ABG has a vast portfolio of products and services that have touched billions of lives over the years, including mine.
My first encounter with ABG was with Hindalco, where my father visited as an auditor representing an ISO certification body. Then Grasim, for the same reason. At this point, I was intrigued as a kid in school with ABG having so much presence in India? Of course, there were all the fashion brands which were household names back then like Allen Solly and the premium Louis Phillipe (Grasim's and ABFRL handiwork) along with the ubiquitous Ultratech Cement, which, as a matter of fact, has been used in my home as well, that has aged beautifully.
I took up engineering at BITS Pilani, which is a part of the Birla Education Trust, unrelated to ABG to most parts, but shares its culture in a big way. That subtle approach to employees could be very well seen in the workers and educators at BITS, which has shaped my life and career into a bright one.
I have a lot to thank ABG for, including bringing my family closer to each other with IDEA and Sun Life products. Great customer-centric products deliver even better experiences and that’s what I believe, ABG is all about.
In financial accounting, the going concern principle states that business books keep on running forever, and I am certain, the same will be true for ABG, for the culture they have developed will sustain endless generations of talented people in jobs and happy customers.
How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far with ABG?
The answer to this question is simple: it is the culmination of all the learnings, experiences and nurturing acquired over my life that I had been blessed with confidence, knowledge and rigor to overcome any challenge.
As with any school kid, the zeal to impress our teachers is understandable. And I had a very tough tuition teacher during my senior secondary year. He claimed that not a single soul had been able to get a full score on his algebraic factorization test. And there it was – No one has done it before, check – teacher, peers and parents will be amazed that I beat the test, check. So naturally, I started preparing for it. If you know me well enough, you could tell that I had given a 100% to any task, and I never back down, no matter what. And so, I spent countless nights solving problems and questions, from the most difficult Math books, some even forward than my current academic standard. I did beat the test.
But my most important learning was – It was actually when I started enjoying the problems when I developed the hunger for even more problems and learnings, that I was able to reach a level, where I could solve questions by simply looking at them.
This I believe is in the essence of every Birla company. And so, I have practised this ever since – Create hunger and lust for learning, give 100% and never quit. Three simple rules that have allowed me to transcend myself time and again, and overcome any challenge to reach my ambitions and ABG, I think, has contributed handsomely to shape these principles.