Aditya Birla Group – Let’s Dream to Achieve | Siddhant Shah, IIM Trichy

It’s not just about growth or money. It’s about innovations, respect and the ability to make people happy that creates a legacy of more than 160 years. Excellence is achieved when a company becomes a part of someone’s life and helps them in achieving their dreams. Right from helping me to secure my future to providing me with the latest fashion apparels, ABG has become an important part of my life. The name ABG has a long and elaborated history. Ultra Tech cement is the most trusted cement brand in India and I still remember my childhood days when my family moved to a new home where we had used Ultra Tech cement for construction because of the trust and confidence my father has on this brand. I can proudly say that I have been a loyal customer of Idea (Vodafone Idea) since the day I bought my first Mobile and Sim card. To retain customers a company has to care about its customers which I think ABG has always been able to do. ABG has not just provided me with products and services, it has also helped my family to gain financial Independence by providing hefty returns on our stock market investments in stocks like Hindalco, Vodafone Idea Ltd., etc. I sometimes feel amazed on how ABG has touched millions of lives through its various products and services. Who could have ever imagined that the world’s largest rolled-aluminum producer would also be providing services like telecom and Fashion products.  A company becomes a family when it helps people to achieve their dreams. I am sure that ABG will continue to help people like me to achieve their goals and dreams and make our lives bigger.

No One Likes an Easy Challenge.

The biggest challenges I faced in my life were when I co-started my entrepreneurship venture along with my elder brother. This business venture was related to the export of grapes to other Asian countries. Since childhood I was interested in starting my own business. Growing up as a child in business family, I spent much time to observe and assimilate the nuances of business. I realized a craving to learn the processes involved, and was introduced to the fundamentals of Management and I took keen interest in gathering an insight into all the issues associated with the business. During my college days I finally decided to explore the import-export business. The first problem I faced was the licensing issue. After a lot of enquiry and patience I could finally complete all the formalities required for exporting. The next step involved was searching high quality export grade grapes. Coming from Nashik city which is the largest producer of grapes in India, my efforts were reduced and I could easily find the sellers. Now came the final and the most difficult part – finding the importers in the other country. The only feasible export destinations were south east Asian countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. The process was very complex and even after finding the buyers in other countries, we were unable to negotiate a reasonable price. We had invested a lot of money and had already purchased the grapes from the farmers which meant that we had to sell the products otherwise it would lead to high losses. In the end we had to sell the grapes to an importer in Bangladesh for a price which resulted in a no profit-no loss situation. This experience taught me a lot. It also made me realize that I have to learn a lot before I actually step into the business world. My aim was to start my own entrepreneurship venture and not make a loss. I knew it was going to be difficult but anyways no one likes an easy challenge. I could achieve this with lot of patience and hard work which makes me feel proud. I have a long way to go before I restart my venture. I am confident of achieving my next goal of restarting my business and making it a sustainable model after completing my MBA.