When I came to b-school, I was clueless of what sector I wanted to venture out into. Everyone said that the summer internship was the time to experiment and explore, and so I chose to intern with Operations as it was the exact opposite of sitting at a desk in front of the laptop (summarising 4 years of my work experience).
“Absolute joy!”: is what I felt when the interview with AB InBev ended with a thumbs up and with me landing a dream job. Five months fast forward, and I was walking into the Corporate Headquarters in Bangalore to my first internship. The first week was dedicated to a details induction program spending time with the heads of the business verticals, and included a session for brewing and tasting right in the classroom. While all these sessions were extremely different in the nature of work, there was a strong common connection that united these sessions and these people beautifully together: The Passion for Beer.
The 8 weeks after were full of surprising challenges as we faced a hurdle after hurdle right up to the night before our final project delivery. I went from being someone who had never seen a blueprint to someone who was rearranging millions of dollars’ worth of equipment on the factory floors. And whenever I started feeling that the skills that I had gathered in my past would never be of use in this new atmosphere, I stumbled upon the right tasks where I could play with those skills as my strength.
AB InBev gave me the opportunity not just to explore the sector of Operations, but Marketing too as I spent tens of hours hopping from bar to bar gathering customer surveys and often being shown the door by the managers who weren’t happy with the idea of customer surveys. While building the models for the project, I learnt more Finance than what I learnt in one year of classes. Working in an industry which is highly regulated by law acquainted me with Legal and Corporate Affairs. My personal affection for Budweiser Magnum coupled with being at the headquarters told me more than I had imagined about Sales; while attending an event (#WhatsBrewing) made me drool at the official merchandise. In a nutshell, working here was an overwhelming package of opportunities gift wrapped with the tag of working for one of the coolest companies ever.
From the scented air conditioned atmospheres of the office to the boiling temperatures with the smell of hot beer, the 60 days at ABI were one of the happiest periods of my adulthood so far. The icing on the cake was the certificate which is a customised Budweiser bottle with my name on it. And now, with the PPO to my name, I can’t wait to go back.