I Climbed A 12,000 Ft. Summit Despite Being Sick | Divya Surana, InsideIIM Best 50

"I, Divya Surana, have completed my MBA from IIM Indore and did my graduation in Bachelor in Commerce (Honours) from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. My team was National Finalist of Mahindra War Room and PwC Us Case Challenge as well as campus winner of ICICI Bank-Beat the Curve. Being a member of Placement Preparation Committee, I love to teach and believes in contributing towards the growth of others. I also love to travel and, in my leisure time, likes to solve Sudoku puzzles and enjoy listening to music. After completing my MBA, I aim to hold a key managerial position at a leading consulting firm and create more financial literacy among the people."

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.

"One of such experiences was my first ever trek to the Himalayas. I was trekking for the first time and had not built up my stamina as per the requirement. Also, 2 weeks before going for the trek, I had viral fever which had lowered my immunity. But in spite of all such difficulty, I wasn’t pushed back and I began my journey for trekking. The first day, after 5 minutes of trekking, because of body pain and restlessness, I was thinking to leave the trek. But my coordinator motivated me to complete at least the Day 1 trek. So, I decided to pull myself and continued my trek. This small goal inspired me so much that I was able to complete my Day 1 trek with ease even though my body was aching. I took short breaks and was pushing myself to complete the trek. But trekking was only one part of this program. Harsh and freezing weather where the temperature reaches 0 degrees in the night, pitching and un-pitching your camps, cooking meals for yourself and planning your trek in the limited budget- all these poses great challenges. But I overcame my physical and mental barrier and was able to climb 12000 ft summit."

When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.

"This January, my closet friend started a new blog named “Non-Engineers” aimed to provide guidance and mentorship to all those aspirants who are from the non-engineer background and aim to get into top B-school institutes. She wanted some articles for her post. So, I volunteered and had written two articles for her blog. First was been about my interview experience at IIM Indore and the second one being the NISM Research Analyst course I completed. I also helped her to carry resume building workshop which enabled the aspirants to make their resume ready for MBA and gained a lot of popularity among the blog members."

Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?

I was the vertical head of one of the events of my college and elected my successor after thorough consideration. But there was some sought of miscommunication regarding that with the President. The President differs with my decision. So, in that situation, I approached the President of that event and discussed the issues. He was bit apprehensive about the successor's team bonding skills. I pointed out the fact that every person is different and it's more important to appreciate those differences and work around them to achieve the team goal. Ultimately, it worked out.

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 which has led you to do deep work in that field?

Finance Domain

I was amongst the top 3%ile scorers in Financial Accounting and Control and among top 10%ile in Finance-I, Finance-II and Managerial Accounting and Control in IIM Indore.
Successfully completed the NISM Research Analyst Certification Examination and secured 91.25% marks.
I had my summer internship at RBS in Portfolio Management division where my role included analysing risk profile and prepared financial analysis report for the clients.
In my graduate period, I interned at Vskills as a content developer wherein my role included study and analysis of banking system and stock market of India for development of requisite assessments and contributed in the development of assessments for the Certifications in finance domain of treasury market and commercial banking.
I also prepared an academic report on GST on education services in which I Examined the provisions of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 regarding Education Services and analysed the impact of the provisions on different stakeholders and suggested measures.
I was the senior member of the Placement Preparation Committee of IIM Indore where my role involved coordinating & conducting pre-placement knowledge sessions on Finance Domain for 1100+ MBA participants.
I was also the Coordinator of Finance Vertical- Utsaha, Marketing fest of IIM Indore wherein I was responsible for expense allocation and tracking, budgeting and maintaining relations with stakeholders.

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 aim to create more financial literacy among the people, especially among the women community. The current pandemic situation had also highlighted the need for a good financial plan to cope up with any crisis. I would initially use half of this amount, that is, 5 Million Dollar in spreading awareness among the community, connecting with different NGOs and financial planning houses to improve the financial literacy among the people. Approx time to do so is estimated to be 5 years. The rest of the amount will be invested in low-risk funds to generate income over 5 years, returns of which would be used to further finance the financial literacy drive in the coming years."