In the last semester of her undergraduate course at England’s University of Exeter, Jinisha Sharma undertook two finance classes that were polar opposites. “One focussed on traditional financial success, emphasising a language often opaque to many, while the other offered a nuanced perspective, examining finance through the lens of gender, class, race politics etc," says Jinisha. “I found the latter to be deeply enriching."
Through these classes, Jinisha stumbled upon concepts like impact investing that had, by then, caught on in the West and that factor in a social return besides merely financial etc. In 2018, when she returned to join Capri Global, an NBFC that was built from scratch by her father Rajesh Sharma, she started to fashion Capri’s communication around it. “Capri had a business model that prioritised social impact, particularly lending to small businesses, but the messaging did not reflect this. In my early days, I was trying to realign the communication with the company’s ethos," says Jinisha.
In end-2022, she completed her master’s degree and returned to India and Capri for good. By then, aside from its core as a financial institution, Capri had expanded into buying sports franchises and already had three in its portfolio—Rajasthan Warriors in kho-kho, Bengal Warriors in kabaddi, and Sharjah Warriors in ILT20, the domestic cricket franchise league in the Emirates.
It was around that time that the Women’s Premier League (WPL) was formally announced by the BCCI, and amid buzz on how it would advance women’s cricket by a few light years, the 26-year-old sniffed an opportunity to put into practice her classroom learnings on social impact and gender inclusion. “I had a heart-to-heart with my dad and explained to him why this investment was essential for us," she says. In February 2023, Capri was announced as one of the five owners of WPL franchises with a winning bid of Rs 757 crore for UP Warriorz (UPW).
While Jinisha, then a principal, ESG & Impact, with Capri Global, spent the first season with the women’s cricket team, it is in its aftermath that she spawned an idea where she could execute both her learnings in business and management as well as in creating impact at the grassroots. In mid-2023, she set up Capri Sports through the family office that brings together its four sports holdings under one umbrella.
“Pooling together four brands under Capri Sports isn"t just about chasing profits. It’s about making sports more accessible, especially for young girls in places like Uttar Pradesh and beyond," says Jinisha, the director of Capri Sports. “Besides, I"m committed to elevating women"s sports like kabaddi and kho-kho, opening up more opportunities for female athletes. WPL is just the beginning—it"s where we"re learning the ropes. Once we get our playbook down to a pat, we’ll take what we’ve learnt and expand our efforts to other sports."
As a start, UPW recently became the first Indian sports team to have earned the status of UN Women’s ‘Generation Equality’ ally. The outfit has been handpicked by the UN Women India team to join 18 pathbreaking individuals—author and columnist Bindu Dalmia, disability and queer rights advocate Nu Misra, to name a few—to advocate for a gender-equal world, and the partnership will leverage the power of cricket to build awareness on women-centric causes.
While Jinisha stays front and centre of Capri Sports, Sharma Sr has succinctly told her what makes a sports company tick: “One, is the players, second is how you build up a fan following, and third is earn enough revenues to reinvest into the team. All these three factors need to be balanced well," he says.
In her own words, Jinisha isn’t a sports nerd when it comes to parsing on-field dynamics, but is obsessed with building up a team off the field. “What is my brand tonality and language, what does a fan think of when they think of UPW, how can I build a fanbase like Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings, how can I increase our Instagram following from 60,000-odd… these are the thoughts that course through my mind frequently," she says. While she doesn’t routinely watch weekend PL matches like most fanatics, she’s caught on to how both basketball and football have captivated audiences in India through peripheral cultural levers like music and fashion. “I too want to collaborate with athleisure brands to enhance the appeal and reach of UPW," she says.
In keeping with the gender-inclusive philosophy of Capri Sports, Jinisha also wants to nudge women-centric brands to come forward for association with UPW. As an immediate milestone, the WPL franchise has tied up with Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif’s Kay Beauty and legacy brand Pond’s for the second season of the tournament, a line-up of brands heftier than season 1. But it’s only a start. “I"ve seen some fantastic partnerships happen in the West, but those brands that have their footprint in India have not explored it here. And that"s something we"re really keen on," she says.
But Jinisha also understands that modern brands have an overdose of marketing channels. Why should they tie up with UPW and not find a celebrity influencer, for instance, with a bigger reach? “In the current landscape, it"s crucial to customise partnerships with brands according to their goals, instead of solely emphasising our reach," she says. “A collaborative effort to craft a story is much more impactful than just putting the sport out there for display. That’s a slightly outdated model."
“Which is why I need to have a really strong digital presence, I need to build my players’ personalities up. As someone who"s from this generation and understands how things convert, that"s the kind of insight that I"ve been sharing with our team—that we need to dress them a certain way and shoot them a certain way. That converts into reach, which eventually converts into revenue," she adds.
The UP Warriorz team huddle during a practice session ahead of the second season of WPL
Image: UP Warriorz
“It"s refreshing to have different ideas and outlook on where sports should be heading, especially the women’s game," says Waingankar, the COO of Capri Sports, of Jinisha. “Team owners don"t necessarily need to be as hands-on with the team. Jinisha does a wonderful job of mixing enthusiasm with a nice and centred approach where the professionals are encouraged to drive their respective verticals and have the space to make decisions."
As a long-term goal, Jinisha wants to dive deep into grassroots sports and develop the talent pool within those. And that women would be woven into each of those conversations is a no-brainer for her. “Look at the numbers that Taylor Swift and the movie Barbie have recorded only in the past year. And then to say women can’t be viable brands is absurd. It shouldn’t even be a conversation, it’s a given."
First Published: Feb 23, 2024, 10:50
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