In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2020-22, we feature MBA students who have walked that extra mile and done that little more to stand out! One of those featured in today's story, Lakshya Kumar, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!
The following are Lakshya Kumar's set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top-50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2022. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Lakshya's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his own words.
Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.
Leaving IIT at the age of 17 to pursue management and then further pursuing MBA by securing 99.99 percentile in CAT (All India non engineering topper) and becoming an Institute ranker at IIM Calcutta. Having been an academically bright student throughout my student life, I thought of pursuing engineering during my high-school. Fortunately enough, I was given full scholarship by multiple IIT-JEE preparation institutions. While preparing, I started realising that I had more fun managing people or building strategy and engineering might not be my calling. Post JEE results, I secured a good enough rank to take admission into an Old IIT and other top institutions. But, I dared to not go for it and pursued a Bachelor of Management Studies from Shaheed Sukhev College, the University of Delhi (Secured All India Rank 21 in its entrance test and Received - Student of the Year Award while graduating). Dropping engineering took a lot of courage and was considered a big risk as a lot of relatives and family friends were against it. Receiving endless calls every day by acquaintances - that engineer is just a four-year thing, and then after engineering I can pursue whatever I want. Every day, WhatsApp messages explaining options after engineering started pouring in. I feel happy that I stood my ground, even when most were questioning my decision. I am thankful that my family always stood beside me and supported my decision throughout. In hindsight, as I write this answer from London (Exchange program at London School of Economics), having a PPO from Mckinsey & Company, and an Institute Rank 5 in IIM Calcutta, all the risk was worth it
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.
Distributing 108 smartphones, to students from the lower strata of socio-economic background. This initiative was also praised by Manish Sisodia - the education minister of Delhi.My father is a principal in a government school. When the covid 19 pandemic struck, it became a stay-cation like situation for most of us. The people who were affected the worst were the ones with less resources to spare. Education took a halt for students who could not even access the internet from home as their mobile devices didn't support Zoom/Gmeet. I took it upon myself, to help students of my father's educational institute. With the help of crowd funding and support from society, the team was able to secure enough funds to distribute more than 100 smartphones to the students worst affected by Covid 19 pandemic. On top of that, I was also able to gather and distribute 200+ books that will help these students in competitive exams. This I believe was one of the most important things that I did which helped support more than a hundred students to continue their education.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
During 2018, I was interning at NITI Aayog (Former planning commission of India) in the project appraisal department. I along with a team of interns was tasked with a project by Ministry of Tribal affairs which involved building schools in left-wing extremist areas (Maoist affected areas). While researching about the project, I became attached to the topic at hand because it dealt with education (Both my parents are teachers). One problem that was arising, was that Ministry of Tribal affairs lacked expertise in providing schooling and there was a big issue around maintaining security of these school facilities. My co-interns wanted to suggest against going ahead with this project. This is where, I disagreed with them. In the span of next week, I was calling representatives from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on a possible collaboration with Ministry of Tribal affairs, so that the school institutes received the expert knowledge from MHRD. I was also calling counterparts from other countries such as Sri Lanka to discuss as to how they overcome such security threats for their schools. All in all, I spent the next month researching and presented a different answer to the project than my co-interns. Fortunately enough, my efforts bore fruits and the project was given a green light by NITI Aayog.
What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative which has led you to do deep work in that field?
Dramatics. Having been enticed by stage and theatre at a very young age. I was very keen to participate in as many dramatics competitions during my schooling as possible. Ranging from Re - enacting Charles Dickens novels to a mono act play to Nukad Natak, I tried it all. I was selected to be an actor in the international film making competition held by Tony Blair Faith foundation (UK). Fortunately enough, the University of Delhi is a dream platform for aspiring thespians (actors). I was selected as the protagonist in the annual production of the college. The play went on to win many laurels including some at the national level. We were also one of the very few plays (In the top 4 across Delhi) to be selected for a commercial performance in front of an audience of more than 120+. I also organised a national level theatre festival which had more than 50 colleges performing and some prominent names and firms including Vijay Raaz, Cornitos, Mother Dairy associating with us. Theatre for me has and will always remain an outlet for emotions and one of those things which I would like to continue even in the future.
If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?
1) Invest in my idea: 50% - I aim to open a media entertainment firm (building upon my passion for theatre) that supports and funds artists and plays. The idea is to present Indian plays and place them on a global platform by utilising various digital and physical platforms. A good example of this would be, an Indian regional play being performed at the Piccadilly street, London or at Broadway, New York.
2) Set up a Trust: 10% - Education remains one of the sectors that I would always like to contribute towards. I would support the education of select students by funding their schooling (including uniforms, books, and private tuitions for competitive exams)3) Invest in different asset classes - 40% - 30% as long term equity with consistent dividends/returns and 10% in riskier assets classes - this will help me draw out a monthly salary of the same volume as I would working in the private sector in the long term.
Read the stories of the other Employable Graduates here!