The day I got the news that I have been selected for Group Management Cadre (GMC) Summer Internship Program 2019 of Mahindra, I was elated and my happiness knew no bounds. It was only a matter of few months before I finally ended up in Mumbai, one day before the official internship began.
The journey began by taking a cab from our allotted stay in Ghatkopar to Mahindra office in Worli, where the entire induction program was planned out. On the very first cab journey, we witnessed the view of the beautiful Bandra-Worli sea link and those of us who were travelling to Mumbai for the first time couldn't help but take pictures. We reached Mahindra, Worli office at around 9 in the morning, where a scrumptious breakfast was planned for all the interns. Well, if I start talking about the food arrangements during the entire 3-day course, the conversation might just not end!
After the initial ice-breaking, we were introduced to the senior leaders from across various sectors of the Mahindra Group. Dr. Anish Shah - Group President (Strategy), Mr. Samdish Chumber, Mr. Sunil Sharma - Vice President (CRM, FM & Marketing), Chief Customer Officer (CCO), Mr. Hemant Luthra - Chairman at Mahindra CIE, Dr. Prince Augustin - EVP Group Human Capital & Leadership Development at Mahindra & Mahindra and Mr. Parthasarathy V S - Group CFO and Group CIO Mahindra Group, shared their knowledgeable insights with the students as well as elaborated the importance of RISE philosophy in their respective sectors. What was particularly fascinating was that all the senior leaders were very enthusiastic about their interaction with the students and answered all our queries with a great zeal. Some of them did not prepare a presentation and allowed much of the discussion to be driven by the interns.
The second day of the induction began by our interaction with Dr. Pawan Goenka - MD of Automotive and Farm sector followed by Mr. Parag Shah - Managing Partner (Mahindra Partners), Mr. Anuj Mehra - Managing Director, Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Limited, and Mr. Rohit Malik - Chief Strategic Initiatives at Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd. After a stimulating interaction with the senior leaders, the entire batch was taken to Mr. Anand Mahindra's office. All of were waiting for this once in a lifetime moment to take place as soon as possible.
We were all seated in the discussion room when Mr. Anand Mahindra walked in. His charisma and enthusiasm fascinated each one of us. He involved the entire batch in a discussion on the relevance of 'purpose' in our lives and the perspective of all the interns on the same. Later on, he also tweeted some of the points that came out during this discussion and it was pleasing to see how he captured everything the interns discussed so comprehensively. Also, a fellow intern had her birthday on the same day and she was certainly very happy to cut her cake at Anand Mahindra Sir's office! :)
The third and the final day of the induction involved a visit to the Mahindra office in Kandivali. There, we had insightful discussions with leaders from the AFS division. Mr. Subobrata Saha - Chief of Operations at Farm Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Mr. Veejay Nakra - Chief of Sales & Marketing. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Automotive Division, Mr. Mahesh Babu- CEO at Mahindra Electric and Mr. Ashok Sharma - President - Agriculture Sector, Member - Group Executive Board shared their expertise with the interns and answered all our queries with utmost enthusiasm.
The induction concluded with brain stimulating board game challenges by The Board Game Co. The games were very innovative and we played games on barter system, stock markets, escaping the room and that too all on cards!
After the successful three-day induction, a design thinking workshop was organized for all the interns. The workshop was very helpful and would certainly help us in our projects.
A big shout out to the Mahindra GMC HR team as they worked efficiently and made the entire experience smooth and very engaging!
I would like to conclude by saying that with such exposure: from interacting with senior leaders to getting to know the businesses closely as well as bonding with excellent minds from various B-schools across the country, the initial experience at Mahindra has been very stimulating and I'm looking forward to giving my best shot in the days to come!
Ready to Rise!!