British CEO reacts to Indian-origin man’s 'tend not to work with women' comment | See viral post

Business leaders are reshaping professional relationships in today's fast world through communication. Recently, an interaction on social media between business leaders gained attention because of its unprofessional and controversial nature. It involved Nirmal Patel, a professionally credited Indian origin professional who started to avoid working with women; the CEO of Fenchurch Legal, Louisa Klouda, shared her conversation with people all over the world, inviting criticism. The whole exchange raised some issues of gender discrimination in the workplace, such as the very outdated attitudes about women and what they face nowadays in professional settings.

Louisa Klouda highlights Patel’s inappropriate remark on working with women

Louisa Klouda, Fenchurch Legal chief executive, posted a screenshot of her conversation with Nirmal Patel, who apparently was reluctant to collaborate with female professionals. He also included an inappropriate remark in his message, and ended the statement saying "Be well, sweetheart".
Nirmal Patel, as per his LinkedIn profile, identifies himself as an "SFO deal syndicate middleman" and currently resides in London. He holds academic credentials from renowned universities, having studied at Imperial College London and University College London (UCL).

The specific details regarding Klouda and Patel's first communication remain obscure. But it is definitely established that, in December 2024, Patel had communicated to Klouda stating that he was fine with the idea of a call but only preferred connecting after getting a clue of who was connecting with him. After he got no response to that, on January 6, Patel further questioned just in a question mark.

Klouda eventually replied, greeting Patel and wishing him a Happy New Year. She then asked whether he would be available for a team call the following week and requested that he share convenient times and dates for the discussion.

Patel’s unprofessional remark leads to widespread criticism by Louisa Klouda

Instead of responding professionally, Patel replied with a statement that has been widely condemned as both sexist and dismissive: "Thanks; as interesting and successful as your business is, I tend not to work with women. Be well, sweetheart."

In response to the unprofessional message, Klouda wrote on LinkedIn as clearly disturbed about the exchange; she said: "Well, I woke up today and learned something groundbreaking: Some people still think women shouldn't be in business. Wild. It's 2025; we have AI writing novels, people taking vacations in space, and yet. here we are."

Public outrage grows after Patel’s dismissive message about working with women

Klouda's post became popular on LinkedIn as many users started condemning Patel. Commentators reacted with incredulity as nobody's best interest would be served in working with Patel. A commenter regarded the message as harassment, arguing that what Patel said was inappropriate. Others seized the moment to highlight how nothing much could be changed in terms of gender discrimination, as women still face various challenges in the workplace during such a seemingly progressive era.

This incident has injected in a larger conversation about sexism in professional spaces and the persistence of attitudes that were yesterday out-of-date, despite other progress. Louisa Klouda is the CEO of Fenchurch Legal, which specializes in litigation funding. Louisa is a former corporate broker and derivatives trader with a long history in business.




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