1857, the year celebrated as 'the first war of Indian Independence' also marked the incessant journey of one of the most prolific and successful business groups in the world 'Aditya Birla Group'. Clouded by the motivation of customer service ahead of profitability, it extended its range from a single domain to 16 varying sectors. The tacit experience of the 'POWER OF 5' enabled customers to stick with the brand for generations and inspired the company to serve them even better. ABG has been a prospect. Starting from my childhood days, when my inspiration, my father suited up for a meeting, I got openmouthed owing to the aristocratic look it gave to my father. No surprises to this, it was none other than VANHEUSEN.BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE, a subsidiary unit of ABG's financial services caters for insuring lives of my family till date. The pillar of my parents hard earned success, the house in which they live stands predominantly by the support of ULTRATECH CEMENT, again another ABG product. My first purchase with my first earning was also intentionally from PANTALOONS, another ABG venture with the motive of being loyal to a brand which has supported my family for years.ABG has also put its feet in BKFS, industrial Services, trading and many more and it has succeeded everywhere. Even after having tons of transactions, it has not flown away just by the business prospects. ABG has incorporated huge index in its CSR, prior to its active participation in healthcare, skill improvement and educational facilities. It has also introduced a <2 degree Celsius Sustainable Business Framework to avert the future potential hazards and promoted a 'Responsible Stewardship' framework to get brainstorming ideas. Hence, it is not just a brand; it is an emotion for all of us.
It is one of those pleasant evenings in Bangalore, and two friends gossiping over a cup of coffee, when both of them decide to puke out their unfinished wish list. By the time they ended, they realize there was a common wish which gaped through both of their lives cheating them. The aspire to make things happen; the prospect of leading a group and synchronizing them was something they thrived for. However, all of this skill needed a platform where they could be trained and the bridge between them and the platform was the entrance examination. Whatsapp messages got launched in heaps that night, each offering the other one for a partnership to restart the unfinished business. Finally, both of them agreed to join a coaching institute and thus the journey began. The one person out of those two was me and the other one was a colleague of mine who is currently studying abroad. The preparations started and we knew we couldn’t make it in 2017,still we gave it our best. I secured a modest score of 86 percentile in CAT and he scored 710 in GMAT. He received a call from University of Dallas and eventually he converted. I didn't receive calls from the institutes I thrived for and so I decided to give it one more shot. There were days in Bangalore when I worked for long hours, faced the wraith of the traffic, attended classes and still I turned up to study after reaching my place. The grit for achieving outplayed all the physical and mental tiredness that demoralized me. By the month of March 2018, I had made up my mind to quit my permanent job to prepare for my dream in a more structured manner. I didn't disclose it to anyone else initially but I couldn't evade it for long as the appraisals were approaching. Eventually when I put my papers, I received a lot of flak and criticism, but my determination always assured me that I was taking a right leap. Getting out from a comfort zone which paid me at EOM and offered me freedom was always a tough choice but there was always a Robert Frost legendary poem from 'Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening' which inspired me to complete my dreams and reduce my wish list size. I prepared thoroughly and finally, when the results were announced, a burst of tears rolled down my eyes when I was eligible to be a part of the institutes which were once a part of my wish list. The lesson which I learnt was to keep working until all the stack of your wish list gets emptied off.
ASHUTOSH SINGH
IIM TRICHY