'At Mahindra, We Believe In Working Hard But Celebrating Each Success Harder' - Jay Megotia's Internship Experience With Mahindra & Mahindra - IIM Indore

A late night mail pops-up around 11pm saying I have been shortlisted for GMC Summer Intern Program at Mahindra & Mahindra. After various processes, I was tagged as GMC Summer Intern along with 65 others selected from various b-schools across the country; a tag which I will be carrying all along.

The internship began with a bag filled with goodies (as we expected) and a sumptuous breakfast. After a long induction program with all the business heads from various sectors of Mahindra & Mahindra Group, we got a chance to have a session with Mr. Anand Mahindra. We were all excited and nervous at the same time. We expected him to talk about his expectations from us, his future plan of action or the great history of the M&M group. Turns out he knew what we were expecting and instead talked about the U.S. elections and Donald Trump leading to a multi-dimensional discussion. The different direction of the talk ensured that it was memorable.

Now it was time for the project to begin as we were inducted to our respective sectors (Financial Services for me). We started our discussion with our respective buddies and mentors. Within a day, I was ready with my approach note and expectations from the project. The timeline for the complete duration of the project was soon ready which involved 3 weeks of rural travel across various parts of the country for market research. The experience of doing a project based on marketing research in a Financial Services firm meant that I got a multi-lateral view of the industry and domain.

It is said that during internship one does not just learn from the project and mentor, but also from the co-interns. My experience with my co-interns at Mahindra Finance was something very unique and at the same time, very insightful. Though I was more focused on my marketing research and post research analysis, but lunch-time discussions with the co-interns gave me insights about their projects and offered multiple perspectives. I always returned back to my work with a fresh approach. Working with multiple interns in a conglomerate like Mahindra also showed how every vertical is unique in itself but belongs to the same common parent.

The project ended with presentations to the business heads of various sectors at Mahindra Learning University (MLU) Nashik, which was yet another memorable experience. It was followed by a grand party because at Mahindra, we believe in working hard but celebrating each success harder.

M&M was my first exposure to the corporate world and it could not have been better. I was handling a project for the first time and to my surprise, I was given all the freedom and space I needed to work on the project. Though I reported and updated my mentor time-to-time, but all the major decisions related to the project were in my hands. I was allowed to choose the locations I wanted to go for my field visit. I was allowed to frame my project timeline. At the same time, I was also allowed to mold the project details as per my convenience. At Mahindra, you are never a follower. Mahindra aspires to make everyone a leader.

To sum it up, the experience was full of challenges at every step which instilled great leadership qualities in me.