ADITYA BIRLA GROUP -SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL || Suman Das, IIM Ranchi

I have always been fascinated on how these big companies operate and contribute to our life system. Aditya Birla Group(ABG) is one among such leading conglomerates which have contributed since time immemorial. Quoting some line from the poem Seven Stages of life by William Shakespeare,

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. "

As the poem suggests how Men and Women play their part in seven ages or stages of life. I would like to highlight the contribution made by ABG in those seven stages since ages.

From the time we are BORN to the time we visit our GRAVE, the houses we live in has been made of some cement product and ABG's UltraTech Cement has been a major contributor in the Indian market. From SCHOOL BOY to a LOVER, some of our apparels as well as fashion apparels, have as been under ABG's fashion apparel brands like Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter England, People, etc.

From a SOLDIER to an ADULT-HOOD, our connectivity to our families staying far away has been taken care of by ABG groups' Telecom services, Idea Cellular. Which has now merged with Vodafone India and thereby became largest telecommunication company in terms of subscribers and revenue, surpassing Airtel on 31 August 2018.

From MIDDLE AGE to OLD AGE, our health and financial management have been taken care of by various insurances from health to life.Not to forget how ABG has contributed in the same with its life insurance, asset management, lending (excluding Housing), housing finance, equity & commodity broking, wealth management and distribution, online money management portal—Aditya Birla Money MyUniverse, general insurance advisory, and private equity and health insurance businesses.

Completing the path of seven ages of life, ABG's contribution has been immense since time immemorial.

Facing challenges and overcoming them has been part and parcel of every individuals' life.Taking you back to 2014-2015,I was part of this Organization,AIESEC. It is the world's largest youth-run and non-profit organization.I was then an engineering student pursuing B.Tech from KIIT University and was part of AIESEC, Bhubaneshwar chapter too. Before I dig into the challenges I faced,I would like to highlight some important information about the organization.

Being a part of the IGX(Incoming global exchange) team, I had to build International relation with people from 123 countries and convince them to come to Bhubaneshwar for a social internship.

The team was lead by me and I had 5 members working with me, mainly batch mates and juniors from college. We acted as a facilitator. This was a social internship but I had to convince the interns to come to India on their own expenses, that too in a city of Bhubaneshwar where the regular temperature varies from 38' to 40' and we all know how foreigner react to tropical climate.

Hang on! Those were not the challenges I am talking about. I stepped up myself and was selected through rigorous processes to do that task. I was ambitious about the fact that this international exchange could bring some changes in the way how people perceive social work in Bhubaneshwar and would encourage locals into more social work. I saw a purpose in what I was doing and I adamant to make that happen.

The main challenge was to step into the real world outside college bubble and convince the NGO's to take our interns for the 45-day process, providing them food and accommodation and even if possible some incentives for their hard work and dedication. The first day I stepped outside my college to visit an NGO, I failed miserably. It was expected, so my team and I kept on hunting for other NGO's to get the deal cracked.

Day after day, things turned worse. Getting no NGO's to convince for the purpose I believed in or the organization, my teammates started losing hope too. Being a Team lead, It was way more tough to convince myself than to convince my team members that something like that is even possible. As I told you earlier, I am an adamant individual and would go to an extent to do something if I see a ray of hope in it.

Soon the other day Shashank, my team member comes up with the news that a school which deals with social work seems interested but yet not convinced.

I did not lose hope and jumped into it, and it took us a month to get our first lead converted.

That single ray of hope installed back the enthusiasm in my team members too.

They left no stones unturned to make the exchange possible, and with the enthusiasm of our team, we exchanged 25 students from various parts of the world on the summer of 2015 to Bhubaneshwar.

Looking back at the day, I believe we should be patient with things we want to achieve and never to lose hope. Those are the times I will cherish forever.

Oh, WAIT !! The good news is the international exchanges are still happening in Bhubaneshwar through AIESEC, and till today I am proud to lead the team who made that possible for the first time.