My second year of PGP course in IIM Indore began with a session called BGS – “Business Government & Society.” This two-credit course is designed for a student to understand how a business organization can influence the government of the state and society to shift both culturally and economically.
With high expectations for the first class and embarking on my second year on campus, I stepped into the classroom and sat in my allotted seat by the PGP office. Before tackling the assigned curriculum, the professor distributed a piece of paper to the entire class and asked us all to answer two questions; First, List down 5 business opportunities/ challenges that can be faced in the next five years and second, which entity( Business group, Government, Society) will be affected by the above-listed challenges. After giving us a solid ten minutes to answer the two questions, the professor asked the class to share a few of the challenges we had listed.
When the rest of the class was discussing on global warming, unemployment, the addition of more stringent regulations in the parliament and deletion of a natural resource, a fellow student spoke about problems related to space travel and visiting Mars. What are the challenges one can face, how one can travel, what are the different regulations, is there going to be a different international body to regulate and decide on who all can travel, how the ticketing systems should be, etc. This discussion did break the ice, and the professor was surprised by how in depth she had thought of it in the given ten minutes. He did not disagree to the possibility of this being a potential challenge shortly.
Later that night, I happened to come across an Instagram video of NatGeo documentary on outer space travel by astronauts and attempts made to discover life outside earth. This video and the discussions of the class kept me thinking, even though no one can give a precise time frame for when a significant incident in humanity is set to happen. We don’t know how fast cities on Mars can be built and when people from Earth would get the opportunity to go and be the people of Mars.
With all these speculations in the air, we can't disagree with the fact that we are moving at a faster rate of innovation, discovery, and consumption. The future seems to promise in making a sci-fi of yesterday into a reality of tomorrow.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and Why?
I want to work for Aditya Birla Idea Payment Bank Limited of ABG group. Before joining IIM Indore to pursue my MBA, I was working at a company called Temenos Ltd, which is a swiss fin-tech company that designs core banking software. Working for the company for two years as a software developer, I was awed by how technology is redesigning and implementing legacy banking models. I am very much interested in working for a company that involves integrations of finance and technology. With the society moving towards more robust and adapting to quick and accessible payment options, I see massive scope for payment banks in the country. It will be an excellent opportunity to join Aditya Birla Idea Payment Bank Limited as it allows me to pursue my interest in fin-technology.
Roshni K