Part A: BIG in your life.
Aditya Birla Group ranks third amongst all private sector Indian conglomerates and thus, enjoys the privilege of omniscience. It’s hard not to be using a product or availing a service that does not belong to ABG. From cement manufacturing to aluminium, from textile to fashion, from telecom to financial services, they are all over the place and there isn’t an industry that they haven’t contributed to and excelled at, reflective and fitting of their “BIG” mindset and current motto.
From helping realise and implement the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai(contribution of 0.1 million metric tonnes of cement from Ultra Tech), to helping people realise their dreams of setting up and living in their own homes, UltraTech Cement has been an in disposable part of the process required for the realisation and implementation of all these dreams for a huge amount of people in India. Not for nothing is it considered to be India’s no. 1 cement brand. And it comes under the “BIG” umbrella of the Aditya Birla Group.
Another feather in ABG’s hat is the Grasim Industries. Grasim started out as a textile manufacturing company that was always a frontrunner when it came to cloth materials for men’s formal wear. But it branched out and is now the 4th largest producer of insulators (talk about having a “BIG” mindset, eh?).
Now, as someone who is in his early twenties and takes special care with his dressing, Aditya Birla Group has been a permanent resident of my wardrobe (not as “BIG”). Pantaloons, Van Heusen, Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Peter England and Skult are staple brands for people like me who want to look and feel good in the clothes that we wear, especially when you don’t want to trade comfort and function off for fashion.
I am a firm believer that we must give back to society for all the nurturing it has done to make us into today’s individuals and help it so that it can nurture many more. ABG seems to share this belief, seeing how active their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives are. From running 5,000 medical camps and 20 hospitals, to providing midday meals to 63,000 students everyday, to immunising 70 million children against polio are just a few of such initiatives and goes on to show that ABG hasn’t used it’s privilege of omniscience just for personal gain, but also to give back to the society.
Part B: Challenges faced by Prashant Pillai: A Case Study
If you, like me, are a b-school student, you’re probably aware of how important the case studies are in the curriculum. Others who aren’t, well, they are important. And also, I thought it makes for a good eye-catching title. So, now that you’re here, let’s start!
As a sportsperson and a performer, I have come across many challenges while on the field and stage. But the harshest ones that I had to face were off the field and stage, ironically.
After I finished my 12th and before joining my graduate school, one day when I was playing football, I twisted my right knee and was diagnosed with ruptures of two of the stabilising ligaments in the knee joint. I, consequently, had to undergo reconstructional surgeries for both. The surgery went smoothly and after 2 days of rest, the surgeon came for a follow-up with the bad news that I may have to discontinue playing football and dancing in order to minimise the chances of a similar injury recurring. This came as a huge shock up first followed by disappointed because I was just told to abandon two of my major hobbies and things that I loved to do, just like that. But I knew I had to let bygones be bygones and move ahead. So, I pulled my socks up, persevered through the 6-month post-operative recovery period and when I finally was able to walk and jog around on my own, I set out to explore new hobbies. And I ended up with working out and playing the guitar.
Other than this, throughout my school days I was an average student. But 12th was a really hard time for me. I faltered severely when I messed it up and got a really low percentage in my board exams. As a result of this, I found myself at the centre of all conversations at home, from possible suggestions on going forward to how I was doomed and done for, since my scores were so bad. I again persevered through the time. Got myself a Bachelors in Computer Science Engineering during which I worked for and headed both the Sponsorship Committee and the Dance and Dramatics Club. Through these, I got a slight taste for the managerial aspect of work and it eventually led to the realisation of my current dream to set-up a software consultancy firm of my own. So, I pulled my socks up again and prepared for CAT. Faltered again (typical of me, I know) during the first attempt because I suffered a personal loss 2 weeks before CAT’17. Took the tough decision to take a drop year, worked hard and appeared for CAT’18, subsequently going from a 77.13 percentile to a 93.34 percentile. I wasn’t too happy with it because I was expecting more, but sometimes you got to make do with what you have. And what I had in TAPMI was an amazing opportunity, so it wasn’t too hard a decision. I still have 2 years to look forward to and see how it pans out for me, but now after going through all this, I know that I will make it.
As the third largest conglomerate, I see Aditya Birla Group having had similar kinds of setbacks and failures because they are a necessary evil to any business, and you can’t succeed unless you fail and figure out what went wrong and where. In this way I get a lot of motivation when I look at how strong of a foothold ABG has currently in the Indian market even after having experienced all those setbacks and failures, like a phoenix rising out of its own ashes.
Here’s hoping I get to spread and stretch my wings out and take flight after these two years, in a similar fashion!