ABG: A WAY OF LIFE - Leela Prasad Gedela, IIM Ranchi

“If you wanna make a big impact, Learn to delegate“. These words go hand in hand with the growth of one of INDIA’s most popular and trusted Brand, Aditya Birla Group. It’s an India based Conglomerate spread across the world within excess of 1.2Lakh employees and carrying out operations in 13 different Industry Segments.

While my alarm was ringing for the nth time, I grabbed my phone to check the time and realized that my cover glass was made of Hindalco Aluminium. In between, I got a message that IIM Ranchi has just declared results, So I switched on IDEA 4G's mobile data on my phone and was on seventh heaven looking at “IIM Ranchi Admission Offer”. Immediately, I opened my ABPB digital account and transferred the offer acceptance fee to the institute securely.

With all the joy and happiness, I decided to go for my 'Ready for B-School' shopping and what can be a better choice than Pantaloons?. I started my bike and noticed that my wheels were made by Birla Carbon. On the way, somewhere on the road, there was a Polio Vaccination Campaign by AB CSR Activities, which had distributed 90 million vaccinations and was still going on. Moving further, there was a house with a leaking rooftop and cracked walls. I never came across such problems with my house even after 10 years of construction, credits to UltraTech Cement.

Enroute Pantaloons, I stopped at a rail gate and the sound from the passing train reminded me of the fact that Birla Copper is the largest supplier of copper to Indian Railways. Finally, I reached the mall, searching for Business Suite for Interviews and there, right in front of me, VanHeusen and Louis Philippe were at my service. For formal Wear, Allen Solly and Peter England. To add style to my wardrobe, there was Forever21. To have comfortable sleep, nightwear by SKULT. After all the shopping, I made the exact amount of payment through BHIM ABPB UPI in a fraction of seconds, while others were struggling to get change.

After returning home, my sibling told me that there was a short circuit, but there wasn't any damage because of Insulators. In my mind, I recalled Grasim Industries. Along with insulators, Grasim Industries produce Chemicals & Fertilizers of our farm and my favourite “Linen Club". Not to forget, It is a leading global player in VSF. Unlike me, my sibling prefers to order online and he was checking his favourite collections in  “The Collective” and “People” online stores.

In another room, my dad was explaining to my uncle about his plans in investing mutual funds and life insurance that he took to secure our lives under Aditya Birla Capital.  Meanwhile, my mom returned from MORE store buying all the groceries that we need for the entire week.

From ‘Keeping present safe through AB Payments Bank’ to ‘Make my future safe through AB Capital’,  From ‘Bringing colours through Fashion stores’ to ‘Making People's lives colourful through CSR activities’,  From ‘Cement Industry’ to ‘Chemical Industry’,  From ‘2G network’ to ‘4G network’ in Telecommunication, ABG’s impact is not just big in my life.  It has become a way of life to me and my family.  ABG has successfully WOOed ME.

‘Challenges are Opportunities’

I believe that challenges are opportunities to bring the best out of me. Whether it is challenging times, people or circumstances which makes us stronger by putting us in an uncomfortable zone. Although, it depends on how well we tackle situations.  My ambition is to become a well educated happy person. None of my parents completed their tenth class. I have grown seeing their struggle due to lack of education. They realized the importance of education and taught me how education is important for a person. Being part of a poor family, I know the value of hunger, relationships and I fully understand that being happy in life is a bliss. With my parent’s motivation, I focused on education from my school days. Gradually, I understood that education is not only about academics but also, I need to participate in extracurricular and get knowledge on everything. Apart from being topper in academics, I actively participated in extracurricular activities. I was the part of “Special Centenary Jamboree”, New Delhi as a scout representing my state.

I used to study in the summer holidays of school and completed the degree “Praveen Uttarardha” from ‘Dakshina Bharata Hindi Prachara Sabha’ at the age of 13. As I understand my financial status, I always try to get scholarships to fund my education. I had written scholarship exam and got National ‘Merit Scholarship’ assisting 4 years till my 12th from MHRD, India. Completed graduation with a college merit scholarship. At the time of graduation, I was in NCC for 3 years and got ‘C’ certification. Although I participated in a lot of other activities, I never lost my focus on academics. Consistently, I hit 90 plus percentages and 9 pointers throughout my academics. Meanwhile, in my graduation, I convinced my mother to study 10th class. Now, she has qualified 10th class and is working in Government Anganwadi Center.

Although my ambition was to pursue an MBA degree in one of the IIM’s, circumstances made me go for a job after my graduation. With dedication and hard work, I prepared well and bagged an offer from TCS in campus recruitment in my first attempt. After earning a good name in the organization and 2.5 years of work experience, I decided to work on my ambition, to get admission into one of the IIM’s. As I give importance to people, relationships and values, I decided to do HR in my masters. I had written CAT for the first time and got admission into HRM program of IIM Ranchi. With a positive mind, I converted my major challenges into opportunities to achieve my ambition with three Hs “Hard work”, “Honesty”, “Humility”. Now, I am studying in the first year at IIM Ranchi, which believes in the same “three Hs”.