'I Have Been Involved With A Lot Of Co-curricular And Leadership Activities' - Roshan Farhan - Best 50 - Class of 2016

Roshan has been chosen as one of the top 50 most employable candidates across schools and programmes in India for the Class of 2016. He has one of the best 50 profiles among the candidates who participated in the Best50 competition.   About me: I am Roshan Farhan and I am originally from Guwahati, Assam. I joined IIM Shillong in 2014 and currently am in my final year of MBA where I am specializing in the domain of Strategy and Marketing. Prior to this, I have formal work experience with Accenture in their Technology Risk Management/IT Consulting Division in a client-facing role for about 16 months and also have a Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science and Engineering from NIT Silchar (from where I graduated in 2012). I completed my MBA summer internship in the domain of Strategy Consulting at Sapient Global Markets, Gurgaon where I developed a POV on the "Impact of Social Media and Web Sources on the Financial Asset Management Industry" and helped develop a roadmap for the organization in providing strategic consulting services to its buy side clients. I am a firm believer in unconventional thinking and not leading the stereotypical IIM life. I believe in exploring life and making an impact in whichever professional field I am associated with. I believe my diverse skill-sets and my ability to handle multiple roles effortlessly makes me an asset to any organization. I have been performing consistently with my academics scoring a cumulative 86.5% after 4 academic terms. Apart from academics, I have engaged in numerous co-curricular and leadership activities:

1. Selected as the only delegate from North-East India for the Harvard US India Initiative Conference
2. Elected office-bearer for IIM Shillong Student Council.
3. Selected as the only Microsoft Student Partner from North-East India and implemented their flagship Partners-in-Learning program in Assam in 2012
4. Established and headed the first ever AIESECchapter in North-East India in 2011. AIESEC is the world’s largest student leadership organization.
5. Featured in a US Magazine “FRIENDS” in 2012
6. Organized events to facilitate industry engagement in North East India like Business Conclave and Golf Cup Season 8 (they seek to promote development issues and business potential of the region)
7. Organized events for Youth Forum on Foreign Policy to facilitate discussions on international business and policies
8. Organized a social initiative “Pratiraksa” to empower HIV affected orphans in Delhi in 2015

I have experience in advising organizations on their digital marketing strategies and business development initiatives. As you will notice from my profile, my experience in meeting the demands of a full-time MBA education, my position as an Office-Bearer in Student Government at IIM-S, an (internship) consulting experience with Sapient Global Markets and other co-curricular/leadership experiences makes me a suitable candidate for the InsideIIM Best 50 profiles. I am excited at the possibility of being a socially responsible corporate leader and making a positive impact on society. The recognition and support from the platform of InsideIIM will go a long way in achieving this vision.  URL:

1. FRIENDS Magazine (US based): http://magazine.assamfoundation.net/index.php/around-the-world/85-roshan-farhan
2. ThumbPrint Magazine: http://www.thethumbprintmag.com/iim-shillong-student-attends-harvard-us-india-initiative-conference-2015/
3. InsideIIM: http://insideiim.com/iim-shillong-student-to-be-delegate-at-the-annual-conference-of-the-harvard-us-india-initiative/

  What have you done at your Post-Grad/Business School/Undergrad level that makes you stand out from the crowd? Apart from academics, I have been involved with a lot of co-curricular and leadership activities. I have collaborated with cross-cultural and cross-functional teams globally during my stint as an undergrad as well as a post-grad student. This includes the following:

1. Selected as the only delegate from North-East India for the international Harvard US India Initiative Conference
2. Elected office-bearer for IIM Shillong Student Council, the apex student body of IIM Shillong
3. Selected as the only Microsoft Student Partner from North-East India and implemented their flagship Partners-in-Learning program in Assam in 2012
4. Established and headed the first everAIESEC chapter in North-East India in 2011. AIESEC is the world’s largest student leadership organization.
5. Featured in the US Magazine “FRIENDS” in 2012 for pioneering initiatives with Microsoft and AIESEC
6. Organized events to facilitate industry engagement in North-East India like IIM-S Business Conclave and Golf Cup Season 8
7. Organized events for Youth Forum on Foreign Policy to facilitate discussions on international relations and business amongst students, policymakers and corporates
8. Marketing and Corporate Relations Head for the annual business event of IIM Shillong, The IIM Shillong Golf Cup 2015
9. Organized social initiatives including “Pratiraksa” which empowered HIV-affected orphans in Delhi
10. Led the socio-educational initiative “Nurturing Minds”, which educates underprivileged children in Shillong under the mentorship of IIM students
11. Received a Certificate of Excellence in the International Essay Competition by UNESCO and GOIPF, Japan
12. Involved with the activities of the CII Young Indians Meghalaya chapter

What have you done in your life that you are the proudest of? I feel very accomplished about establishing and heading the first AIESEC chapter in North East India, AIESEC in NIT Silchar.

AIESEC is the world's largest student leadership organization with illustrious alumni like Ratan Tata, Bill Clinton, Junichiro Koizumi and so on. North East India traditionally suffers from a lack of exposure and opportunities for its youth. It was my sense of mission to bring something prestigious like AIESEC to the region and make more global opportunities available to the young people in the region

The journey started in 2011 and I faced a lot of challenges in establishing this organization. Convincing the various stakeholders like students, college admin, and sponsors to invest in a very new idea and engage with its activities was a big challenge. I formed a team of 30 members and we set off for work with me holding the position of Local Committee President and overlooking the various functions of the organization.

One of the primary responsibilities was to send potential students for foreign internship programs, organize business and socio-educational events like Youth to Business Forum, Impact Week and Balakalaakar and so on. We got together as one cohesive team and we went on to deliver exemplary performance. We sent around 20 interns in our very first time. We were felicitated at the AIESEC India National conference for this exemplary performance. We were a team of motivated individuals striving to live up to the ideals of AIESEC and making the youth connect to more globalized leadership experiences and mentoring them.

This experience of setting up an organization from scratch, leading a multi-faceted team and achieving our objectives and delivering value to society has been something I have been very proud of in my life.

Moreover, I am also proud of being directly involved with implementing the Microsoft Partner's in Learning program with the Govt. of Assam in 2012. Under this program, around 6000 school teachers were trained in IT literacy programs by Microsoft. This was the first time Microsoft engaged with any state govt. in the region for this flagship program. The entire educational sector received a massive boost due to these efforts. (I was selected as the first ever Microsoft Student Partner in North East India). I am privileged to have delivered value to the socio-educational sector in the region.

Last year in 2015, I was selected as the only delegate from North East India to the international HARVARD US India Initiative Conference 2015, a conference for global leaders. This conference was a very engaging one where I got the opportunity to interact with global leaders and deliberate on issues of business and social concern and figure out sustainable solutions for the same.

These experiences have defined my professional ethos and has motivated me strongly to be a socially responsible business leader and strive to deliver value to the organization and relevant stakeholders that I will work for and collaborate with respectively.

 Meet the rest of India’s 50 Most Employable Management Graduates from the Class of 2016 here.