Lesson in Names and Dreams: Million Goals' Journey to Financial Literacy

Let me start with my name 

People often find it unique, interesting, or hard to pronounce, etc. So here’s how it came into existence…My mom’s name is Ranganayaki and my dad’s name is Murali. My mom wanted the first letters of both their names to come together in mine — R and M. That must have been a tough one to work on for the couple, but they did find a name! Mrudula! “Mrudu” in my language (Kannada) means soft. My mom usually argues that I grew up to be quite the opposite, while my dad and husband often take my side!

Another interesting fact about India is that it’s home to many different languages — not dialects, but totally different languages. There are reports of at least 70 languages in use, and officially, 28 are recognised. With so many languages come different accents and pronunciations. Yes, you guessed it right — my name takes a different form depending on which part of the country the speaker is from.

But you know what? I still enjoy it! It’s their version of my name. So don’t worry about perfection in pronunciation — just go for it, as long as it’s Mrudula!

Education – my journey and my mission

Being raised in a South Indian family, education has always been of foremost importance. That not only reflects in my student life choices, but also in my work and passion!

I went on to study commerce, take up the Chartered Accountancy course, retrain myself as a Management Accountant, and obtain full professional membership. I tried my hand at auditing and finally found my passion in teaching. I had a good stint working in universities before Million Goals happened.

Starting Million Goals in 2024 was a true reflection of my story – it was all about independence, numbers, and education.

Education, for me, can take many forms of lessons — as long as I’m empowering individuals through the transfer of skills and knowledge. Currently, through Million Goals, I coach business owners to understand business finance.

In the long term, I want to leave behind an impact — I want to make financial literacy a basic skill available to everyone. And for that, I want to enter formal education — colleges, universities, and training academies. That is my mission! I’ve been putting consistent effort in that direction, and it’s definitely a long game.

So that’s a little bit about me and how Million Goals came to be. If my story resonates with you, or if you know someone who could benefit from building confidence around money, I’d love to connect.

Because together, we can make financial literacy a life skill everyone has access to — not a privilege for a few

How can you help me?
Currently, I’m still taking on 1-to-1 business owners as clients, so if you know anyone who would benefit from learning how to manage money, do give me a shout!

Other than that, if you come across anyone from the education sector, please keep me in mind 

Written by
Mrudula Muralidharan
Founder of Million Goals