Although he initially intended to become a doctor, Nyumba Group CFO Vishal Soni has found something equally fulfilling – ensuring the financial health of the business. He shares how his unexpected love for finance led him to a full-circle moment that affirmed his decision to choose accounting.
Nyumba Group CFO Vishal Soni considers himself a cardiologist for companies. For him, finance is the heart of any organisation.
“The way I see it, no matter how good a plan you have, if you don’t have finance inbuilt as a feature, the plan is going to fail. No matter how big your business structures are, if your finance function fails, that single handedly can bring down the entire company. If your operations fail, you may have alternatives. So many other functions have alternatives that will not fail the entire organisation at once,” he said.
This perspective is the fuel behind his approach to leading the financial strategy of Nyumba Group, a multi-generational family business spanning more than 60 years, well known for its cement and steel operations as Mombasa Cement and Corrugated Sheets. Although the group is a household name in the manufacturing industry, its original branding, which it had been using until 2022, was due for an upgrade.
“When I was going through the process, my director asked if I thought our mission, vision and all were aligned with our operations. And I told him I didn’t think we had ever operated from a sense of mission or vision. If our mission and vision was becoming the best steel company, we are now into cement. I think those are very Western standards. What are our standards? So I decided to look into those,” Vishal said.
Upon taking a closer look at the company’s ethos, Vishal found that it revolved around the concept of family and is ingrained in the work culture. The business, whose roots go back more than 90 years, has retained much of its staff, most of whom have worked there for three decades or longer.
Big on family
“One of the first principles was family-centric values. We treat everybody we deal with like family. Trust is the number one factor of family. For example, we’ve been banking with our bankers for 40 years plus. No company can survive for this long without such bonds and healthy relationships. That's when a supplier tells us not to worry about payments because they know we will settle it. Because when you treat someone like family, they treat you like family as well,” he said.
Vishal has excelled in the field, earning recognition as one of the leading CFOs in East Africa. When he was in high school, he had his sights set on becoming a cardiologist, following in the footsteps of his father. When he applied to study medicine in South Africa, he discovered that there would be a two-year waiting period. To pass the time, he heeded to his sister’s advice and enrolled for the ACCA qualification, passing his examinations without much effort. By the time his start date rolled around, he had completed three-quarters of his ACCA course.
“I told my father I didn’t want to change my focus and perspective. I decided to flip the whole career plan. And he couldn’t believe it, because we had been talking about doing medicine for over five or six years. But then I decided to start working in audit and tax consulting and it’s all history now,” he said.
Fourteen years into his career, Vishal had a full-circle moment. When he was pursuing his ACCA certification, he would receive the association’s magazine in the mail each month. Being featured in the publication was a thing of prestige for ACCA affiliates, who would often look out for their names in a list of more than 300 set out on the back page when they completed their certifications. In 2023, he received a call from the magazine’s editor informing him that he would be featured as the coveted cover story in its November 2023 issue.
“It left me completely baffled, because it just came out of nowhere. I think they had already got a lot of my history, not only from LinkedIn, but from interactions within the industry. I still have an excellent copy of mine where my name was written on the last pages there when I became an affiliate. And there would be some big guy featured on the cover. And sometimes looking at it, I would not even fathom being featured there. When I got featured there, I remember almost crying,” Vishal recalled.
Small town, big dreams
Although he refers to himself as “a guy from a small town like Mombasa”, Vishal’s career trajectory has been anything but modest. In 2024, he beat 188 nominees from 23 countries in the ACCA Africa CFO awards and emerged as the winner in the MSME category, cementing his reputation as a rising leader. His approach to managing his team is rooted in trust and communication, mirroring the family-orientated principles Nyumba Group espouses.
“I make them understand why something is important, because when my team understands why I need something done in a certain way, they are invested in that process. That’s the most difficult part. Most bosses like to give a single instruction. They don't get into any further discussion with you, and you are not invested in the process, and that's when things don't work.” he says.
Part of Vishal’s “why” is Nyumba Group’s CSR initiatives, which he sees as an inherent responsibility. One such initiative includes a feeding programme with a reach of up to 40,000 in Mombasa.
“CSR is often seen as a photo opportunity, but that’s not how we at Nyumba Group see it. If we are able to respond to a concern, then we take up that responsibility. People are walking on the streets begging. You at least need to give them one dignified meal so that they don't end up doing things that go against morality,” he added.
While he appears laid back, Vishal thrives on adrenaline-fuelled activities. In January 2018, he and his wife joined a group that embarked on a road trip from Kenya to South Africa. The journey led them to the Zambezi River, where they decided to take on the challenge of white water rafting.
“That raft capsizes every five minutes. And you are holding on for dear life to those ropes. And there are certain places where the raft starts spinning in a whirlpool and the water sounds like helicopter blades near your ear. You can’t talk to each other without shouting. And the worst part is that when you fall into the water, you get deep down inside and it throws you back deep down when you try to come out. It’s hell, but I have a thing for getting myself into trouble.”
