There’s a quiet determination about Rahul Lamichane Chetri — the kind that doesn’t need to announce itself. A student at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Rahul’s journey began in a small hill town in Assam, far from the usual centers of opportunity. From there, he went on to earn a degree in Electrical Engineering from NIT Silchar, publish 11 international research papers before the age of 22, and later lead multi-million-dollar operations at Hindustan Zinc Limited. His story is not one of privilege, but of persistence — a rare mix of curiosity, technical mastery, and people-first leadership. Scroll down to discover how Rahul turned humble beginnings into high-impact results, one problem at a time.
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From the Hills to the High Voltage Floor: A Journey of Grit and Growth
Rahul’s story starts in a quiet town surrounded by mountains — a place with few resources but endless curiosity. With limited access to material or mentorship, he spent evenings in a small local library, learning from whatever books he could find. That habit of figuring things out piece by piece stayed with him, shaping both his work ethic and his approach to problem-solving.
At NIT Silchar, he didn’t just study — he explored. Graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering, he earned the Best All-Round Student Award and published 11 research papers across domains like electric vehicles, power systems, and machine learning — achievements that spoke as much to his drive as to his discipline.
After graduation, Rahul joined Hindustan Zinc Limited, where he rose faster than anyone expected — from a trainee engineer to Lead Electrical Engineer within 2.5 years. He led a team of 25, oversaw high-voltage substations, improved plant safety metrics, and drove digital transformation projects that changed how daily operations ran.
One of his proudest professional moments came when he noticed a seemingly small issue — a bottleneck in briquette production that no one had prioritized. He spent hours on the floor talking to operators, tracing patterns, and testing small changes. A few months later, production jumped from 200 tonnes to over 1,000 tonnes a month, adding over a million dollars in monthly revenue.
“It wasn’t about luck or timing,” he recalls. “It was about noticing something small, sticking with it, and convincing others it was worth fixing.”
The Inner Core: Awareness, Tenacity, and Clarity
Rahul’s greatest strengths don’t show up on a resume — they show up in how he works with people.
The first is emotional awareness. He has a natural ability to sense the pulse of a room — the energy, the hesitation, the unspoken things that shape decisions. It’s what helps him lead effectively, knowing when to push and when to pause.
The second is persistence. “I don’t let go of problems easily,” he says. “Even when they stop being someone else’s priority, I like to stay with them until they make sense.” This persistence is what helped him take on projects most people overlooked — and turn them into measurable impact.
The third is clarity in communication. Whether explaining technical concepts to non-engineers or simplifying complex strategies for stakeholders, Rahul’s strength lies in making things understandable. “If an idea can’t be explained simply,” he says, “it’s probably not ready yet.”
Bridging Worlds: The Human Edge in an AI-Driven Era
In today’s AI-augmented business world, Rahul brings a rare edge — the ability to connect technical precision with business context.
At Hindustan Zinc, he worked with automation data that spanned thousands of readings. Instead of getting lost in numbers, he learned to filter what truly mattered — the few patterns that affected safety, efficiency, and cost. It’s a mindset he carries forward at ISB, where he’s exploring how AI and data analytics can drive operational excellence and sustainable business growth.
“AI is brilliant at finding patterns,” he says. “But it still needs people to decide which patterns matter.” His ability to link data to real business outcomes — combining human judgment with technological capability — defines his employable edge in a rapidly evolving world.
The Heart Behind the Hustle: A Selfless Moment During Crisis
Rahul’s sense of leadership extends beyond the workplace. During the pandemic, he volunteered with Hamari Pahchan, an NGO focused on community welfare.
He helped design digital campaigns for initiatives like the Sukhad Project (providing sanitary pads to women from low-income communities) and Umbrella Distancing, which promoted COVID safety awareness in crowded areas. He also supported a Rakhi-making livelihood drive that generated income for women artisans during lockdowns.
The work was unpaid, often late into the night, and entirely remote. “I didn’t think of it as volunteering,” he reflects. “It just felt necessary — everyone was struggling, and doing something, however small, made the distance between us feel less.”
It was this empathy — the instinct to act without expecting reward — that made his contribution stand out.
The Road Ahead: Clarity, Curiosity, and Character
At ISB, Rahul is deepening his expertise in Strategy, Leadership, and Operations, but his story goes far beyond coursework. It’s about perspective — how someone from a small town learned to find opportunity in constraint, and clarity in complexity.
He’s worked on everything from machine learning research to plant-level optimization, from grassroots NGO projects to digital transformation at scale. Each experience has taught him something different — adaptability, collaboration, and most of all, patience.
Rahul doesn’t chase titles or trends. What drives him is something simpler — the quiet satisfaction of building things that work, and leading in a way that brings people along.
“I’ve learned that success isn’t about how fast you climb,” he says. “It’s about how steadily you build — one decision, one connection, one solved problem at a time.”
In a world that rewards speed, Rahul Chetri stands out for his steadiness — an engineer with a strategist’s mind, a manager with an innovator’s instinct, and a leader with a human touch.
