I Organised Daily Breakfast For Migrant Workers During The Lockdown - Mustafa Pitolwala’s Journey To Success

How far would you go to help out people in need? Today’s story is about Mustafa Pitolwala, who actually went the extra mile to help out migrant workers during this lockdown crisis. Not just that, his answers reflect a deep passion for helping others, which just might be why he was placed amongst India’s 50 Most Employable Graduates of the Class of 2020.

The following is Mustafa Pitolwala's set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top-50 most employable MBA graduates of the Class of 2020. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated by the Founder of InsideIIM-Kampus Konversations, Mustafa's story and profile stood out. Here's a little about him, in his own words.

“I was born and brought up in a business family, in a small town called Dahod in Gujarat. Honesty and compassion are traits that have been imbibed in me by my family since the very beginning. I am a civil engineer who has worked with L&T for 2.5 years prior to starting my MBA in 2018. Also, I am an individual who likes to challenge the odds and is always on the lookout for opportunities and experiences that can make me a better individual. In my personal as well as professional life, I always look forward to taking up challenging tasks/projects that compel me to go out of my comfort zone and learn something new. I feel learning is something that should never stop!”

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.

Post my Bachelors, I started working with L&T. The first project I took up was in a remote location in Bangladesh. It was a risk because I was the least experienced member of the team. I didn't know the regional language (Bengali) and had never worked in such a remote location (Village of 1000 people 50kms from the nearest town). But I took this up as a challenge to learn something new and have ground-level knowledge of the domain I was working in. In the end, it turned out to be a really meaningful and memorable experience.

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

The most recent incident was during the beginning of the lockdown for COVID-19. In my hometown, just days after the lockdown, a lot of migrant workers were stuck with nowhere to go. With a couple of friends, I took an initiative to provide these migrants with breakfast on a daily basis until the government arranged a way back home for them. I think in times like these we have to be selfless and stand with each other and for each other!

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

When I was working on my first project with L&T in Bangladesh, one of our subcontractors was offering a bribe to some of us for his sub-standard work. Some of my team members were hesitant on reporting this to the upper management and let it slide. But I believed this was something really serious and was a breach of my company policy, as well as my personal ethics. So I reported it to my manager, and appropriate action was taken in the matter.

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?

If I talk about a hobby, I would say endurance cycling is something that I have a deep interest in. It is something that I am trying to develop a deep knowledge in. Other than that, F1 racing is something that really excites me and like to read about it and follow it.

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?

In the wake of the current crisis, The deep cracks in our current healthcare system have been exposed. And going forward this is one sector which will go through a big revamp. Out of the given money, I would invest 30 crores over a span of 5 years to set up a healthcare consulting firm, focusing on working with government and private players in developing countries. This firm would on-board experts in the field and work on creating the healthcare system of the next decade. 30 crores would be invested in startups and companies which are working in the healthcare space. 10 crores would be invested in long term investment instruments. Finally, 5 crores would be donated to the cause of education in rural India (via NGOs like Teach for India) and for relief activities for the current crisis.