Speaking
What I can usefully talk about
I enjoy these rooms. I have sat in the CFO chair through a listing, built and run a practice as its chief executive, worked on cross-border transactions, M&A and turnarounds, scaled businesses, and put in the systems and processes that let them keep scaling. What I am best on is finance strategy, planning, and what AI and automation actually change. I talk about those things, including the parts I got wrong, which are usually the more useful parts for the room.
Topics
What I speak on
What AI actually changes for finance
Not the vendor version. What a finance function can genuinely hand to a machine today, what it cannot, where the controls have to sit, and what I learned building an AI platform myself rather than buying one.
The year before a listing
What taking a company public on London's AIM actually demanded of us. Why the records matter more than the accounts, what I wish somebody had told me before we started, and what changes permanently the morning after.
Where cross-border deals die
Rarely on valuation. Usually in the gap between two tax codes, a Companies Act and an exchange control regulator. Drawn from acquisitions and restructuring across the US and India.
Building a practice, and a category
Introducing the fractional CFO to India in 2008 when nobody was buying one. Pricing judgement rather than time, the work you have to refuse, and why writing in public for years is the sales process.
Recent
Where I have spoken
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AI Innovation Summit 2026, presenting FinPera The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India · Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi
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AI Summit, Dubai Presenting FinPera · Dubai, UAE
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Masterclass, ScaleUp Summit Financial Express
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Closed-door workshop for chief executives New Delhi
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Workshop for Young Business Leaders ACMA · Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India
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Workshop on the virtual CFO model Dubai, UAE
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Who is to be blamed — young techie Mr. A or the startup? Forum Views · BSE Brokers Forum, Mumbai
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LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program, India 1.0 Selected for the first cohort, one of 200
Formats
- Keynote30 to 45 minutesPlus questions. My preferred format.
- PanelModerated or as a panellistHappy either side of the table.
- WorkshopHalf day, hands-onSmall groups, working through real situations.
- PodcastRemote or in personMumbai-based, remote anywhere.
Practicalities
I am based in Mumbai and travel for the right audience. I do not charge ICAI branches, student bodies or not-for-profits. For commercial conferences, ask and we will work it out.
Tell me who is in the room and what you want them to leave with. I would rather build the talk around your audience than deliver a stock one.
Media kit
Everything an organiser needs
Take what you need. No need to ask first.
Introduction, 40 words
Bhairav Kothari is a Chartered Accountant who took a company public on London's AIM market as Group CFO, founded SuperCFO and brought the fractional CFO to India, and now co-founds and builds FinPera, an AI platform for finance teams and professionals in practice.
Copy and paste. No approval needed.
Have a date in mind?
Tell me the audience, the date and what you want them to walk out with.