Merin Varkey from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode has earned her place among the 50 Most Employable MBA Graduates from the Class of 2026. Her journey is one of quiet strength, adaptability, and purposeful leadership — a story of resilience built through personal trials, professional excellence, and an unwavering commitment to people. Scroll down to discover how Merin has turned challenges into character, and responsibility into impact.
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The Ascent: From Banking to Digital Transformation
Merin’s professional journey spans four years across banking, marketing, and digital transformation, marked by consistent excellence and a determination to stay ahead of change.
She began her career with the South Indian Bank, where she managed an HNI portfolio worth over ₹200 million, handling 250+ priority clients while driving growth across asset and liability segments. Despite being posted at a rural branch in Vailathur, Malappuram, Merin achieved Pan-India Rank 1 in high-value client acquisitions and Rank 6 overall in her vertical — an extraordinary feat that underscored her discipline and customer-centric approach.
Her transition to marketing and digital transformation was another bold leap. Without prior experience, she immersed herself in research, studied emerging technologies, and quickly identified inefficiencies in her organization’s campaign strategy. Within weeks, she proposed and helped implement a marketing automation platform that transformed segmentation and outreach. The platform, adopted across the organization, served over 4.92 million users and powered national campaigns that reached six million people. The initiative showcased her ability to marry analytical thinking with customer empathy — a balance that has since defined her career.
The Inner Core: Steadfastness, Curiosity, and Perspective
Merin’s defining strengths lie in her ability to stay steady under pressure, her natural curiosity for people, and her strategic mindset that connects detail with direction.
Her steadiness was forged through adversity. Balancing family health crises, financial responsibilities, and intense professional expectations taught her that composure is a choice. Even in the toughest circumstances, she found structure — building routines, setting clear priorities, and finding focus in the midst of chaos.
Curiosity shapes how she connects with people. She calls her conversations “wisdom talks,” believing that every person carries a lesson worth learning. Whether with clients, peers, or faculty, she listens deeply and asks questions that uncover what truly matters. This human insight has helped her build trust quickly — a quality that makes her a natural leader in collaborative environments.
Her ability to see the big picture while managing details is another hallmark of her approach. Whether coordinating placements for nearly 600 students, organizing TEDx MACE as Co-licensee, or managing welfare issues as part of the Students Council at IIM Kozhikode, she handles both vision and execution with equal care. She thrives in complexity, balancing empathy with structure, and people with process.
Her leadership philosophy found its truest expression at IIM Kozhikode. As a Students Council member, Merin’s role often demanded quiet sacrifices — skipping lectures to resolve academic issues, staying up late to help a peer in medical distress, or mediating tensions within the cohort. For her, leadership was not about visibility; it was about presence. She often says, “Titles may put you in a position, but selflessness is what keeps you there.”
The Employable Edge in an AI-Augmented World
In today’s AI-driven business world, Merin’s employable edge lies in her adaptability grounded in curiosity. She doesn’t wait for expertise to arrive; she builds it. When she first transitioned from banking to marketing, she had no formal background in digital strategy. Instead of hesitating, she immersed herself in books, whitepapers, and industry case studies. A particular insight from The SaaS Model: A New Dimension to Marketing led her to identify outdated campaign systems within her firm.
Within weeks, she proposed a SaaS-based marketing automation stack, conducted evaluations across platforms such as MoEngage, HCL Unica, and CleverTap, and collaborated with compliance and cybersecurity teams to ensure smooth implementation. Her willingness to learn fast, think critically, and act decisively not only modernized internal processes but also proved her ability to lead transformation in volatile, uncertain environments.
Merin views the future of work as a VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Her approach to navigating it is simple: dive deep, learn quickly, implement courageously, and adapt continuously. This mindset — of scaling with change rather than resisting it — is what makes her a future-ready professional.
