Aditya Birla Group! A brand that has got bigger and bigger each passing year. Any person can name a line of business and one can be sure that ABG must be present in that particular business line. It is not just a brand but a part and parcel of any common man’s life. And the most important thing is that it doesn’t aim to serve only a particular target audience. Rather, it aims to venture into almost everyone’s life. Be it clothing (Grasim Industries Ltd.) or cement (UltraTech Cement Ltd.) or different metals (Cameroon Alumina Limited)! It is a brand that has touched my life in more ways that I can imagine. Also, being an MBA student, I am in the formal clothing almost every other day. The brands like Van Heusen and Allen Solly are those that I wear almost every day. Also, it’s not just the products and the plethora of brands that ABG has established are studied around B-schools, rather the vision with which Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla has had is commendable and praiseworthy. Hence, ABG does affect our lives in some way or other almost on a daily basis.
I believe as a part of a society, it becomes extremely essential for us to contribute to the society in as many ways as we can. And I also feel that it’s not necessary for everyone to do something extraordinary only to create an impact in the society. The contribution can be in very small ways, be it planting a sapling for a tree, provide free classes in NGOs like Make a Difference (MAD) to underprivileged children, providing support to those who are going through mental health issues, etc. The list is endless. I have been involved in NGO work in the past wherein I sensitised the underprivileged children towards their health. In fact, I organised dental and oral hygiene workshops for them as well by take appropriate appointment and help from dentists during my graduation. Also, during my stint at EY, I was closely involved with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team, wherein we organised blood donation camps, clothes donation drive, etc. The challenges faced have not been too many. But the common issue that everyone faces is that the kind of hectic schedule we go through, it becomes difficult for a corporate person to take out time for creating such impact. Hence, I was actively involved in my firm to organise such drives in the workplace campus. Most importantly, it’s not necessary that the impact is always created in direct ways. Sometimes, it can happen in indirect ways. For example, if a person is organising workshops to make the common people more aware of the renewable sources of energy, then he or she is also creating an impact indirectly. But amongst the most recent help or impact that I felt I created was helping a friend who was going through serious mental health issues. She didn’t realise that she was developing anxiety issues and her behaviour changed quite drastically. Though I was sorry for what she was going through, at the same time, I was happy how the professional help that she needed was provided to her was of top quality and she recovered quite quickly.