Tell us a little bit about yourself and your professional life after the ISB?

I am basically from a commerce background. I completed my B Com Honors before joining the ISB. I worked for about two years before coming to the ISB but I had started my business along with my mother at the age of 18. So I was always planning to go back to my business and I had come to the ISB to do my MBA and to see what new initiatives I could start up from here.

What was your key takeaway from the ISB?

My key takeaway from the ISB was the fact that I could network a lot. Since I am an entrepreneur, I wanted to get more and more ideas and the networking really helped me. In fact, I am still working with a couple of my batch mates on a few new ideas which I had generated at the ISB and I have been in touch with them regularly because we are now into the car, education and food industries. With so many alums working in so many sectors it really gives us an opportunity to get the facts and figures from them. ISB has contributed to my career growth in a stupendous way because when I came to the ISB I was running a very small business and now my business has probably grown at least five fold in the five years since I left ISB and we have ventured out into newer areas which I don’t think would have been possible without coming to the ISB.

What is your vision for the School? What are the strengths that the school can leverage upon and areas it can improve on?

My vision for the school is obviously to develop good managers, but also to develop a lot more entrepreneurs because that is what India needs. It is a very big country and we need a lot more people who can branch out into their own businesses and set up businesses in smaller cities and increase employment options for people.

The strengths that the school can leverage upon definitely are the alumni. I use them on a regular basis. I think what can improve in this area particularly is the way the alumni website is managed; the information that is updated is not very efficient and needs to be done in a much better way. I think we can look at B-schools abroad, who do it excellently. If that happens a lot more interaction can happen among the alums which will really help each one of us.

What do you think is the alumni’s role in building the school?

As far as alums associating with the school is concerned, I think the initiatives which have been taken over the past few years where alums are being flown down for key events and are being updated about every happening is very good. As I said, a proper website with more details about the functioning of the school and how we can contribute to the batch, if it is done, will lead to more involvement by the alumni in the school. And as far as building the school, I guess you need to involve alumni from every batch in key decisions where they can give you their opinions. The chapters at every location have to become more efficient. And also the school needs to help the chapters in organising certain events probably with the help of speakers and professors so that the alums feel that it is important to be a part of the chapter. The reason why a lot of the chapters don’t do well is because the alums feel that it is just a platform to get together and have fun. Whereas the day we feel that there is a key takeaway from these chapters I think a lot more people will start participating in it.

What is the best advice that you’ve received?

The best advice I ever got is that you need a balance between your work and your personal life.

What’s the best thing that happened to you the last year?

I got married!

What was your favourite place on campus?

My favorite place on campus is the LRC.