My name is Charu and I am a 2014 B.Com (Hons.), CA-Finalist graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata pursuing MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. My major achievements till date have been:

Academic:

1. State Topper in CBSE 12^th Board Examinations and ranked among the top 0.1% of all successful candidates in Business Studies by the AISSCE

Internships:

1. Responsible for the project “Turbocharging eCommerce Strategy” at HUL during Summer Internship
2. Awarded PPI from HUL

 Positions of Responsibility:

1. Editor-in-Chief of the St. Xavier’s College Magazine Youthink and responsible for getting an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for the magazine
2. Interviewed Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Anuja Chauhan and Arun Lal for Youthink Vol 8
and Lord Meghnad Desai and Suresh Raina for “Gamble” edition of Youthink, Volume 7
3. Secured sponsorship from Birla Tyres, Ruia Group, Telegraph, Accord & Bank of India for the national level management fest
4. Core Committee Member of the Marketing Association at XLRI
5. Part of the core team responsible for the Guinness world record for the largest handwashing relay in association with Dettol
6. Convenor of the College Fest as a part of the Xavier’s Commerce Society and organizing the biggest management fest, Insignia, for 3 years in a row
7. Vice-President of the School Student Council

Extra-Curricular Achievements:

1. Runner-up CASH (Committee Against Sexual Harassment Debate) at XLRI
2. Adjudged as the best undergraduate team participating in Debate, Intaglio in IIM-C 2012
3. Awarded 1st place in the communication event of The Global Entrepreneur, Inertia
4. Runners-up in the Debate event, Erasmus vs Luther organized by IISWBM
5. Adjudged the Best Jammer in Jam and Verteez event, Comminique, BGESC

Apart from my academic and extra-curricular obligations, I have always taken a keen interest in social work. This is mainly because of my parents who have been active in supporting NGOs and helping out for as long as I can remember. Following their footsteps, I have played a role in the following:

1. As the School Vice-President, I headed the founding team of Balchandra, a school wing dedicated to teaching the underprivileged students for free of cost up to Class 8. (15 classrooms with capacity of 50 each)

2. Volunteer for Helpage India (a home for the elderly) and Sarthi (children’s rights organization) from 2009-2011

3. In college, as part of NSS, I was part of the team that adopted 5 villages in and around Calcutta under the Prayas umbrella over 3 years to promote their development

4. As a Board member for NSS, I helped in organizing Shishu Mela, blood donation camps and cleanliness drives from 2012-2014

If you were the Prime Minister of India, what would be the one problem that you would solve? Please explain your reasons.

If I was the Prime Minister of the country, I would change the face of industry and investment in the country. The movement would be called “Venture India”. This is the age of startups and PE investments are playing a huge role in maintaining the good health of Sensex and economic progress in the country. The government can play a vital role here and start positioning India as the ‘center of the globalization boom’ in the next decade.

This must be done in two phases:

The first phase would witness the improvement of government infrastructure for industries in the various states- mainly states like Bihar which is one of the highest in terms of population and available labor but has a scarce presence of industries.

1. Promoting only industry hubs like Gujarat or Bombay and ignoring the other states brings about lopsided development that is only detrimental to the country as a whole.
2. Setting up free consultancies for small and medium entrepreneurs to guide them through the process of setting up own venture is crucial.
3. Providing them with basic amenities/subsidies in the industrial areas in the various states is crucial. This will include not only power and labor at a cheaper cost but also infrastructure that is machinery sponsored by the government and ensuring a steady inflow of working capital for them by helping them to raise money from the market at cheap rates or through banks that are instituted for the same purpose
4. Providing incentives like tax free income for the first three years would also be a huge boost for the infant firms who would find it easier to get up on their feet and reinvest all profits earned from at least first few years without bothering about tax liability

Second phase would involve significantly opening up the economy to the rest of the world. “The world is flat” is a myth as till date most of the exports are done between neighboring countries and 60-70% of the profits of globalized MNCs still come from their home countries. Hence, there is immense scope for going global as the process has just started.

1. This phase would entail significant inflow of FDI into the economy by loosening up restrictions in sectors like railway, defence, banking, etc.
2. India has very complicated labor laws and the maximum adjudicated labor decisions in any country. Softening up the tight guidelines may encourage investment from global giants
3. There is huge scope for arbitrage for industries in this country as there are abundant resources and comparatively cheaper but also skiled labor available compared to the rest of the world.

Apart from the above, taking initiatives to boost the image of the country, as a business-friendly nation will go a long way in promoting investment. Some steps can be:

1. Indians place high importance on families and hence, getting parents to view setting up own business as an opportunity than an obstacle will be a huge win
2. Securing higher education of girls to promote women entrepreneurs and giving them added incentives for the same
3. Bringing down the corruption embedded in the system by initiating e-governance initia­tives, which decrease public interface with officials by enabling registration, filing, payments, and registering complaints through the Internet.
4. Getting media to play a huge role in promoting the initiative
5. Enacting acts such as the RTI to prevent misuse of power by officials and government bodies
6. Dismantling businesses of fake and counterfeit products which significantly eat into the market share of MNCs, prevent them from becoming profitable and discourage investment

If you had unlimited money, what would be that one mobile application that you would create and what problem would it solve?

The one application I would create would be called TEAMMATE (TM):

1. TEAMMATE is an online aggregator of sports and fitness enthusiasts
2. The model is primarily online, mobile app is an add-on for the same
3. Brings together sports lovers and sporting facilities and equipment providers
4. Targeted at working professionals in the age group of 20-40 years

Filtering -TM Arcade

1. Primary filtering is done on the basis of the user’s location
2. Secondary filtering can be done on the basis of:
3. Sport interested in
4. a more specific area within a city
5. a particular sporting facility

Events & Chatrooms-TM Locker Rooms

1. Users are directed to relevant chat rooms – TM Locker Rooms as per their filters to discuss their plans with others
2. An events page – TM Calendar can also be accessed where different users can create their own plan and also view and join others

Add-Ons-TM Academy and Arena

1. TM Academy provides other facilities like trainers which can be booked on the app itself
2. TM Arena provides information on latest news, blogs about different sports. Users can follow blogs, write their own and have discussions with other users

DIGITAL-MARKETPLAN

Facebook page + Owned Website

1. Promote the app on our owned media i.e. official website and facebook page
2. 3 free games for every signup of the app
3. Create a short demo video on Youtube
4. Mobile site will prompt app download
5. Include attractive app features in the blogs

Shared Media

1. Feature to upload content to the website through the app and link it to personal social media account like instagram and facebook
2. Referral discount code on every app installation to be shared with other customers

Earned Media

1. Enter the app in different App awards to generate press and get media share
2. Viral marketing campaign where users take match pictures clicked from the mobile and upload via app to fb with a #TM
3. Every pictures shared to social media via app will have subscrict ‘uploaded from TM app’

Paid Media

1. Create ads with prime focus on app usage
2. Promote the app in corporate circles
3. Advertise on other popular apps relating to adventure tourism, trekking, health, lifestyle
4. Tie up with mobile phone company for a pre-loaded mobile app in their latest phone for the target segment

 

Meet the rest of India’s 50 Most Employable Management Graduates from the Class of 2016 here.