Our Latent Family Member, The Aditya Birla Group - Ashwin Swaminathan, SPJIMR, Mumbai

Part A

Aditya Birla Group visions to be a premium global conglomerate by focusing on each business separately. While ensuring that every minute detail of each business sector is taken care of, they have earned a special place in the heart of every Indian. 

With time, our needs and preferences change, but garments are a prerequisite at every stage of our life. I remember during my childhood, when we would go as a family to purchase new clothes for the upcoming plethora of festivals. Every time there would only be one place everyone would want to go, Pantaloons. It provided a one-stop solution for all our needs with the right amount of trade-off between price and quality. Few years later, I joined a college and starting living in a hostel. Being away from family was difficult, but when i would see different Pantaloon outlets, happy memories would cloud over and with that, rejuvenated strength. During my work, I was exposed to the automobile industry. We were required to have a thorough understanding about the different parts used to make the car. There I learnt, that carbon black is an indispensable raw material for improving efficiency of tire performance. Digging deeper, I found that the Aditya group is again a major player in that industry. Although bemused at how widespread across various industries they were, I was confident of the quality of the product since i have nothing but fond memories with the Aditya Birla Group of companies. 

When we get accustomed to a habit, it becomes very difficult to let go of it. Although, when the habit is on the healthier side, we are happy that we inculcated the same. Aditya Birla Group has become that healthy habit, which I gladly would like to have for the rest of my life.

Part B

I have had two major road accidents, which have driven me to make some impact with respect to how we perceive road safety. The first one was when I was on a pilgrimage with my relatives. En-route, while at a deserted location, our driver lost control of the car while turning and it skid and somersaulted twice before it stopped. Everyone, including me, was severely injured. We struggled to find transport & Medical services nearby, but were ultimately helped by an auto to the nearest town. This accident made me realize that trauma can never be foreseen. The second accident was while I was working with my previous company. A car suddenly cut into my lane, and unable to control my vehicle, I skid and fell on the road. Thankfully, I was wearing protective gear and escaped with mild injuries. 

But these accidents made me stop and think about how granted we take our lives on the road. Committed to improving this “ On-Road Behaviour “, I started to volunteer for Road Safety week and awareness at my office. During one of those sessions, I met Mr Mahadevan, a road safety expert from Chennai. He visioned at starting a social organization to this cause and encouraged people to join him. Although, I knew about the need to improve safety, I needed a full time opportunity which can give me tangible results. After discussing with Mr Mahadevan, I decided to take this step in my career towards a social cause. I became a social entrepreneur and collaborated with Mr Mahadevan and his organization. We developed In-House road safety modules by observing real life road behaviour and highlighting different areas of improvement. 

This change in my career not only gave me happiness, but also a sense of satisfaction that I stood up for something which affected me. This new change I was working for, would also help people not go through two accidents, to realize that one must own up to his/her own safety.