His story

Most people see the success. Very few see the scooter rides for a ₹500 cheque. The empty office. The uncertainty. The pressure to survive just one more month.

Before SLA Finserv Pvt. Ltd. became one of India’s largest SIP distributors, it was just a dream built on courage, patience and relentless belief. Back in 2002, Ashish Modani had cleared his CA examination and dreamt of building a career in a metro city like Delhi. Jaipur was never part of the plan.

But life had other plans.

After working for around a year and a half, unavoidable circumstances brought him back to Jaipur. At that time, his salary was ₹18,000, and there wasn’t much capital or certainty about the future.

What there was, however, was a simple belief from his father:

“We have to do something big.”

And that belief became the foundation of SLA in 2004.

Ironically, when Ashish Sir entered the industry, he himself didn’t fully understand mutual funds. At a time when Jaipur largely believed in “J for Jameen (Property) and Jewellery”, meaning real estate and gold, talking about SIPs and capital markets felt almost impossible.

What stood out was the power of starting small. At a time when opportunities felt uncertain and resources were limited, he realised that wealth creation did not require a large amount of money. Even a SIP of just ₹500 could be the beginning of a long-term financial journey. That simple insight gave him the confidence to start.

So began the journey of educating investors. One conversation at a time. One client at a time. One SIP at a time.

The first investor? A landlord. ₹1,000 SIP. Today SIPs are common. Back then, most people had never even heard of them.

There were days when he would travel kilometres on a scooter just to collect a ₹500 or ₹1,000 cheque. He would clean the office himself in the morning, wait endlessly for a single appointment, travel across the city for one client meeting, and repeat the same routine for months. That was life.

The daily target was simple:

“Bas kisi tarah ₹1,000 ki SIP mil jaaye.”

Then came a turning point. In June 2004, a learned client handed over a ₹30,000 SIP cheque. That single cheque completed the entire monthly target in one day. But more importantly, it changed his mindset forever.

Ashish Sir realised:

“If someone this intelligent understood the power of monthly investments through SIP, surely there is something truly powerful in this concept.”

That client still remains with SLA even today.

Her story

In 2006, Shweta Maheshwari officially became part of both Ashish Sir’s life and SLA’s journey. She came from a science background and openly says: “Mujhe finance ka F bhi nahi aata tha.”

From not knowing basic finance concepts to becoming the backbone of SLA, her journey is a story of humility, learning and hard work. She sat with backend employees to learn the basics. She learned patiently, step by step, and grew gradually through effort, not designation.

Today, Ashish Sir proudly says: “SLA ka S, Shweta ke liye hai.” While Ashish Sir brings ideas and vision, Shweta Ma’am transforms them into action and execution. Together, they built not just a company, but a culture.

The journey, however, was far from easy. Ashish Sir came from a lower middle-class family. He lost his father in 2006. There were financial struggles, responsibilities and uncertainty. But through everything, they held on to one mantra: “Lage raho. Lage rehte ho toh ho jaata hai.”

In the early years, the goal wasn’t luxury. It was survival. They valued savings deeply in their own life. In fact, their first international trip happened six years after marriage.

Today, even after building a 50+ member team, their philosophy remains unchanged:

• Client comes first.
• Do what is right, not what is popular.
• Build people before business.
• Look for intent, not just qualifications.

At SLA, employees are not called employees. They are called a team. A family. They believe mistakes are acceptable. Micromanagement is not. They believe emotional safety matters just as much as performance.

And perhaps that’s what truly built SLA. Not luck. Not shortcuts. Not overnight success. But consistency, values and trust, and years of showing up, even when nobody was watching.

Because as Ashish Sir says: “Satya pareshaan ho sakta hai, parajit nahi.”

Some stories are not just about building businesses. They are about building belief.

His story

Saurabh was studying for his B.Com. and working as a courier distributor to pay for his education. His dream was to become a Chartered Accountant.

One day, a delivery brought him to SLA. Ashish Modani noticed something beyond the delivery bag: a young man with confidence and a real hunger to grow. After hearing his story, Ashish offered him a job. Saurabh joined on 16 October 2004.

The early days were hard. He attended CA classes from 5 AM to 9 AM, then worked the rest of the day. Only two people ran the entire business back then, so he did everything: meeting clients, handling operations, entering data and looking after the office.

In time, balancing work and CA studies took a toll. After many conversations with Ashish, he made one of the toughest calls of his life. He stepped away from CA and put everything into his career at SLA.

That choice shaped everything that followed. He never stopped learning, either. He has since cleared his CFP QPFP certification and is now pursuing CTEP.

The lessons from those early years still guide him: no work is small, growth starts when you are willing to learn, and hard work and discipline create their own opportunities.

Her story

Manisha spent four years at a company in Gurgaon before deciding to start again. In February 2024, she moved to Jaipur with her husband and joined SLA. It was a new city, a new industry and a new culture, all at once.

She began on the client relationship desk, where everything was unfamiliar: the terms, the processes and the tough client questions. She learned quickly. More importantly, she learned to stay calm under pressure and to listen before she acts.

That calm is now how she works with every client. For Manisha, a query is never just a ticket to close. It is a conversation that either builds trust or breaks it, and she treats it that way.

In under three years, she has grown from handling client relationships to leading operations, training and development. On the development side, she is building AI-powered automations for SLA. She has no technical background, only the conviction that she can learn anything she sets her mind to.

Asked what she would tell her younger self, she said: “Trust yourself, be patient with your journey, and never stop learning. The challenges you face today are preparing you for opportunities you cannot yet imagine.”

Her story

Sunishchita was a Kolkata girl until Class 5, when family circumstances moved her to Bikaner. Swapping a metro childhood for a small town took time to get used to.

She grew up wanting to be a judge. After her B.Com. and LLB, she prepared for the Rajasthan Judicial Services on her own, with no coaching. She was also paying for her own studies and putting her younger sister through college in a big city. Her sister’s success came first, so she set the dream aside and took a job.

Years later, after marriage and two daughters, she moved to Jaipur so her girls could grow up with both parents under one roof. She joined SLA not long ago, after years as Admin Head at a school. She had never worked in a corporate office or used a laptop properly, and she was honest enough to say so.

One day, she nearly walked away. Shweta Ma’am called her that same day: “You can do this, and you can do it well.” She stayed, and when nerves creep in, she still hears those words.

Her biggest fear was a microphone. After talking it through with her husband and her sister, the two people she calls her best friends, she chose the stage. Today she speaks to students, teachers and working women about their money, and people have started recognising her from those sessions.

It matters to her because many women earn their own money but have never managed it. She wants them to feel truly in charge of it, and she wants her two daughters to grow up knowing what that looks like. Somewhere along the way, she also became SLA’s Marketing Head.

His story

Lakhan’s working life started long before finance. While he studied, he worked at a clothing store and then at a bookstore, set on building a better future for himself. He saw how SLA was growing and went looking for a chance to be part of it.

That chance came in April 2010, when he joined as a Back Office Assistant. Resources were limited and the work was endless. He helped run critical operations and supported every team that needed him.

Ashish Modani noticed how well he communicated and moved him into a client-facing role. Over the years, Lakhan travelled widely, worked long hours, managed branch operations and built strong relationships with clients.

One moment stands out. He was trusted to handle SLA’s work in Kota on his own, and it changed how he saw himself. It taught him that growth comes from saying yes to the challenge in front of you.

He has never stopped learning, and has recently added the CFP certification to his name.

From a starting salary of ₹3,700 to more than sixteen years at SLA, his story is proof that steady effort, repeated every day, adds up. The principles he works by are simple: commitment over convenience, consistency over shortcuts, learning over complacency, and responsibility over excuses.

His story

Nearly two decades ago, Ashish started out in financial services with a simple goal: build a meaningful career. Early on, he measured success in numbers, sales targets and achievements. Over time, he realised that real success comes from trust, relationships and the difference you make in people’s lives.

He spent more than ten years at mutual fund companies, learning how money is managed, how client relationships are built and what long-term planning really means.

Then he challenged himself with something completely different. He joined Capital Foods, the company behind Ching’s, in the FMCG industry. The new world taught him adaptability, leadership and how consumers actually think.

A conversation with Ashish Modani brought him back. They talked about how the industry was changing and why India needs people in finance who focus on people, not just products. It reminded him why he had entered this field in the first place.

At SLA, that belief only grew stronger. He sees every investment as someone’s dream, a family goal or a responsibility. Two lessons from his mentor, Saurabh Prajapat, guide him every day: “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes,” and “6 mahine ka nahi, 6 saal baad ka socho.”

Today, as a Senior Relationship Manager and Head of the Kota Division, he is focused on building relationships that go beyond transactions and trust that lasts across generations.

His story

Most careers begin with a job title. Manish’s began with a single thought: “Mujhe kaam karna hai.”

The day after his graduation results came out, he arrived at SLA. He did not know what role he wanted, how much he wanted to earn or what the future would look like. What he did have was ambition. As a student, he often wondered how successful business people built their lives, and he wanted that kind of future for himself.

So he started. His very first job turned into thirteen years of learning alongside SLA.

He became known for asking questions. Lots of them. So many that even his mentors joked about where he found them all. That curiosity became one of his greatest strengths.

Along the way, one lesson stuck with him: if you always keep a backup plan, you never give your best to the path you have chosen.

Years of meeting clients and taking on challenges changed more than his career. They changed his outlook and his confidence. When he looks back on the last decade, he sees not just professional growth but a different person.

His story

Abhishek spent seven years in banking. The role was going well, but something did not sit right with him. He felt clients deserved guidance built around their long-term interests, not around product targets. So in 2015, he started his own practice, built on relationships and trust.

Long before he joined SLA, he knew Ashish Modani from industry conferences, distributor meets and knowledge sessions. Over time, Ashish became the person he turned to for big career decisions. What stayed with Abhishek most was how simply Ashish explained money to clients, without jargon. It shaped the way Abhishek works with clients to this day.

The two found they shared the same belief: working with clients should never be about selling products, but about helping people make informed decisions.

When Abhishek joined SLA in 2020, it was not about giving up his independence. Serving clients well was starting to need stronger systems, better technology and more hands. Joining SLA gave him all three, without changing the principles he had always worked by.

He also sees a close link between health and wealth. Both come from discipline, consistency and patience, and neither has shortcuts.

Today he believes the best conversations about money happen through relatable stories and simple explanations. For him, success shows up in a client’s peace of mind and confidence, not just in the numbers.

His story

Abhishek’s career has never followed a straight line, and that is a big part of why his team trusts him.

He started in 2004 as a sales junior, fresh from an MBA in Pune. Two years later he came home to Jaipur and spent more than a decade in life insurance, learning how people think about money, risk and trust.

Next came Zee Learn, where he oversaw schools across Rajasthan. A few months in, he knew he wanted to build something of his own. He took a Spell Bee International franchise, struggled through the first two years and then found his feet. He spent eleven years as an entrepreneur.

Then COVID shut the schools. “One will always study later,” he says. “But one has to eat first.” He moved into e-commerce and launched Uncrazy, which did well for over two years until life threw some hard curveballs.

Going back to a job after twelve years felt uncertain. But he had discipline on his side, so he gave himself three to six months to try. Three years later, he is still here and still learning.

At SLA, he built the Jaipur JRM team from scratch. The target his team began with is now one a single RM can hit twice over. He believes targets help people grow, but new joiners first need to understand the process. No one on his team is made to work weekends, yet when it really counts, they step up on their own.

After twenty-two years of work, two lessons stay with him: time matters, yours and everyone else’s, and learning never stops. Next, he wants to take what worked in Jaipur to the rest of Rajasthan and beyond.

Her story

Mansi grew up in Jaipur and knew early on that her family was counting on her. A teacher at her ITI college taught her how to face interviews and how to talk to people, and gave her the belief that she could make something of her life.

During COVID, while doing her Master’s, she found SLA’s job opening on Indeed. She joined as an SRM in June 2021, nervous and new to the industry. Because we handle people’s money, her biggest fear was making even one transaction mistake.

Her mentor, Saurabh Prajapat, gave her a simple habit: read a book every day. She did. A few months later, he asked her to run a session for the whole team, and the founders loved it.

She went on to take charge of FinChamps, SLA’s programme for schools. She set up sessions and visited schools to talk to parents and children about money. When she was offered a role focused only on FinChamps, she chose client servicing instead, because that is where her heart was.

There were hard phases too. She spoke openly, worked on solutions and kept going, holding on to two words from Saurabh: “Lage Raho.”

Today she is an ARM, NISM certified and leads a team of three, after once doing every task on her own. Next, she wants to use AI to make our client service even better.

Her one line to her younger self: “Learn together and grow together.”

Her story

In Class 10, when her classmates said doctor or engineer, Chahat said she wanted to be a businesswoman. That drive has stayed with her.

She grew up in Kota, watching her father, a man who never liked sitting idle. She was set on becoming a lawyer, then changed course after Class 12 and moved to Mumbai, where she completed her BMS in Finance and later her CFP. She chose to start her career closer to home, near her family.

She found SLA on LinkedIn and reached out to Ashish Modani directly. The interview took place at a Burger King, where he told her he was “ruthless” about work. Five years on, she says he simply expects high standards.

She joined on 11 July 2021, at 21, more excited than nervous. Her first year was spent in client meetings, learning how to speak with clients and how much a single word can change a message. Because the team was small, she also helped with social media ideas, shoots, events and CRM work.

Today she is a Senior ARM. She looks after outstation clients, oversees her team’s work and has added Advanced Excel and Power BI to her skills. She is now exploring how AI can make our work simpler.

The lessons she passes on to her team are simple: be proactive with clients, be consistent with follow-ups, and work as a team.

Her advice to her younger self: “You don’t need to have everything figured out today. Just keep learning, keep growing and keep moving forward.”