MBA SPECIAL............................ Eight unusual MBA aspirants pursuing management studies, but not for cushy jobs

Eight unusual MBA aspirants pursuing management studies, but not for cushy jobs

n the campuses of India's premier Bschools, chances are it would have hit a student with a BTech degree. If you were to do the same experiment today, the likeliness of the stone finding a doctor, a former soldier, an aspiring politician, a fashion designer or even a journalist is pretty high.
Today, the buzzword in B-schools, like in Indian Inc, is diversity. "During the selection, aspirants are not only evaluated on the basis of their leadership potential, academic background and work experience but also on the value they add in terms of diversity," says Munish Sapra, senior director of admissions at the Indian School of Business (ISB).

As one-year management programmes for professionals with work experience have become popular, B-schools have begun to focus on increasing the diversity of the batches to maximize peer-to-peer learning. This has also meant that students are looking at different outcomes. In the past, an MBA was the stepping stone to a consulting job with a fat pay packet. But, that's not the case these days — not always. Registrations for CAT, the admission test for IIMs, have fallen to a seven-year low despite the number of seats (and IIMs) increasing. Whilst this could be a sign of the MBA degree losing its lustre, it perhaps could also indicate that the IIMs are keener these days to take in non-engineering students. After all, starting a new venture or pursuing a passion as a career is the flavour of the season.

ET Magazine met several students across India's top B-schools who are doing exactly that. They have unusual resumes or have switched tracks to do interesting things before they pursued an MBA. What made them do so? And where do they plan to go after they are done with their education?

A doctor from Pathankot who wants to set up his own hospital, a student who used to handle the social media campaign for Narendra Modi's prime ministerial campaign, a visually challenged student who wants to become a science evangelist are some of the people we spoke to. These youth are not pursuing an MBA as a means to bag a cushy corporate job but to add value to the interesting things they have already done. Read on:
BoP CRUSADER
By Vishal Dutta
Medha Dixit, 31 
STUDYING AT: IIM-Ahmedabad
BEFORE THAT: A computer science engineering graduate; worked in IT before switching to the not-for-profit sector
WHAT NEXT: Return to the not-for-profit sector and serve bottom-of-the-pyramid customers

AAt first blush, she appears the conventional MBA aspirant - an engineer, from the Army Institute of Technology, Pune, who has worked for four and a half years across diverse functions like IT, business development and marketing in a number of big companies and banks, including ICICI.

t's after those four and a half years that the resume begins looking less predictable. In 2011, five years after pocketing the engineering degree, Dixit joined Teach for India, an education not-for-profit. For two years she worked full-time as a teacher in a low-income school in Dadar, in the heart of Mumbai. That was followed by a stint at Acumen, a non-profit venture fund that raises philanthropic capital to invest in social enterprises. "I managed the launch of Acumen's leadership development programme for outstanding social entrepreneurs and change-makers. This involved leading the recruitment strategy, administration, selection and candidate evaluation for over 450 entrepreneurs across India," says Dixit. It made for a great education, she recalls. "The biggest learning was that businesses serving customers at the base of the pyramid can be highly innovative in their approach, scalable, as well as financially sustainable."

Take the case of the Bihar-based Husk Power systems (HPS), which Acumen invested in. The company provides power to thousands of rural Indians by converting agricultural residue (rice husk, grass etc) into electricity. "It is a low-cost solution that offers customers savings of at least 30% and allows for usage of a cleaner energy source over diesel and kerosene," explains Dixit. Also, the the bio-char left behind from the use of rice husk is used for the production of incense sticks, providing employment to hundreds of rural women.

An army brat hailing from Lucknow, Dixit sees herself being associated with the development sector after her course at IIM-A. "I find work in the development sector extremely meaningful and stimulating. I am keen to work in this sector and the knowledge and expertise gained during my MBA course at IIM-A will help sharpen my skills," says Dixit. "Working to serve customers at the bottom of the pyramid and enhancing growth opportunities in the development sector require a more innovative and professional management approach," she sums up.

EPIPHANY IN SURINAME
By TV Mahalingam
Shobit Mathur, 31
STUDYING AT: ISB, Hyderabad
BEFORE THAT: BTech from IIT Bombay, worked in Amazon before starting a volunteering-focused NGO
WHAT NEXT: Stay in the not-for-profit sector but work with a larger mandate

After graduating in computer science from IIT Bombay in 2004, Hyderabad-born-and-raised Shobit Mathur did exactly what several other well qualified were doing at that time: Getting their visa stamped and taking off to the US for further studies. An MS from University of Washington came next which was followed by an offer from e-retailer Amazon. It was then that his life story took a turn. "Before joining Amazon in May 2006, I had a two-month break when I volunteered and went to Suriname. I knew once I took a job I wouldn't be able to find the time to do that," recalls Mathur.

It turned out to be a trip of a lifetime. Suriname is a small country in South America with a population lesser than Kochi's (just under 6 lakh), about a fourth of which is of Indian origin. "It is a place frozen in time," says Mathur. Over the next two months, Mathur taught the basics of IT and Computer Science to students and faculty members at the University of Paramaribo.

He came back to the US and started working for Amazon. Work was good and challenging but the Suriname experience stayed with him. The urge to come back and do something similar at home was strong.

Around this time, two things happened: one, Bangladeshi social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize; two, Mathur read CK Prahalad's seminal work, Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Inspired by Yunus' achievement and Prahalad's tome, Mathur quit his job and moved back to India. "I travelled across the country for 3-4 months, met several NGOs working on different projects.One thing thatmost NGOs kept telling me was: we need young people who can work with us, people who can come up with new ideas," says Mathur. That's when Mathur co-founded Youth for Seva, a national volunteering platform for youth. Today, it has 20,000 volunteers and 50 full-time employees. It took Mathur to volunteering missions in Kargil and Uttarakhand during the floods last year.

So, why did Mathur opt for an MBA? "While setting up Youth for Seva, I realized that I was taking decisions on issues like handling people or money or marketing. There wasn't a great amount of structured thinking." Now, after ISB, Mathur says he will stay in the same space but look at a bigger canvas. Perhaps an international aid agency or a foundation, he lets on.
BUSINESS OF POLITICS
By Vishal Dutta
Narayan Singh Rao, 32
STUDYING AT: IIM-Ahmedabad
BEFORE THAT: Handled IT and social media at BJP's youth wing
WHAT NEXT: A career in politics

Thirty two-year-old Narayan Singh Rao wears several hats. He is currently a student at IIM-Ahmedabad, a member of the National IT Committee of BJYM, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and is quickly discovering the versifier in him. "My biggest learning [at IIM] has been the realization that I can do much more than I was already doing. My classmates have helped me identify a poet within myself. I am currently compiling poems, which I will publish by the end of the course," says Rao.

Born in a remote village in Rao Madra in Udaipur district of Rajasthan, Rao studied in Hindi medium schools of Udaipur city. After completing his engineering from IIT Roorkee in 2005, Rao took the path taken by thousands of other engineers in the country: a regular job in the corporate sector. Stints at Accenture, Evalueserve and CPA Global followed. Some time in 2006-07, Rao got bored and gravitated towards politics. "My passion to do something different and contribute to the development of our country drove me to politics," says Rao. "I believe that a large portion of our lives depends on politics and the decisions taken by others. Many a times the decision makers may not be as competent as we expect them to be. Hence I chose to be part of policymaking myself," he adds.

Why the BJP? "This is the party where you can build your political career with hard work and talent rather than family or big name," says Rao. In 2011, Rao joined BJYM as member of the national IT committee. "I was given charge of the IT and the social media campaign for the youth wing. We engaged volunteers in designing a communication strategy for social media and developed a content creation team." After that, Rao travelled to several states such as Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand to set up control rooms, conducting workshops and training volunteers to execute the party's social media strategy.

Will he return to the rough and tumble of politics after the course? "Yes," says Rao. "I plan to continue work in this field and also plan to start my own business. In this course, I have acquired learnings on multiple aspects of management such as strategy, marketing, operations. These are extremely relevant in business as well as politics," adds Rao. 

SAVIOUR OF THE SCIENCES
By Neenu Abraham
C Gaurav, 22
STUDYING AT: IIM-Bangalore
BEFORE THAT: Masters in science from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
WHAT NEXT: Become a science evangelist

The Mars mission proved that India has the ability to produce top-notch scientific talent. But the biggest impediment science faces in India is the lack of money and the pressure on students to "settle down" as soon as they graduate with an engineering degree. C Gaurav, a PGP student at IIM-B, feels the future belongs to research. And India has all the ingredients to build and nurture a huge scientific community. Many bright students who could have invented gadgets or solutions in small Indian labs are currently doing mechanical jobs for MNCs, he feels. Gaurav, who received his masters in science from the Indian Institute of Science and Education and Research, Pune, is currently at IIM(B) learning the ropes to be a science evangelist. Gaurav, the son of a teacher couple at Kendriya Vidyala, has only a tenth of the total vision in his left eye (his right one does not have vision). Very early on, he was convinced that he was going to pursue science as a career till he discovered that his actual talent lay in marketing the subject. A friend of his helped him discover this innate interest.
"He [the friend] runs an organization that popularizes science in schools. Members of the organization visit schools and explain the fun aspects of science. More than that, they encourage students who have a passion for the subject not to limit themselves to an engineering degree but to opt for a pure science stream," says Gaurav. "Pursuing pure science is not encouraged much in India because it is a long process," he adds. "You have to do a doctoral and post-doctoral course...sometimes the facilities are only available abroad. Even after that, they have limited options; most often they settle for an academic career," explains Gaurav. Gaurav's dream is to market science among children, especially in government schools. But he admits that this will not be his full-time occupation. "I will take up a job and work for evangelizing science as a part-time hobby," he explains.

Gaurav acknowledges that academic life can get challenging at times. "I can't see what is written on the board. So, I have to rely on people next to me. But here [at IIMB], most of the courses are of an interactive nature. Besides, we need to put in an additional 6-10 hours of work each day [that is, other than the regular class sessions]. I cannot sit for too long as my head starts aching," he says.

Gaurav, who has been a high-scorer right from his school days, draws inspiration from his parents who keep encouraging him. "They keep telling me that I can do much more than normal students. A friend of mine who has the same [visual] disability had to discontinue his studies because his parents were not convinced that he could study," he says.
DOCTOR WITH A PLAN
By Anuradha Himatsingka
Nakul Makkar, 27
STUDYING AT: IIM-Calcutta
BEFORE THAT: An MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College; worked as a general physician at his family-owned diagnostic centre
WHAT NEXT: Set up his own hospital

After bagging his MBBS degree, Nakul Makkar reckoned that he had "learnt enough about bones, kidneys and livers", and delving deeper into the human body was "definitely not my future". Unlike most of his friends from medical college, who immersed themselves into studies for higher degrees, Makkar spent his time increasing his general knowledge and sharpening his logical reasoning skills. Soon he was preparing for the Common Admission Test with an eye on the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

Makkar who hails from Pathankot, a small, prosperous cantonment town in Punjab, made it to IIM-Calcutta. He knew that the road from medicine to an MBA wasn't going to be a walk in the park —after all, mathematics and medicine hardly go together, unlike engineering and maths. "Most of the curriculum in IIM-C is designed by engineers and for engineers. For non-engineers, the first two months are a bumpy ride," avers Makkar. But he's quick to add: "At the end of the day, we all had to learn to sell well. It didn't matter if we were doctors, engineers or dancers before." After graduating from Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi in 2010, Makkar worked as a general physician at the diagnostic centre owned by his family in Pathankot for two years. He also worked as a resident doctor at another super-speciality hospital in Pathankot.

"I wanted to be in the health segment and manage it rather than being seen around with my stethoscope hung around my neck," says Makkar bluntly. At first, the civil services appealed to Makkar. Having interned with the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in east Delhi, he got interested in working for a government undertaking. "But as luck would have it I couldn't secure a place for myself and bag a government job. So there I was working on plan B — health management," Makkar adds.

That plan involves going back home, expanding the family-run pathology business and also setting up his own hospital. After all, as he puts it: "Management is not about sitting in an air-conditioned room and chalking out plans."
MORE BY DESIGN THAN ACCIDENT
By Anuradha Himatsingka
Prashant Kumar, 27
STUDYING AT: IIM-Calcutta
BEFORE THAT: A degree in fashion technology from NIFT, Chennai

WHAT NEXT: Start an apparel making firm

Before landing at IIM-Calcutta, Prashant Kumar bagged a bachelor's degree in fashion technology and over the next few years worked with Dubai-based retail and hospitality conglomerate Landmark. Some day, in the not-so-distant future after he steps out of IIM-C, the Jharkhand-born Kumar plans to start an apparel manufacturing firm. After three gruelling months at IIM-Calcutta, Kumar reckons the worst is over. Most of his classmates are engineers, with a solid footing in mathematics. He felt "like a fish out of water for the first few weeks". "That was the real challenge — an NIFT grad making a place for himself at an IIM. My classmates, who are now my friends, soon knew that I was there for the same reason as they were. Our business was to learn business," says Kumar.

Conquering mathematics wasn't his only problem. "I also had to deal with a lot of prejudices because people in our country assume NIFT only trains fashion designers. So, even if I had a B.FTech [apparel production] degree I would necessarily have to don a high-end tailor's hat. After all, we still think fashion designers are the elite darjis," shrugs Prashant. After his course, Kumar wants to join a retail company, gather experience, establish contacts and accumulate capital to start his own venture. Along with a manufacturing unit, Kumar also dreams of his own designer label.

A LOT ON HER MIND
By Neenu Abraham
Salvika Jajoriya, 24
STUDYING AT: IIM-Bangalore
BEFORE THAT: Post graduation in psychology
WHAT NEXT: An NGO for the mentally ill

Tracking human psychology at the micro level has always fascinated Salvika Jajoriya , a PGP student at IIM-Bangalore. Jajoriya, who secured her masters in psychology from Delhi University, is one of the few students in the current IIM-B batch with a non-engineering background. Convinced that the psychology of the workforce can change the culture and growth of an organization, she says an efficient human resources panel with sound psychology experience can make a positive change.

"People like me are taught to device psychometric tests to analyse human behaviour," she says. The origins of Jajoriya's determination to do a management course can be traced back to her undergrad days when she had a chance to work at several hospitals in Delhi and Ranchi. One of them was the Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health, Neuro & Allied Sciences, where she came up close with mental illness.

"There are many mentally-ill people roaming on the streets who rarely get any treatment and are disowned by their families. Even if they are treated, they are not accepted by their families very often," she says. The despicable conditions that the mentally-ill are subjected to have prodded her to make a plan for an NGO for mentally-ill patients. Before that blueprint materializes, Jajoriya decided to do an MBA to get a better understanding of how to run an organization as well as to tackle ethical issues that peers in her field face every day. Narrating a recent incident at Ranchi (where her father, an IAS officer, was posted), she explains: "When I was at a hospital in Ranchi, a woman who had just murdered her father-in-law came in with her lawyer. They were trying to convince the clinical expert that the woman was mentally-ill. We all knew that there was nothing wrong with the woman and this was just a ploy to plead innocent before the court." Taking an ethical stand and remain non-judgmental when cases like these come up can be challenging, points out Jajoriya. "One needs to be trained or have the experience to take an unbiased approach," she says. She hopes to get that — and more — at IIM-B. "We are getting familiarized with finance, operations and strategy...things which I have never handled before," she adds.

Jajoriya plans to take up a placement at the end of her course in the field of organizational behaviour and HR. After that comes the NGO.
PARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE
By TV Mahalingam
Abhishek Bhattacharya, 25
STUDYING AT: ISB, Mohali
BEFORE THAT: Worked in the public policy space as a legislative assistant
WHAT NEXT: Public policy consulting

When Abhishek Bhattacharya was pursuing his final year of engineering in 2010-11, he was enthralled by the political change happening in the country. Enthralled enough to junk the prospect of a secure job in a software company and start looking at the public policy space.

Bhattacharya signed up for the Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament (LAMP) Fellowship programme of PRS, an independent research initiative. The fellowship places one legislative assistant with one member of parliament for 11 months. In Bhattacharya's case, he was placed with PL Punia, a former MP from the Congress and current chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

The experience was an eye-opener. "When we look at the system from outside, we have many preconceived notions about politicians, most of them negative," says Bhattacharya. "I was surprised how hard some of our elected representatives worked in reality. Punia, for instance, would wake up at 5 or 6 am and work well past midnight," he adds.

Bhattacharya's job was to pick questions that Punia could raise in Parliament. "Any issue that affects the people of his constituency and falls within the purview of the Centre makes a good question," explains Bhattacharya. During his tenure as Punia's legislative assistant, the number of questions asked in parliament doubled from 32 per session to 64, making him the most participative MP from the Congress. After his stint at Punia's office, Bhattacharya worked with the Centre for Civil Society to advocate education policy reform to government and legislature at the centre, state and municipal level. Just before joining ISB, he also worked with Narendra Modi's pre-election campaign team on policy briefs and research reports. "The nature of politics in India is changing. Today, somebody like Piyush Goyal [minister of state for power, coal and renewable energy] is from an investment banking background," says Bhattacharya, who sees himself working for a consultancy and specializing in public policy once he is done with the course at ISB.

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