How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life?
I’m Akash Sethia from Visakhapatnam. Being born and brought up in a marwari middle class joint family, I have always been taught the importance of values and morals in life. So far, life has neither been a smooth ride nor a roller coaster ride for me. I’ve had my share of problems and challenges in life and have given my best to overcome them.
I have always been good at academics. I have good scores in my 10th and 12th board examinations. Till 10th, my life journey has been very smooth and monotonous. However, as I began my high school journey, I set certain goals that I wanted to achieve in those 2 years. I wanted to step out of the school as the 12th topper of the batch and also wanted to hold a captain position in my school in 12th grade, both of which I ultimately did achieve. But the journey was very challenging. My English and communication skills weren’t that strong and I had to work a lot on it. Removing stage fear was a very big task for me. Working towards these challenges helped to improve my confidence level.
But the biggest challenge was something else. Being a member of a joint family and that too the eldest son in the family, I was responsible for various tasks at home like getting grocery, picking/dropping family members here and there, getting medicines, and the list continues in a marwari joint family. It used to eat up a lot of my time. During my high school and initial years of graduation, I managed it easily. But once I began preparing for my MBA entrance exams, (which usually requires investment in terms of time) it became tougher for me. Also, my cousins did not know how to drive a car and thus were never asked to do anything. Despite seeing me work hard every day for these exams and managing it along with my regular college, my family members still did not think about it and continued to order me to do this work or that. One another major challenge I face is that I find it tough to say NO to people. And I always had to control my anger. It became tough to manage it with college as well as exam preparations. But I did not give up. I prepared hard and finally scored well in all the exams. And without having the need to take a break and prepare for entrance exams once more, I had converted NMIMS in one go and now I am proud to be a part of the NMIMS family.
These challenges have helped me in a positive way and have developed my personality. Going forward, I am confident that I will work hard and give my best, come what may.
Why Aditya Birla Group is big in your life?
Corporates giants in India have played a major role in modernization and Indianization especially post the liberalization, privatization and globalization period. The contribution of Aditya Birla Group towards the same has been significant. A conglomerate of this size is an asset to the country. It has contributed towards raising the standard of living of the society by employing a large number of people and also delivering a variety of products and services. The group has extended its arms in diverse areas like apparel, cement, metals, chemicals, fertilizers, telecommunications, financial services and IT. It has also played an important role in increasing exports in India.
Aditya Birla Group has its presence almost everywhere and has a huge role to play in my life as well as the life of all the citizens of India. Ultratech cement is prominent in construction of roads and buildings. Birla carbon used in tyres make them safer. It provides copper to Indian railways, the means through which majority of Indian travel. ABG’s aluminum business deals in making cover glass for smart phones. It provides connectivity through Vodafone Idea ltd. This business of ABG has provided convenience to millions of its users. Aditya Birla Capital provides financial services and solutions to corporates and public at large. There are certain products and services of ABG which one has to directly purchase to benefit out of it. It owns and deals in wide variety of apparel brands. I am a lanky person and finding clothes of my size has always been a challenge for me in Vizag until pantaloons, an Aditya Birla Group run store, opened in Vizag. It was not impossible though, but Pantaloons has made it a lot easier. Since its opening in Vizag, I have done most of my shopping at the store. I come from a joint family and many of us used to go together and purchase at pantaloons, thanks to its exciting offers and discounts. It thus makes immense value addition to the country and its natives. It would be my pleasure to serve Aditya Birla Group and contribute towards the betterment of the country.
#NMIMSMumbai #ABGLPWooMe
