Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life:
Aditya Birla Group is one of the biggest conglomerates in India. It contains a lot of subsidiaries in various industries like fashion and retail, education, chemical and metal, textile, communication, etc. Therefore, the influence that Aditya Birla Group has on our lives is myriad. My personal experiences with them can be categorized in 2 ways.
First, their fashion and retail business. Being a MBA student dressing in a proper attire is very essential. There is a proverb in Tamil which goes like “Aal pathi aadai pathi” which translates to “half person half cloth” meaning half the credit of the first impression goes to your attire and the remaining half to you. The cloth brands, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter England, etc, that Aditya Birla Group has made available in the market are just amazing. High quality products with various options catering to their target audience has made them a leader in the fashion industry in India. It gives me great pride and confidence in wearing them.
Second, about Ultratech cement. We had to redo some portions of our ancestral house in my native place. The first choice that we were suggested by the builders and the masons were Ultratech. Ultratech havs been able to reach out to a remote village that interior in my state and stand atop other brands. This shows their commitment and hard work in making high quality products which are recognised all over India.
Recently I read a news article about the Kumar Mangalam Birla creating an endowed scholarship programme for his Alma matter, London Business School, worth 15 million pounds. This is a very huge stride in the education sector. This ensures scholarship for 10 students every year from London Business School. The ripples of this action will definitely go very deep in the society. It creates modern leaders who in turn influence their organisation. These organisation then influence the society they are in. And this chain continues. Aditya Birla Group should continue such activities in creating an efficient and sustainable society.
How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far.
The most significant challenge I had faced is the dramatic shift I had initiated at the start of my career.
I graduated as an engineer in Biotechnology. I chose Biotech because I was really interested in it. But the job opportunities were limited and most of them restricted to research. I didn’t want to quit easily and kept looking and tumbled upon the Biotech Industrial Training Program conducted by the Biotech Consortium India Limited and sponsored by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. I was very happy since I was able to get an internship for the efforts that I put in. Though the internship was good the sector I was in was not promising enough for me. I came to know that I’m not suited for research. Though I was pursuing what I liked I also had to think practically about my career. In a few years I will have to be the main bread winner for the family. I started looking for other options.
So, this is when I got an opening in the education industry. I was happy about the profile too. On joining I learnt a lot and I got answers to all my questions that I was pondering over. I had a lot of freedom in planning the activities of the organization. The environment there was similar to a start-up and the tasks were dynamic. None of them were monotonous. And I also got the chance to meet hundreds of students every year. Each interaction with a prospective students has given me meaningful insights about them, the society and I learnt a great deal about myself too. I also developed a lot of people skills from these interactions. The sense of satisfaction I got from the job compensated for anything that I might have lost by forsaking the conventional career path. I have come to realize that doing something that gives meaning to life of yours and others is more important.
On shifting my career path, I resolved to redouble my efforts and to work towards establishing a successful business in the education sector. This path also set me where I am now, at IIM Raipur with some of the best minds in the country. The lesson that I learnt is that there are many options available out there and we should be open in trying them out. You might be surprised by what they can teach you or where they can take you.
#IIMRaipur #ABGLPWooMe #roadlesstravelled #career