Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life?
I was born and grew up during a globalization phase in India when I had no clue about what branding is - except the two products always in my mind; Britannia Biscuit and Pepsi as my Father worked in these 2 companies during my adolescence days. However I was acquainted with Johnson & Johnson’s powder and soap.
After joining college I had the freedom to make a choice of my own clothes and a very popular store was Pantaloons which housed all branded products. I did not know that all these belonged to a company called Aditya Birla Group. It became my attention forerunner with its logo of the rising sun. I noticed the logo while shopping at Pantaloons, my loved outlet for clothes and since then I began connecting with ABG, for reasons still unknown to me. Aditya Birla Group in its Fashion & Retail Ltd sells in-house brands like Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter England, Linen Club, Forever21 and People via brick-and-mortar and online stores, individual stores and multi brand outlets. Allen Solly and Forever 21 are harbingers in my everyday life as they make casuals, formal wears and accessories for both women and men. All my formal shirts, pants and suits are from Allen Solly as they make the best. As I started working after college the ripe arrival of ABGFRL morphed my requirements of apparels by providing, a seamless omni-channel option for shopping, whether from a desktop or mobile device, by telephone with utmost satisfaction.Pantaloon the multi brand fashion retail chaingives me voluminous global exposure to futuristic and comprehensive design and brands for ethnic wears like rangmanch, trishaa and aakriti along with online shopping options. In as much when I had to purchase 2 suits before coming to the MDI campus, I unconsciously chose Allen Solly’s product, probably due to my affinity towards the Brand.
At the same time IDEA sponsored, celebrated reality show KBC enthralled me. While watching the KBC show I would learnt so much about sports, other countries and even about the lives of people who would get selected for sitting on the hot seat opposite the towering anchor Amitabh Bachchan. Later in 2018, Vodafone India merged with Idea Cellular, and was renamed as Vodafone Idea Limited. Vodafone Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator, the largest mobile telecommunications network in India and Third largest mobile telecommunications network in the world.
As I started working I realized the need to save and had to turn to investment solutions. I began investment with SIPs from equity-based mutual funds from ABG, Birla Sun Life Focus portfolio. The probable reason, as I interpret my love for the clothing brands from the ABG house when data, rationale and logic took a back seat.The health situation and the provision of services vary considerably, and purchasing a health insurance is an integral part of financial planning. The Aditya Birla Health was the one Health Insurance Company that was addressing the issue of offering customized products. Today my family has been insured for health and ABG plays the anchor.I started following the company digitally and through print media and gathered that ABG is a League of Fortune 500 company and Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla is at the helm of the affairs and successfully carrying out the legacy of his father . Since am studying HRM, I also found that the Human Resources function is spearheaded by Dr. Santroop Mishra. They believe in nurturing the biggest asset – there human capital with responsible business practices.
How have I made an impact?
I can think of three challenges which I faced, and could overcome two while the third was beyond my gamut.
During my engineering degree my ancestral house was being renovated. Childhood curiosity coupled with my engineering sense drew me towards what’s and how’s of the process and a lot of afternoons, during summer holidays were spent watching the masons, helpers and concrete hammers in action. I use to talk to them and gathered information about the ratio and proportion of the use of water, sand and cement and the consistency in which it should be applied. While in the process of investigative understanding one day a mason started explaining the strength and qualities of cement. I gave him a patient hearing but my curios mind was tingled. The researcher in me explored cement, as a popular binding material, that is a very important for motor-and-brick civil construction work.
Through explorations I made comparisons and researched on its physical and chemical qualities. Then began my real toil to convince the contractor who had undertaken the work while I advised him to use Ultra tech cement and not any other brand. This is due to my brand affiliation with ABG group and I could easily relate to the Brand and product of ABG. Since this is a profit and loss world everyone looks forwards to enhancing profit and hence the civil contractor was difficult person to convince.
However, I was able to achieve my target ‘convincing the civil contractor’ since I was an engineering student already and could give him my reasoning based on knowledge of chemistry as to why I advised usage of Ultra Tech cement. I also managed to make him understand that water seepage and dampness in walls can be controlled by use of Ultra Tech cement. Now more than almost 5 years of the incident, whenever the civil contractor meets my father, he says I did him good by sharing my knowledge that is still helping him.
A personal caveat, I was in first year engineering when someone very close to my heart and soul was detected with malignancy in the esophagus and found that she is not insured through any insurance company providing health insurance. I was wondering how my parents would deal with the exigency keeping in mind the increasing prices of healthcare in our country. In case of a medical emergency, consumers ended up taking a toll on their future plans.
As Indians we primarily depend on our own savings when it comes to tackling health emergencies, and my family too did the same.
However in the above scenario, exploring health insurance services and products became a necessity for us for future exigencies. As the biggest hurdles in seeking medical treatment are – financial constraint and lack of awareness about health insurance services and products. Therefore a major critical illness can wipe out the entire savings and make you bankrupt in absence of adequate health cover.
While searching the fundamentals of health insurance- Aditya Birla Health was one Health Insurance company which I found was addressing this issue by offering customized product and services that were easy to avail and affordable. More so by this time I have developed the trust and faith with the company ABG and can relate myself easily. I started convincing my parents why we should take a health policy from ABG. A week later my parents I were insured under the scheme they choose and we are secured for the medical emergencies now.