Part A- How ABG has touched my life
The Aditya Birla Group is a part of the list of Fortune 500 companies in India. It operates in 35 countries with more than 120,000 employees worldwide. The company was founded in 1857 by Seth Shiv Narayanan Birla. Since its foundation, the company has grown leaps and bounds is now one of the largest multinational conglomerates in the country.
The group has interests in viscose staple fibre, metals, cement (largest in India), viscose filament yarn, branded apparel, carbonblack, chemicals, fertilisers, insulators, financial services, telecom, BPO and IT services.
The introduction of specific branded apparel into the Indian market, is one area that is of specific interest to me. Brands like Allen Solly and Van Heusen have changed the way people dress formally in the country. For example, in the past, women in the workplace environment would dress in Indian formals only. With the introduction of brands like Allen Solly and Van Heusen, western formals were more accessible to the public.
Allen Solly and Van Heusen were brought to the Indian market in the 90’s by a company called Madura Garments. Madura Garments was a part of Madura Coats and a big producer of threads.
Aditya Birla Group acquired Allen Solly in 2001. In 2002, Allen Solly became the first Indian brand to introduce work fashion for women.
Van Heusen was initially positioned as a premium and fashionable men's wear brand targeted at young office goers or as 'fashion for the corporate world'. It was positioned uniquely in the Indian market. Unlike other ready to wear men's apparel brands available in India at that time which were targeted at customers aged above 35, Van Heusen was targeted at the younger customers aged from 25 to 45.
Part B- How I overcame challenges in my life
Challenges are present in everyone’s lives. Some start facing challenges earlier in their life than others, some face challenges related to finances while others face challenges in terms of lack of social support. . I am also no exception to this rule. I too, have had challenges in my life, especially in my adult life.
However, one thing I strongly believe is that no one particular person’s challenge is more difficult than everyone else’s challenges.
When I was 21, my mother had a job transfer to Sydney, Australia. I had just graduated from University and wanted to start working. As it is for anyone, relocating involves a lot of challenges, and relocating to a different country is even more challenging.
One of the prime challenges I faced was to find a job.
Due to my lack of local experience, it was very difficult for me to find a job, especially in the human resources field. In Australia, companies prefer their HR departments to have locals because of the laws involved. After trying for 3 months, I started becoming more flexible and accommodative of other job roles. I finally got a job as a Reservations Agent for a group of hotels. Eventhough this had nothing to do with my qualifications and I had no experience in this particular field, I used this opportunity to learn about the way that the hospitality industry works, how the Australian work culture works and simultaneously also observed the role that HR played in the organization. Within a year, I was promoted to a Team Leader role which exposed me to the functioning of the management. I was part of key meetings where important decisions were taken related to Revenue, Sales and Finances of the organization.
In a nutshell, what started as a redundant role that involved taking calls became a role of a higher responsibility which gave me the opportunity to learn different facets of a business.