In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2021-23, 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, Manvi Agarwal, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve her true potential. Read on and find out her story!
The following are Manvi Agarwal’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top 50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2023. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Manvi's story and profile stood out. Here's her story in her 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.
My biggest risk taken would probably be when I decided to start selling digital art in my community. I only made them at my close friends and family's requests for the longest time. Later, my friends pushed me to monetize this business as I already knew Instagram marketing and had worked with brands before. This big time commitment interrupted my studies during the CAT preparation. Still, I grew a significant following after selling products and slowly shipping them all over the country! The learnings from this project have been immense. I learned that every challenge can be overcome by determination and self-confidence and that nothing should be taken for granted. Still, with an optimistic mindset, one can surmount every problem. Every dark cloud, indeed, has a silver lining. Today, I am glad I took the risk and had my small stint at entrepreneurship, which is now helping in my b-school life.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act?
MICA is a dream college for many; it is the Mecca of Marketing. At the start of our 2nd year, my friends decided to come together and help fellow aspirants by sharing our insights and perspectives. The guidance was done very smoothly, and we also saw great results in the conversions! The love, appreciation, and tears of joy that we saw truly made our day. We continued to guide them by sharing our experiences during summer internships and have formed a tremendous close-knit bond with each of them. I believe that it has been immensely rewarding for each one of us.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
While working on a live project, my manager was very firm about not hosting food bloggers in her cafe. I scheduled a half-hour meeting with her to discuss the advantages this investment could have in the long run. It was the perfect time to introduce my newly designed menu and the brands social media image. Food is one of the most talked-about topics on social media, and we later agreed to use food bloggers to do what they do best influence people by sharing their opinion. I took the lead on this project to find the right bloggers, host our event, and later made them share reviews on their handles. Although I was nervous, sharing my opinion helped give me the confidence to provide input and execute the same in similar situations.
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 that has led you to do deep work in that field?
I was taken to the world of Semiotics here at MICA, and everything still revolves around it. It is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood. While studying the subject, I also used it to improve brand messages in the live projects I have undertaken. While working on my final dissertation, I have used semiotics to decode consumer behavior as it also finds the 'why' behind the consumers' preference for one product over another. We all know this is the brand management tool in the future, and I will never get enough of it.
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?
After losing my father in the 6th grade, my brother has been the sole bread earner for the family. He juggled between studies and worked to ensure all my wishes were always fulfilled. So, the first thing would be to repay all the bills on education and otherwise that I have used. Next, I would like to divide the remaining amount into 2 segments- 2 for 30% and 2 for 20%. The 30% segment will be given to my mother, who always wanted to buy a lavish new house and many other fancy things, but couldn't because her kids were studying. Another 30% segment will be given to investments in mutual funds and stocks with a slight risk. The 20% segment will be used to revive my start-up called Artsy_Frameworx. It started as an interest during the first lockdown and later turned into a business once the second lockdown started, only because of the push I received from my friends. Right now, it is an Instagram page where I make digital art for various products! I have the vision to make this big, have my website, and ship worldwide after completing my post-graduation. Lastly, animal welfare is my passion, and I currently volunteer on the weekends with local animal shelters and rescue organizations. So, the last 20% would be used to start my own rescue to care for the animals who haven't found their homes yet.
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As per government tax payers' data and our assessment, only about 6,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn an annual 'salaried' income of INR 30 lacs or above. And only 11,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn a 'total' income of INR 30 lacs or more.
Have you ever considered how much time it would take for you to be amongst these top 0.5% earners in India?
Find out here!