Part A - AB Group's presence in my life
When your whole life you had been around a Mom & Pop grocery store, the 11 year old me had the shock of a lifetime during my first ever visit to Chennai albeit a very pleasant one, the Supermarkets! And it was magical, you’re allowed into the stores to browse through rows after rows of goodies, ride around a cart to pick your needs, checkout with the help of computers and bar code guns and pay with virtual currency (“Sodexo’s”), it absolutely blew my mind. That summer I visited the More Supermarket located in Saidapet every chance I got and the influence it had on me was huge. For the eleven year old me, it gave me a completely new perspective giving me hopes of endless possibilities and doing things bigger and better than ever. When I came back home, the first thing I did was run to my dad and uncle and talk about how we can convert our store the same way, and that is the day I had my first ever business lesson about catering to customer needs and how futile it would be to build an infrastructure when there’s simply a barrier to how your customers think. That day onwards, I have had multiple opportunities to sit and observe, how to this day, the customer at my hometown hasn’t changed, they sometimes come up to just purchase a kilogram of sugar and 50 grams of that instant coffee powder. Cut to when I was 23 and I learnt about retail stores and SKU’s and how to influence customer thinking and faster product rollover from shelves. To this day, I think about my first visit to ‘More’ when I get a lesson on retail business or customer tailoring.
You simply don’t realize how much your life intertwines with a brand that has the trust of a billion people, and as an MBA student it would be nothing short of an achievement and honour for this small town boy to be a part of this organization. From fashion to industrial infrastructure, technology to financial institutions, this group has been a pioneer and a key driver of growth of the Indian economy, and with the leadership team at helm and the industrial advances coming up there’s no limit to what this group can achieve!
Part B - Overcoming challenges
Midway through my Engineering, I was sure that I wanted to try my hand in the Business world and wanted to pursue my formal business education from a premier institute in the country. The actual challenge was when it was time for me to pick the right field for my taste of work experience before that. This was the first obstacle; I had the choice to either go with job I had secured at college, with one of the biggest names in my core sector or get out and find a job that is relevant and could significantly boost my profile and help in my hunt for the right institute. I took the tough choice, backed myself and eventually found a job as an Analyst in a small, well run financial management company. The next 30 months I spent there was my actual education, I was extremely fortunate to have a boss and a manager who pushed me enough to challenge myself and assist me in the right way. My enthusiasm only increased with every challenge and I put in considerable effort to bridge the gap in a field where I had no formal education. I started from the scratch and slowly build my knowledge, put in considerable efforts and continuous 12 hour, 6 day work weeks to make a name for myself at the firm. I can say with fair confidence that I did well and when your CEO ascertains the sentiment by saying that he was glad he took a chance with me at your send-off gathering, you can’t help but feel proud. Now onto the next journey and more challenges and I hope to enjoy this ride.
Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur
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