Umar Farooq is a multifaceted finance professional with over a decade’s experience. He started his career with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) as an Industry Analyst, where he tracked and prepared a monthly report of the petrochemicals industry. Leveraging his experience as a financial analyst, Umar Farooq served as a Consultant to the Economic Risk Division of Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Financial Services. The role was to analyse economic and policy risks involved in various sectors of the Indian economy which ranged from broader industry domains to niche segments.
Continuing his focus on research-led consulting, Umar Farooq garnered international exposure when he was appointed as Senior Economic Researcher by Deutsches Asienforschungszentrum (DAfz), a German Public Policy Research firm. At DAfz, he developed an economic model for the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Malaysia to apprise them of the potential economic losses the palm oil industry and economy of Malaysia face due to adverse campaigns by Transnational NGOs.
Being a keen researcher, Umar Farooq regularly publishes papers and reviews books. He has also contributed Chapters in Three books and has also penned an editorial for “The Citizen Daily”, one of the leading English newspapers in Indonesia. He was invited by Harvard University to present his research on the Mutual Model of Health Insurance. In addition to this, he extensively reads and researches on subjects ranging from Development Economics to Alternative Finance and maintains a personal blog too.
Apart from research and consulting, Umar Farooq is also an established trainer. Since 2010, Umar Farooq is an Assistant Professor with the Rizvi Institute of Management Studies and Research (RIMSR). At RIMSR, he teaches subjects in the domain of Finance. Apart from RIMSR, Umar Farooq is an empanelled trainer with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and conducts workshops on General Management and Communication Skills for aspiring Chartered Accountants. He is also associated with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to drive financial literacy and holds exclusive sessions for professionals and students. He also undertakes customised workshops in the domain of finance for senior executives of corporate houses.
Academically, Umar Farooq holds a Masters in Management Studies specialising in Finance from the University of Mumbai and is pursuing his Doctoral studies in Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. In 2017, he received a scholarship from the University of Luxembourg for a Certificate Course in Law and Regulation of Inclusive Finance.
When not in his research or training avatar, Umar Farooq yearns to run long distances and has so far run a handful of half and full marathons. Umar Farooq exhibits equal passion when watching his favourite game of Tennis and is an ardent Roger Federer fan.