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.
In the summer of 2016, I interned with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In retrospect, it framed a lot of what I would seek in a job later. In the three months I worked there, I explored the empirical impact of ASHA workers outreach on maternal and neonatal health care. It opened my eyes to the stark lacunae in public service delivery in India and how the field workers tend to compensate for it out of their own will. Evaluating a crucial public service delivery variable and offering recommendations to be furthered to the government of Uttar Pradesh for policy planning was a humbling process. More than that, it was my first experience of using the power of numbers to impact a more significant social cause. Graduating from my undergraduate, I opted out of the placement process to work for a micro-finance company. Opting for a non-traditional job was not the most obvious choice to make. However, I felt it was a time to explore the intersection of finance and social impact further and find out what I would like to see myself doing in my career. My two years working in microfinance were filled with extensive exposure to on-ground realities and how a model based on trust of lending small amounts could create a business revenue ranging in thousands of crores. The insights into social relationships and how a business works at the core are learnings that I will carry with me, making it a worthy risk.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.
Back in the hectic CAT season of 2019, I met many highly motivated folks writing the exam online, many of whom have become good friends now. One of these was an instead collected boy whose depth of knowledge and hold on cracking the exam were solid. I got to learn a lot about test-taking from him. About a month or so before the exam, I saw that he became disinterested and did not participate like his usual self. So I reached out to him about how he was keeping. In the course of the conversation, he opened up about the sudden emergency that had struck his family. His father faced a terrible accident and was under intensive care at the hospital. At this time, he was the only emotional support to his family. Concurrently, he was juggling with working on getting an education and a stable future. He had broken down under pressure and had not spoken to anyone about it, given the circumstances. I had never met this person in real life, so I didn't have the know-how to support this person like a close friend would, but at that moment, I was just there. I spoke to him, discussed his circumstances, and reinforced the belief that it would all work out. I didn't know what would happen to his events, but what he did need at that moment, as I later realised, was for someone to tell him that it would work out. Many months later, he reached out to me telling me that he did appear for the CAT and the GRE eventually and that his father was in good health, and he just thanked me for being there in that moment, those many months ago. I carry this with myself because a single moment of empathy for someone who needed mental support helped them. Since then, I have also valued, more, the importance of just being there for people.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
Like every other chicken left in the hay with no idea what to do during my MBA summer placements, I was confused, slightly lost, and trying to figure out where I fit in the plethora of roles and fields of work for a potential career. During this time, I reached out to friends, seniors, and industry experts to speak, talk, and understand more about the industry I was looking at - Finance. One of my closest mentors was my fathers junior and good friend from his times at FMS Delhi, whos now an experienced name in the buy-side market. I regularly ran my opinions on the market and economy with sir and thus came to value his suggestions and advice a lot. Over a call sir candidly said to me, Why don't you consider marketing, not that you are not good at Finance, but because your core strength is communication and building relationships, that would take you very far in marketing. The suggestion was in good spirit, but at that moment, I felt slightly defeated at being told to pursue a field other than the one I was most interested towards. I sat down with myself and thought about it. I allowed myself a moment of calm and collected thinking. I realised I do like the number crunching and understanding of a business and its value to shareholders that is done in the field of Finance. I also acknowledged that communication is my strong suit, and I invest in building relationships. So I went ahead and applied for all the finance jobs and used the suggestion to merge my communication skills with my knowledge and present my best self to the recruiters. It helped me because I had the requisite expertise for the job and showed good potential as a culture fit to my dream company.
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?
Growing up, I was too restless to ardently pursue any single form of dance, music, or sport. I've tried all; Kathak, Indian Classical Music, and Golf! So when I grew up, I didn't have one interest to call a hobby. However, I figured out a few ventures, which gave me a sense of satisfaction. One involves doing something for others, and the other is doing something for myself. Since my undergraduate, I have actively sought to find volunteer work to contribute time to help others. I have followed this to the extent that I feel confident knowing that I can always do this. One significant experience was my work as a project associate with the Confederation of Indian Industry - Young Indians for their project "Masoom". Masoom has been built to impart awareness about child sexual abuse to primary school-going children, parents, and teachers. Through the extensive work I did with them over a year, it clicked to me that the most critical tool in any activity is to make the other person understand - to be open to seeing your point of view. Empathy, relationship building, and flexibility are tools that serve this purpose. For the second venture, I invested time and skill in something of personal liking - interior design. I had always been fascinated by spaces and what gives them meaning; an essence, vibe, atmosphere, whichever word we may use to describe it. Thus, post my undergraduate, I decided to pursue this part-time. One thing led to another on this venture. Notably, I contributed to the core interior design team for designing the 1090 Women's Power Line and the Pink Booths in Uttar Pradesh - sustainable, economical designs. I also actively participated in the interior designing of residential buildings and residential government projects. Matching customer requirements through design have been a learning experience on how spaces can command an entire atmosphere around themselves.
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?
With great power comes great responsibility. If I were to receive 10 million dollars, without having worked to have received them, then I'd like to make sure that I invest them in a manner that works to benefit people - by making it happen for them the way it just happened for me. Through my work in microfinance, I realised that women, when empowered with the knowledge to handle their finances, perform the duty of doing so very diligently. Women involved with my previous organisation told me that they were given importance in family decision-making once they were financially empowered. Notably, women also invested savings in profitable ventures like children's education or capital investment in their small businesses. At the same time, some women faced struggles in managing money because of instances of domestic abuse and drunken spouses taking away their money. Yet none of these women gave up on settling their dues or starting their small ventures. Per my experience of the spirit, women have within themselves. I would want to use this money to create a trust to help women gain financial literacy and act as a seed Venture Capital for their small-sized businesses. First, we create a trust that handles the money and its investment for monetary returns (internal treasury) to keep the organisation financially viable for years to come. The functions of the organisation are to (a) seek out and be open to women from weaker social, economic backgrounds and to conduct sessions (for free) on financial literacy - the basics of income, savings, bank accounts, deposits, etc., and (b) the other arm of the organisation would act as a seed VC for such women to pitch their ideas for their small business, in return, the organisation would serve as an investor and strategist in the seed stages of the business and get a small returns from the profits. We will invest in small ticket amounts to reach as many women as possible for as much time as possible. The idea is to create a centre for financial empowerment for the socio-economically weaker section of women. As the organisation grows, we would also like to involve consultants on board like Oxfam, Belinda Gates Foundation, etc., to recommend and ensure a sustainable future for the goal set of the venture.
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