Previous Occupation: Product Marketing and International Business Development
Present Occupation: Entrepreneur
Sector: Innovation (currently in electronic field)
Work Experience: 11 years
Interests - Professional: building and marketing new products/concepts
Interests - Personal: reading and sports

Tell us about yourself - your profile, recap your professional life after ISB including your career progression.
I am BE (Mechanical Engineer) from NIT, Karnataka. I worked with Bajaj Auto for three years before joining ISB. At the School I specialized in marketing and technology (operations). After ISB, I joined Unipatch Rubber Ltd. (Sun group) as product manager, where I was responsible for launching their new product in India. I was also working as a corporate strategy aid to the director. After a year, I was promoted to zonal manager and given additional responsibility of managing businesses in west and south India. In 2005, I joined product marketing division in the automotive business unit at Cypress Semiconductor. In just over four years, I moved from managing only one product to a group of products for the automotive business unit and was responsible for global business development. In all these roles, I was driven by “doing something new or innovative.” I started my company Anek Technovations (http://anekin.com/) in March 2011 with an objective of creating a platform that would bring new ideas to life. Currently, I am the Founder and CEO of Anek Technovations.

What was your key take-away from the ISB?
o The School gave me a holistic view of how businesses and companies work.
o It changed my perspective of what a job entails. As an engineer I thought differently.
o It offers a great and diverse network of individuals, which I couldn't have built anywhere else in India.


How do you think the ISB has contributed to your career growth?
Post ISB, I worked on the business side of organizations – this would have been very tough for an engineer to do without an MBA. I also worked in both Indian and MNC companies, which added an extra dimension to my personality. Because of my varied experience in the different departments and having watched a number of alums become entrepreneurs, I was confident enough to start my own organization. The ISB network is a great place to find new career opportunities – I heard about Cypress through the ISB network.

What is your vision for the School?
In addition to ISB's focus on research and the centers of excellence, the School must also commercialise innovation. India is far behind other countries in its ability to commercialise research and innovation and a business school like ISB should take a lead. This will encourage innovation, entrepreneurship and generate wealth for the country.

What are the strengths that the School can leverage upon and areas it can improve?
The school has great industry contacts and reputation. It should leverage both toward the vision mentioned above. Even a single success story can provide a great momentum – no other B-school in India has accomplished this.

How do you think alums can associate with the School or alum’s role in building the School?
I think the best way alums can help the School is to do very well in his career. I think ISB is already helping in this by publishing job openings and helping in continuous learning. The School can also help alums by:
o providing access to the library;
o providing a platform where new ideas can be discussed – among alums, with faculty, and students. This enriches the whole ISB ecosystem and also builds the School.

What is the area you can contribute in?
I can contribute to the School if it would like to implement the vision to "commercialise innovation."

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