I Chose A Startup Over An IIM Call, Ft. Mohammed Raashid, IIM C

I have competed in state levels school athletics, university-level wrestling, and captained school and college, football teams.

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.

I always believe that life without scars isn't worth living. During my final year of engineering, I reached the point where I had to make a very important career decision in life. Even after being focused academically, job opportunities right after graduation are not very attractive, especially when you are a non-IIT engineering graduate. But I was aware of this and thus cleared CAT to secure an MBA admission. Got offers from IIM Kozhikode, Indore, and new IIMs as well. 

But, at the same time, I got an opportunity to work on a business role in an online sports apparel startup incubated by IIM Ahmedabad. Though the salary offered by the startup was nothing in comparison to the average packages of IIM K & I. But, I chose to go with the role instead. 

Looking back, I feel I did the right thing as I learned a great deal about business from the startup. A year later I cracked CAT too. And this time, I cracked IIM Calcutta. 

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

I was always drawn towards the wrestling bouts that used to happen while waiting in my practice stadium. I started practicing under a reputed coach for around 5 months post which he asked me to take part in University Level Wrestling Championship. I weighed around 81 kgs at that moment but I was asked by the coach to take part in the 71kg category and the competition was due in 6 weeks. This essentially meant I needed to cut down 10-11 kgs in 5 weeks with minimal loss of strength. With loads of running and weight loss training coupled with wrestling practice sessions, I successfully lost 11 kgs and weighed 70 kg on the competition day morning. 

To my surprise, 3 hours prior to the commencement of the competition, my coach asked me to compete in the 75 kg category. This was to make way for another serious wrestler (with 6 years of practice) to easily get into national inter-university finals. It meant me competing in the relatively tough 75kg category against a national medalist. His smooth sail to nationals depended on the sacrifice of my medal chances but I carefully assessed the situation, based on the amount of preparation done by each for the competition, and decided to make way for him. Fortunately, I was successful in bagging the bronze medal in the 75kg, although I lost easily to a national champion in that category.

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

During my summer internship at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) as a Sales & Marketing Intern, I worked under the customer marketing department (which essentially is a bridge between sales & marketing) on a liquid detergent growth strategy project. Since my project’s geographic scope encompassed the whole of India, it demanded constant interaction with 20+ key account executives & trade marketing executives across different states. During these conversations & data collections, I found a pattern developing which led me to find a major error in the selection of stores where the company relied on paid visibility. 

As this aspect was outside the scope of my project and the realization could have affected the budget allocation to various key accounts, the executives & staff refused to hear my argument and completely disagreed with my finding by giving unreasonable explanations. 

Since this error rectification could have been a major cost optimization exercise for the company, I presented this to my reporting manager and then to senior management. The opinion was taken well and was directed to a deeper investigation. 

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?

Right from very early childhood, I have been awed by the laurels that sports bring to a person, especially because my own uncle was a national athlete. It was through athletics that I initially made my entry into sports. I took part in school level athletic meets, won 30+ medals & several individual championships, and went on to compete in state-level school athletic meets. It was around the age of 14 that I changed course from track events and developed an interest in football. I was part of the school’s senior football team for 4 years as well as captaining the team in the final year at inter-school football meets. Taking it forward, I played for all 4 years of my college days & led the team as Captain. 

Even after joining MBA at IIM Calcutta, I felt proud of winning the Emerging Footballer Award, Golden Boot Winner of Joka Futsal League, and Best Futsal Player at C-XL Meet. If there is one thing that I wish to stay with me forever, that would be my passion for sports.

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 believe that taking care of personal as well as social needs is vital for satisfaction in life. Out of the INR 75 Crores, I would like to take 1 Crore to help the needy ones in my family as well as contribute to my parents’ retirement corpus. INR 4 Crores would be used to fund programs of an education sector NGO with which I have been associated for over 4 years as well as fund my own research interests in the field of public policy. Now coming to the bulk of INR 70 Crores, I would like to look at this corpus from a different lens. I could have simply donated this amount as philanthropy but then the value derived out of it would be that of just INR 70 Crores. Therefore it is essential to invest each rupee in a way that it can unlock hundreds or even thousands of rupees, which in turn would result in multiple derivations of value. I intend to achieve this by setting up a social impact investment fund focusing on unlocking the capital potential, particularly in the education and agriculture sector. This ensures that the value derived from this corpus of INR 70 Crores is not just that but at least 3x-5x of it.