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, Mohak Ghelani, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out how his story!
The following are Mohak Ghelani’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, Mohak'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.
After completing Class XII, I joined the bachelors in commerce (B.Com) program at H. R. College in Mumbai and decided to pursue Chartered Accountancy (CA) course. While pursuing CA, I didnt really find my calling in the conventional areas of CA profession viz., auditing and taxation, and was apprehensive of ending up as a cog in the wheel. So I decided to differentiate myself by expanding the breadth of my knowledge. Given my interest in law, I took up professional courses of Company Secretary (CS) and bachelors in law (LLB). Later on, I also pursued Cost & Management Accounting (CMA). Pursuing all these courses simultaneously was the biggest risk I took in my life so far. Each of them had a different curriculum, pedagogy, and learning outcomes, and I had to align my preparation in tandem with their specific requirements. With a single-digit pass percentage in each of these professional courses, preparing for all of them together was nightmarish. To add to my woes, I also had my full-time CA internship, which essentially translated into 10-12 hours of daily work. Initially, it did seem like Ive bitten off more than what I could chew; however, with proper planning and momentum maintenance, I was able to complete all these courses and excelled in each of them. I got a perfect CGPA in my B.Com exams and cleared all professional courses of CA, CS, CMA, in my first attempt, securing AIR-14 and AIR-1. With 67th rank among 15000 students in my law entrance exam, I also got admission at the prestigious Government Law College in Mumbai. This collective experience helped me build a strong resilience and made me adaptable to all situations. As they say, we never realize how strong we are until being strong is our only choice. In hindsight, I will always cherish those years of my life as they taught me to thrive and prosper in the face of challenges.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act?
During my stint in PwCs Deals practice, I had an opportunity to contribute to the CSR initiatives of the firm. These initiatives were conducted at grassroots level across many villages in Maharashtra. During a span of one year, I visited many villages like Narla, Shelgaon, Jawhar, Shevta, Bhavdi, Bokharhatti, and many others; with each trip being for 1-4 days. These community outreach initiatives aimed to empower the local community there and support the development of youth capital.Being a CA and a lawyer, I was in charge of the initiatives where I could create a meaningful impact using my skills. Accordingly, I conducted various sessions on basic financial literacy for the villagers, assisted the Panchayat members in complying with some legal procedures and guided them on the maintenance of books of accounts. Besides, I conducted several career guidance workshops for students from the villages and provided them with insights on preparing for professional exams like CA. Overall, these experiences were truly one-of-a-kind. They made me realize how we can create a tangible impact in the lives of others with our knowledge and skills. People in these villages only need some guidance towards creating a better life for themselves, and we can create a huge impact with some help from our side. These experiences motivated me to push my limits and at the same instilled me with humility and a sense of responsibility. For my work, I received appreciation from the Vice-Chairman of PwC India Foundation and was recognised as one of the top 10 contributors (in terms of hours devoted) to the firms CSR initiatives in India.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
In the early days of my professional career, when I was interning at a CA firm, I was assigned to a business development project along with a senior intern. We had to conduct research on a prospective client to identify value-creation opportunities through corporate restructuring. Based on my research, we discovered some tax cost optimization opportunities through reorganization of the clients group entities. We discussed it with our manager and put together a pitch deck for the client.The client accepted our proposal and we agreed on the scope of services for the engagement. A week later, when we were yet to commence working on the Project, I was browsing through the clients documents and found that our firm was an auditor of one of the client's affiliates. Due to this conflict of interest, independence restrictions would kick in. Accordingly, we would not be able to provide certain services which were already agreed to in our scope. I discussed this with the senior intern, but he did not favor taking it up with the manager as it would not look good on our part. But I held my ground and apprised him of the repercussions of breaching these independence requirements. This lapse could cost a lot to the firm in terms of potential statutory penalties and reputational loss. He was finally convinced and we decided to bite the bullet and discuss the matter with the manager. Although the Manager was quite disappointed with us as we did not check the client relationships before commencing the work, he later on appreciated us for coming clean. We then renegotiated the scope of work with the client and refused all work where we were conflicted.This incident was a valuable lesson for me as it sensitized me towards the importance of adhering to the highest standards of professional independence and acting within the confines of legal and ethical boundaries, despite all external pressures.
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 am someone who loves both words and numbers in an equal measure, and in a nutshell, both of these happen to be my areas of expertise.On the professional front, I have a keen interest and expertise in the field of Finance. I was introduced to the world of Finance at a very early by my father, who happens to be a stockbroker. At college, when my classmates had just started learning about the fundamental building blocks of finance, I was already trading actively in the Futures & Options market and was managing my personal finances. With the professional courses of CA, CS and CMA, I gained an in-depth knowledge in the field and landed a job at PwCs Deals Team. There I had a chance to explore the dimensions of private investing and got to work closely with the CXOs, private equity funds, venture capitalists and investment bankers. Further, during my MBA, I wrote several articles, contributed to compendiums, took workshops and mentorship sessions for students, and won many case competitions in finance. Recently, I took a workshop on M&A cases for 200+ students and also got an article published in The Bottomline, a finance and business magazine, jointly published by the finance clubs of IIM A, B, C and L. On the personal front, I am passionate about reading and also have a penchant for pen. Both these hobbies, reading and writing, are something that I have been doing for as long as I can remember. I had initially started reading fiction; later on, my interest shifted to non-fiction. Although it has been challenging to keep up with this hobby of reading, alongside doing an MBA, I still try to read at least 2 books in a month. I also secretly harbor a dream of becoming an author someday.
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?
I have always dreamt of starting my venture and would like to utilise the entire corpus of $10mn to finance my business idea. I earnestly believe that a business, no matter how small it may be, is always a great source of inspiration and it fuels the flames of ambition within oneself. In this age of cash-guzzling startups running behind vanity metrics and sacrificing their long-term sustainability at the altar of a short-term frenzy, I intend to buck this trend and build a business pivoted on value, not valuation. Further, as I write this, I can hear the clamour of authors of finance books I have read so far, asking me to set aside some amount from this corpus for personal savings. With all due respect to their wisdom, I believe saving money is important, but it's not tantamount to wealth creation. At this young age, when I have a good appetite for risk-taking and support from my family, I would not like to focus much on savings and end up taking an early retirement. Apart from a small portion for an emergency fund, I would like to utilise every penny from this corpus towards building my business and giving the world its next big thing. Amen!
***
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!