If you are an Indian, you are no stranger to Aditya Birla Group. My touchpoint with the conglomerate lies mostly related to their shopping brands namely Peter England, Forever 21, Louis Philippe, Van Huesen etc. and of course Pantaloons. Being a shopaholic, ABG brands are something without which your wardrobe will be incomplete. So the news, of Ralph Lauren entering into an agreement with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) for the opening of franchisee Ralph Lauren brick-and-mortar outlets in India, was a source of joy to me. Being an avid F.R.I.E.N.D.S fan, I had always associated Ralph Lauren as a workplace of fashionista Rachael Green (Jennifer Anniston). Thus, Aditya Birla Group is somehow linked to my fond memories. Apart from that, Ted Baker, a British luxury clothing retail company, opened its first store in India in partnership with ABFRL. The next most commonly used product by Aditya Birla Group is the BHIM UPI payment app by Aditya Birla Payment Bank. BHIM was the first UPI app that I have ever used, even before Google pay. As the digital payment platform has revolutionized in India for over the last 4-5 years, BHIM had a very good market in the initial years. Aditya Birla Group’s presence in day-to-day life can’t be ignored. Its subsidiaries like Hindalco and UltraTech cement are the giant players in their respective industries. The high quality of the products makes them a part of most constructions across the country. The food industry is also debted by Aditya Birla Chemicals’ powerful anti-microbial agents like Multi-100 (for poultry) and Multi-5 (for fruits and vegetables). Thus, the multi billion dollar Indian conglomerate has managed to leave its footprints on my daily life.
Overcoming challenges is a necessity in life as well as in workplace. Being the only daughter in a traditional Bengali family, my career decisions have come under scrutiny a lot many times. My first job in TCS taught me a lot in terms to overcoming challenges in workplace. There were times when some critical project delivery responsibilities came to me with a very short deadline. Those were the tests of both my problem solving abilities and diligence which I learned to handle over time. However, I soon realized that working in a technical field will never let me have a complete overview of the business and pursuing the MBA will bring me one step closer to achieving my goal of acquiring the managerial skills that would help me in professional life. My target was set however it took me a lot of courage and efforts to convince my parents that I will leave a well paid job to pursue MBA from a tier 2 college, that too in a time when a promotion was due. In the first place it was difficult for myself to give up the certainty and comforts of staying at home and move to a new city and follow my dreams. But I was determined to go for it. Coming from an engineering background, the MBA journey was quite exhausting in the beginning. And on top of it, taking up Finance and competing with peers from different educational background seemed to be a Herculean task since I had absolutely no previous experience in that domain. Each failure was a learning but finally I managed grasp the full flavour of the subject and the MBA journey!!