The summer internship is the most coveted thing in a B-school after of course final placements. For most of us all the learnings, PORs, late-night hustles converge to one thing; to land upon the best possible internship offer. The arrangement is symbiotic. On one hand, it provides an avenue for students to apply theoretical learnings, experiments with their own set of ideas, and on the other, it helps companies to assess the competency and compatibility of the student which becomes difficult to gauge in other recruitment options. The two scorching months of summer, test your mettle and put your growth trajectory in place. It allows a peek into the corporate world, broadens one perception to assimilate the intricacies of the different functions of the business. It is a true test of one’s management skills which encompasses not just the management of business resources but also personal resources like emotions, successes, failures, and relationships.
I interned with OfBusiness and my stint began on the first day of April 2019, but before diving in let me give you a short brief about the company. OfBusiness is an SME focussed lending platform that specializes in commodity (Raw material) financing. OfBusiness started its operations in the year 2015, as a tech-based raw material aggregator but soon after, discovered that the major problem SMEs grappled with is the stressed working capital cycle. They evolved their business model to combine aggregation with raw material financing, using their NBFC arm. In short,
OfBusiness provides financing to buy raw material from Ofbusiness
Coming back, it started with a three days induction program in the Hyderabad office. Albeit a start-up, the precision with which the induction was carried out was commendable. In a short span of three days, we were made adept with the working of different functions, business model, analysis of financial statements, and the art of persuasion which comes very handy for a sales-driven company. The average employee age was 27 and everyone here had a penchant for delivering quality work. Mentors told us that we had to carve out our own space and the company will ensure that the right resources are provided to execute what we had in our mind. The motto was to make mistakes, make them fast, and correct them even faster. At the end of the third day, we left for our respective locations.
I was inducted for the strategic operations role and the base location was Chennai. I was responsible to set up a supply chain for a new commodity(polymer) by aggregating raw material requirements from our existing customers (manufactures who are using our working capital credit lines and using polymer as a raw material) and onboarding polymer suppliers across Chennai for the fulfillment. For those of you who are unaware of the aggregation model, it simply works by negotiating larger discounts from the suppliers against huge volume orders and passing on discounts to the end buyer.
Hitherto, I had never visited Chennai and had no clue about the Tamil language. Cultural and language barriers seemed daunting at first until I spoke to my mentor. He told me that he is a non-Tamilian and most of the clients and suppliers we are dealing with are comfortable with English. In the first week, I was asked to locate the polymer suppliers working in Chennai and to understand the polymer market by speaking to the existing clients. The second week was packed with meetings. I visited most of the suppliers with whom I had connected in the previous week, along with my mentor. We spoke at lengths with the suppliers about the challenges in the material fulfillment, availability, credit period, role of DCAs, different polymer grades, and their applications.
The action started in the third week. In the words of our CEO, “
we throw them [Interns] at the deep end of the sea with P&L responsibilities on the field. While they are supposed to survive, historically they have swum to glory”, this quote aptly captures my situation. I was given the go-ahead to start closing the orders. It was rather intimidating but at the same time, it helped me to push my limits. I cajoled my clients in giving me their material requirements which weren’t easy. Firstly, they were apprehensive if we would be able to ensure the quality and delivery time. Secondly, some of these players were operating for more than 25-30 years and had their own set of suppliers, who they cannot abandon for mere discounts. This made me realize that every client was unique and had to be approached differently. It cannot be one size fit all kind of a solution. Everything had to be planned which could be only be achieved through thorough research. For some, it’s the matter of restraining, cultivating a relationship, and restraining yourself from committing follies which could jeopardize everything in a matter of seconds, and for others, it’s ensuring the rock bottom prices. Also, it was imperative to balance the demand side with the supply side, to foster a relationship with the suppliers, to gain their confidence, to alleviate their fears that we might not honor our commitments. The major pain point was credit and most of them mellowed as I seeded them with the idea of advance payments. The management lessons flashed back and made me realize how crucial it is to manage the stakeholders and the businesses are not just transactional, rather intimate and personal.
My ideas started to bore fruits and orders started rolling one after the other. It was 42 days into the internship and it made me confident as I garnered a deep knowledge of the polymer sector which was completely unknown to me a month back. Seeing my progress, I was entrusted with another commodity, metal scrap and I was sent to Coimbatore. But this time it was different. Although I had the framework, it needed certain tweaks. Also, the commodity was more informal and supplier base more fragmented. Further, Coimbatore communicated in vernaculars which made the task of pitching more arduous. Nonetheless, the fundamentals remained constant. The first time a customer uses your service is because your value proposition is better than others, but if you have to make it sustainable, you require to empathize with her. They value your commitment and conviction. It does not matter which tongue you speak,
“Compassion is the language of the Universe- Dan Brown”.
I wasn’t timid anymore rather, the challenges excited me. I could feel the transformation that these last few days had brought in me, it was palpable. I started improvising my pitch in accordance with the client’s profile. A newfound zeal helped me stand against even the toughest negotiators. At OfBusiness, the aura itself is motivating. The knack for success makes the Ofbians competitive, but everyone is ready to lend a hand in the time of need. As I struggled with the Tamil a sales manager who was a local, accompanied me to every meeting and translated what I had to pitch, and finally in the last week, we were able to close two orders.
Ultimately the dreaded day arrived, the day of the final review. I was nervous but in the last two months, I bonded with many colleagues, who comforted me. However, it still felt heavy. The mind started playing tricks, moments flashed where I fell short of success, Questions such as “Am I holding the sand too tight? will it slip away?” came rushing down. I was overwhelmed and realized how much I yearned to work at this place. The review lasted for more than 1.5 hours where they enquired about the understanding of the market, behaviour of the clients and suppliers, viability of aggregation and my major learnings. They all seemed content but didn’t give me any clue what they had planned for me. However, the next morning at 10:30 AM, I received a con-call from the Gurgaon office. The voice at the other end of the line was of Mr. Asish Mohapatra(CEO-OfBusiness) along with Ruchi Ma’am, Pratyush Sir, who told me that I have finally carved a place in this prestigious organization and asked me to immediately board a flight to Gurugram, where a PPO letter was waiting for me. The feeling cannot be justified in words, all the hard work from cracking CAT, to getting into IIM Rohtak and now finally getting an offer, it all seemed surreal.
I have penned down this article for the students who want to be a part of this esteemed organisation. We are always in the lookout for go-getters, people who have a proclivity towards going for the extra mile and who can hold conversations. I would recommend them to read and also have a basic understanding of finance. MBA education is incomplete without an internship, try to get the most out of it!