Zerodha co-founder lauds Nadella's speech at WEF, says top bosses should prioritise environment over profitability

It is the power event of the year, with the world’s top business and political heads descending upon an idyllic ski town to discuss key issues of the day.

The recently-concluded edition of the annual World Economic Forum at Davos was no different. As a first-time attendee, Nikhil Kamath, co-founder, Zerodha and True Beacon, found several speakers impactful. But one among them stood out.



Who was the business leader who impressed him the most? “That would be Satya Nadella [CEO, Microsoft],” Kamath told ETPanache, after returning to his home city Bengaluru last week. “The work that he has done there is excellent. But what I find most impressive is that it is one of the first companies in the world to be carbon neutral.”

Interestingly, the carbon neutrality aspect of Microsoft ties in well to what Kamath found to be one of the central themes of the conference: Sustainability and climate change.

“Perhaps we are not talking about it as much in India. But it is definitely at the centre of every conversation globally, even more now after the Australian bushfires. In fact, I felt that even more than business, people were talking about sustainability,” Kamath said.


As for his experience of Davos, Kamath said that it was a great place to meet people and get work done. “You would normally spend so much time travelling to each country to do individual meetings. Here, you can just meet everyone in one place,” he said.


What is he taking back to the business from these interactions? “Currently, we spend most of our time thinking about profitability. But as we grow, I hope we can devote at least 20-30 per cent of our time thinking about the positive impact that we can make on the society as a business,” said Kamath.