300 schools, and 26 institutes dedicated to supporting underprivileged youth. Additionally, she leads a mentorship program for women entrepreneurs in rural India which is now expanding to other countries. She has also designed and instructs a course on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and sustainable change for universities in Jordan. Plans are underway to roll out the mentorship program across multiple countries.

Lata is deeply passionate about supporting underprivileged individuals, including but not limited to women, children and young people, in finding their own strength and power to go off and do what they dream about, whatever that may be. As a speaker and advocate, she actively promotes mentorship for women in senior leadership roles.