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Benefitting from the ISB À-la-carte
The boxes have been packed, classes of the final term are done, and goodbyes are in order. As an exiting student of Co14, I cannot help but sit back and reminisce about the year that has been. I still remember the goose bumps when I first entered the campus as a ‘Student’. I had heard so much about the ‘rollercoaster’, that I was almost certain the alums were overselling the thrill, excitement, pressure, fun and frustration that comes as part of this year. I was as excited, as I was apprehensive, as charged, as I was nervous and as inspired, as I was anxious.
Term 1 began, and I soon realized that I had grossly underestimated the pace of the course. Over the next few months, over and above worrying about grades, we elected the GSB core and club presidents, scrambled for ELPs, participated in club activities, and swarmed B-School competitions. There was so much on the menu that it was tough to decide what to take up and what to pass. And just when I found myself abundantly confused, among the plethora of competitions, came one that interested me the most.
‘The Power of Shunya’ is about connecting young innovators to business professionals in a quest to solve India’s pressing problems such as malnutrition, poor health infrastructure, inadequate supply of energy and inefficient waste management. The chance to contribute to solving one of India’s core problems- that of the lack of inclusive growth excited me more than any other contest did.
Another aspect that mattered was- in spite of India’s incredible brainpower, only few scientific innovations reach the individuals that can truly benefit from them. Excessive regulations, prolonged patent approval processes and inadequate access to venture funds are some critical problems facing budding engineers. Participating in a competition of this nature helped me apply classroom learning in constructing a go-to-market strategy for an innovation developed by Maumita Bhattacharjee, an IIT-Delhi doctoral student. The product is an ‘Intervertebral Disc’ made of Silk Fibroin used to cure lower back pain, conventional treatment modalities for which include disc removal or metal disc replacement. Working on this product and creating a market entry proposition was as close as I could get to solving a problem in a real business situation. I brainstormed with fellow students, took inputs from professors, hit the LRC, interviewed surgeons as part of market research and eventually submitted my application. Our team (Innovator and I) had to battle 23 other brilliant innovations and students from leading B-schools in India. I could not help but notice that ISB students had an edge primarily because of the case study approach we follow at school, and this is reflected in the fact that two ISB students were among the top three winners.
The year at ISB offered me varied opportunities, and it was always disappointing when I had to give up one activity to pursue the other, but the thrill of juggling so many different things at the same time more than made up for the disappointment. During the course of this year, I also became aware that we will probably never again be in a place where there are hundreds of equally talented, bright and driven professionals in the same room. Carving a niche for oneself will never be tougher. Most importantly, I realized that there is a reason ‘networking’ and ‘diversity’ are the most overused words- we discover more about ourselves through the wide network we make; we find diversity within, that we would not have otherwise.
Sannidhi Jatin Jhala
Class of 2014