Previous Occupation: Business Head, Hole-in-the-Wall Education
Present Occupation: Business Head, Basix Academy for Building Lifelong Employability Ltd
Sector: Non-governmental Organisation (NGO)
Work Experience: 15 years
Interests – Professional/ Personal: Social sector/ issues, travelling

Can you tell us a little about your family background /history?
I come from a village in Rajasthan, India. My father was the only one of nine children to get any education and travelled 20 kilometres daily to go to school. He retired as Chief Manager of a government bank and now lives in Jaipur. I, my wife, Sarika, and our six-year-old son live in South Delhi. My wife works with an NGO named Srijan.

Tell us about your profile pre-ISB and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
After I earned my first MBA from Gujarat University, I joined the corporate finance world and grew steadily over the next eight years. My first job was with Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited, a leading public sector company, followed by a job at India’s number one private company, Reliance Industries and then with the world’s top solutions company, Oracle I Ltd. 

It was while I was at Reliance that I first thought of joining the social sector. I did not want to have a desk job. I wanted to meet people, travel and use my skills more broadly. The cut-throat competition also did not gel with my value system. I loved helping people. Interning full-time for two months with the well-known NGO, Pratham strengthened my resolve to join the social sector.

I did my second MBA from the ISB, after which I took a position as Business Head of a social enterprise, Hole-in-the-Wall Education, an initiative for quality education for primary school children in rural India. I ran this organisation for three years and then joined the organisation that I work with presently – a social enterprise named Basix Academy for Building Lifelong Employability (B-ABLE). As its name suggests, B-ABLE is focused on unemployment and marginalised youth.  I am the Business Head of the organisation and have been responsible for setting up 75 training centres for marginalised youth, managing a team of 350 people with some excellent recruits, training 15,000 people to date and working in 14 states. I hope to make it a viable organisation soon.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
During my time at Hole-in-the-Wall, I brought innovation to the organisation, won a US$200,000 award for a concept called Activity Based E-learning, expanded it 10 times and visited several African countries in the process.

Over the last six years of my social sector work, I have travelled to villages extensively, met government ministers and bureaucrats, developed partnerships with corporates/ NGOs, run extensive operations in more than 15 states, generated funds of more than INR 100 crores, gained exposure to other third world countries on the African continent, led large teams and delivered extraordinary results.

Describe your fondest memory of ISB.
My first day at ISB was memorable because coming from the background I did, I had never imagined that I would ever go to a premier institute like ISB.

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?
It was only the ISB brand that gave me the courage to make the big shift from the corporate sector to the social sector. ISB gave me a cushion to come back to the corporate sector if my move to the social sector backfired.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
I was a senior engineer with no one reporting to me in Oracle in April 2006 and I became Business Head in April 2007 with 110 people reporting to me. Today, we are a 400-strong organisation, and as a Business Head, I am responsible for these people and the goals that we have set for our organisation.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
A dream-come-true.

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?  

The high quality of its professors and facilities and a great bunch of colleagues.

Word of advice for the current class?
Don’t ever take up a job because it is considered by everyone to be the best job. Take up a job where you can play to your strengths and then strive to be the best in the world at it.

What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
I enjoyed Econometrics, Microfinance, Behavioural Finance and Organisational Behaviour.

Was there anyone during your time at ISB who acted as a mentor for you? Tell us a little about this relationship and why it was valuable.
Vijay Mahajan, the Chairman of BASIX, used to pick my wife Savita up regularly, and I bumped into him once. He has since become my lifelong mentor. I have learnt from my mentors that it is important to balance personal and work life so I try and give sufficient time to my family. We often travel together, play in parks, watch movies or engage in banter.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
I need to feel involved in a cause or in an organisation, which my current job enables me to do. Going forward, I intend to delve deeper into social issues and hope to be able to contribute significantly in terms of ideation, designing and executing the solution to these problems.

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