"The Big Four accounting firms (Ernst and Young, Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers) are out of reach for small and medium sized businesses, family owned operations and start-ups. Hence, Savage and Palmer’s (SaP) niche clientele is medium sized businesses,” said 28-year-old entrepreneur Rehan Naterwala. The Bombay-based co-founder of the accounting services company spoke to Parsiana on the phone on December 13, 2018. The business was set up about one-and-a-half years ago with childhood friend Mihir Lunia.
Rehan Naterwala (r) with Mihir Lunia
Naterwala and Lunia set up SaP while they were studying at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad from where they graduated in April 2018. Lunia had previously worked in Themis, an accounting outsourcing firm. The duo decided to take over the business. "We were managing the set up of SNP remotely, flying in and out of Bombay to conduct interviews with potential staff members and expanding the customer base,” he stated.
SaP is named after the school houses (Savage and Palmer) of the duo’s alma mater the Cathedral and John Connon School. Besides book keeping and accounting services, SaP provides assistance in filing of tax returns; internal audit services and setting up systems and processes for businesses. Investment advice is also available. Their "Fully Managed Service” is most in demand, says Naterwala. In this offering, the company runs the accounting function for their clients. "Our staff is co-located in their premises…We provide the supervision… Business owners are freed up from overseeing their non-core operations.”
"As a kid, I was not particularly fond of accounts, even though both my parents are chartered accountants,” said Naterwala. More inclined toward cars, he ended up studying mechanical engineering at K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering. "Later, I spent two years in management consulting at Universal Consulting in Bombay where I developed a liking for business and corporate strategy,” he informed us.
SaP’s portfolio of 200 clients includes some Parsi-owned businesses like Buhariwala Logistics, ZJM Exports and On-Lyne Computers and the Sir J. J. Charity Fund. Parents Hoshang and Soonoo retired as finance professionals. With younger twin brothers Aarish and Rishad, Rehan claims that "to say we were a riot at home is to understate the obvious, so our parents were strict and instilled all the right values in us. We are moderately liberal and proud of our religion and community.”