HEMA BHATT

Senior Vice President, Natu Oil Services Inc.

This year, Natu Oil Services Inc., one of North America’s largest sustainable refined palm oil suppliers, celebrates twenty years in business. The accomplishment seems even more significant when one considers that an Indian immigrant family from Malaysia started the company in Coquitlam (in a basement) and managed to expand its operations and build offices in five countries, including Canada, the USA, India, Malaysia, and Singapore.

A silent partner until 2014, Hema Bhatt took on the leadership role in the company when her husband suffered a stroke. She had to put out fires immediately, with employees not being used to a female leader on the one hand and the suppliers wanting to squeeze her on the other, thinking that a woman would crumble under pressure.

However, since Hema was privy to the goings-on in the company, she managed to have the right conversations and convince the team to have faith in the female voice at the top. She also fully stocked the warehouse and brought in many more suppliers to reduce dependence on a select few. “At that point, I realized I was completely alone and had to see our family business through the storm. I had a strategy in place, and I stuck to it,” she says.

As Senior Vice President, Hema oversees the company’s operations, human resources and finance portfolio. She’s also transitioning to work only three days a week so her two daughters can engage more fully with different aspects of the business. Her husband has also recovered considerably in the last nine years and works from home.

Hema was born in Penang, Malaysia, into a family of eight children and wanted to become a flight attendant.