How did I get here?

Growing up in Mauritius

I was born in Mauritius, an island of about 1.2 million people. Families from France, different parts of Africa, India and China shaped the French-speaking island where I grew up. My mother was Hindu and came from Tanzania. My father was Muslim and was born in Mauritius. I went to Catholic school.

1997–2001 · Pioneering intellectual property law

After completing my undergraduate law degree at the University of Mauritius, I did my pupillage as a barrister in London and Aix-en-Provence. I returned to Mauritius and opened my own practice focused on intellectual property law.

A Chevening Scholarship took me to Queen Mary, University of London, for a master’s in intellectual property law. Back in Mauritius, I chaired a government committee on copyright law reform and taught media law and ethics at the University of Mauritius. During those same years, I started two media companies and anchored a weekly radio programme.

2002–2013 · Navigating the corporate world

One of my clients, BAT, approached me about joining them as their corporate affairs director in Mauritius. While on the island, I served on the board of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mauritius and later became its chairman.

I spent five years in the Middle East, with roles in Beirut, Dubai and Tehran, and received BAT’s global Legal Means Business award. I then spent five years in Africa as legal director, based in Nairobi, leading a team across three countries with responsibility for 15 markets.

2013–2016 · Pivot into the coaching world

In 2008, when I was based in Kenya, BAT assigned me an executive coach. That experience changed the direction of my career. I began training as a coach at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business while I was still leading my team in Nairobi.

I left BAT in late 2013 to start my own coaching practice. At the same time, I studied organisational psychology as part of my master’s at INSEAD in Singapore. I built my practice coaching and training leaders across Africa, in Dubai, in my home country of Mauritius and in the US.

2016–2020 · Leading a mid-size company

In Houston, one of my coaching clients, Ashford Communities, asked me to join the company full time as strategy officer. I later became COO. Over those years, our revenue grew from $18 million to $48 million.

My job was to develop leaders who could do three things well: lead their people, improve the way work got done and use technology to run the business.

2022 onwards · The work I do today

My practice has four pillars: mastermind groups, executive coaching, leadership training and business coaching.

Over the years, the work I did on my own identity shaped my Identity to Impact™ methodology. When I face a challenge, I ask myself: Who is this inviting me to become?

We often misread that invitation. My work is to help individuals and organisations listen to it. For an organisation, the question becomes: Who is this inviting us to become?