Alumni Association Updates
Updates and Information on upcoming events from the alumni association.
MORE >>

alumi events


Manisha Gudka

Class of 2008
Founder, Opportune CSR Advisors



Previous Occupation: Investment Banking, Ernst & Young
Present Occupation: Founder, Opportune CSR Advisors
Sector: Social Investments and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Work Experience: 10 years
Interests – Professional/ Personal: Music and travel


Can you tell us a little about your family background/ history?
I am from Jamnagar, Gujarat. My father was in the textile business. I have a younger brother who is an IT professional. My husband is a SAP consultant. My father-in-law runs a real estate consulting business. My sister-in-law works with a technology company in the Silicon Valley, US. My mother and my mother-in-law are homemakers.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
While I was with SUN Group, I set up a non-governmental organisation (NGO) for the group’s institutional interventions to promote social entrepreneurship among other aspects of social development. While at Ernst & Young (EY), I got a chance to work on a large end-to-end transaction, among other mandates.
Having been able to work in diverse roles across industries and organisations over the years has given me a very holistic view of business, strategy and entrepreneurship. I consider this experience very enriching on the personal as well as the professional level as it let me see the world through a different lens in each role.
This perspective has also given me a sense of creative freedom and expanded horizons. Soon after I quit EY, I presented my independent research papers on “Importance of Corporate Governance in M&A” and “Governance in Higher Education” at two conferences organised by the Centre for Corporate Governance Research & Training of the ICSI (ICSI-CCGRT). The latter paper was judged the best at the conference.

Tell us about your profile pre-ISB, and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
Pre-ISB, I was working as Company Secretary (CS) & Compliance Officer with SUN F&C Mutual Fund. After the transfer of its mutual fund business, I worked very closely with the Vice Chairman of SUN Group on their CSR initiatives involving direct and indirect interventions for social development, including a public-private partnership (PPP) with a state government.
Post-ISB, I joined Ernst & Young in their Transaction Advisory Services division. I got a chance to work on a variety of domestic and cross-border deals spanning the logistics infrastructure, foods, education, healthcare, industrial products and consumer products sectors.
Then I quit EY and started my own venture – education and employability consulting. I am in the process of launching another initiative, Opportune CSR Advisors, which is a social investment bank.

Describe your fondest memory of ISB.
Butterflies in my tummy when the Dean introduced the profile of our class in the Khemka Auditorium and mentioned me among others − that frozen moment of floating on the unexpected applause; birthday dunking in the pool; study group assignments from midnight till the early morning; interactions with some of the best brains at speaker sessions and conferences; all night parties; spam e-mails ... and the list goes on. It is very difficult to identify which of these experiences was the best.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?
ISB taught me that there is a simpler way of looking at problems. I gained a broader perspective on business strategy and entrepreneurship because I went to ISB. The dynamism and the adaptability that I gained at ISB will keep me going strong.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
ISB has given me the resources, the networks and the ISB community to fall back on every time I need to refine, reform, reinvent or restart.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
Transformation.

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
Stretching my abilities to match the pace and rigour of the curriculum, the co-curricular activities that contributed to my all-round development and the intellectually stimulating discussions I had with the faculty and my peers. The sheer number of new ideas that came up during class discussions and the amazing variety of experiences shared by my peers were overwhelming but very enriching.

Word of advice for the current class?
Don’t let the focus on grades make you petty bookworms with no friends or networks. Live the ISB experience in totality and cultivate warmth and friendships. Make sure you have no regrets when you look back on that year at ISB a few years down the line, because you will not get it again.

What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
Negotiation Analysis was one of my favourites because until Professor Dishan Kamdar took us through that course, I never thought there could be so much strategy and planning behind negotiations. Corporate Finance, Capital Raising Strategies of Corporations and Corporate Control Mergers & Acquisitions were also my favourites because they gave a stratospheric view of the business and still showed the importance of ground level details.

What are the areas in which you can contribute to ISB?
I can guide students who wish to start their own ventures. I am currently helping to plan life-long learning initiatives for alumni in the Mumbai Chapter.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
A lot of creative freedom, an intellect freed up from organisational hierarchy restrictions and the ability to experiment on your ideas – these are some of the joys of being an entrepreneur.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Any trends that you can see?
Currently I am in the process of launching a social investment bank. In light of the new Companies Act, 2013 and the growing awareness about social investments and CSR, I foresee a lot of capital being made available for investment in social development. 

© 2014 Indian School of Business, Disclaimer.