Part A -
Aditya Birla Group is one of the largest and oldest conglomerate companies with over 150 years of existence. With recorded revenue of over $44.3 billion, the Aditya Birla Group is currently operating in around 14 sectors, comprising of retail, banking, chemicals, cement,
etc.
Aditya Birla Group has had a far reaching impact on my life in many ways. I had gone for a school trip to Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh. We were a group of 20 students who were camping on a hill near Sirmour. On day 3 of the trip the group had gone trekking to an unexplored hill near the city. It was a challenging trek on the way up we were on the verge of giving up on many stages, but the motivation to reach the top drove us further. On successfully completing the trek we were treated to one of the most magnificent views ever. Then the downhill trek started and due to fatigue and different pace of the members of the group we split in many groups of 2s and 3s. On the way down me and my friend got separated from the rest of the group and lost our way. The hill was deserted and we could find no one to guide us with the directions. My friend and I had our mobile phones but it being an unexplored area we had no signal on our phones. Being young and lost in a strange area we were getting frantic that is when we came across a local. He had an Idea sim card and his phone had connectivity, using his phone we were able to contact our group leader. Later we learnt that in that area only IDEA's network had signal whereas all other network providers did not cover that region. This is when I shifted to IDEA's telecom service myself. ABG helped us at a time we had no hope.
Other ABG brands like The Collective and Allen Solly are apparel brands that I have used in my daily life. The Collective has been my go to shop for party wear clothing since a long time. Allen Solly has inculcated in me a sense of fashion.
Being a finance student and a stock market enthusiast ABG's Aditya Birla Capital has been a share that I have traded in, researched about over the past year.
Part B –
My father in his time as a student could not pursue higher education due to financial difficulties in the family. He has always wanted and motivated me to excel in academics. It was his dream that I pursue my MBA degree from a prestigious institute. There was always an inherent pressure on me to do well in academics so that I could stand on my own feet and carve a niche for myself. On the day of CAT exam 2018 my examination centre was in a sub-urban area 2 hours from my house. I left for the exam 3 hours before the reporting time taking an hour as buffer time. En-route the examination centre my car broke down and I was in an industrial area away from the city. No cab or uber service was available in that area. I started panicking as the reporting time drew closer. The stress of maybe not making it on time was crowding out any other thoughts in my mind. This is when I stopped focussing on the exam and started looking for a solution to the problem at hand. Taking help from the locals in the area, I found a car mechanic. I then helped him with the repairs so that the repairs could be carried out in time. I somehow managed to make it on time to the examination centre. With all the hard work I had put in, I managed to score a 97.2% in my CAT exams and secured admission to IMT, Ghaziabad.
I believe that challenges should not been seen as obstacles rather they should be seen as drivers to growth. Challenges motivate me to perform better.
