An Idea: Lives Simplified! - Sonam Jain, IIM Visakhapatnam

Aditya Birla group has many subsidiaries like UltraTech cement, Grasim Industries, Aditya Birla Capital, Vodafone idea, pantaloons fashion and Retail etc. which is like one big joint family. I have always been inspired from this structure as I’m myself from a Joint family and learnt the importance of coexistence. I was in 6^th class when the foundation of my new house was laid. Seeing it built brick after brick in front of my eyes was so overwhelming. Here as well the “Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech Cement” played the role of sticking the bricks together much like the groups’ ideology. It took 5 years for my house to be completed. All through these 5 years there was a continuous association with ABG through UltraTech. Building one’s own house is a very emotional event for an Indian and there sure was a lot of effort, emotional investment which somehow kept me bonded with the Aditya Birla Group.

Other than my house, Aditya Birla Group is really close to my heart because the very first interview of my life during my graduation was in Van Heusen business suit and I could successfully get that job with the luck charm of Van Heusen. That suit is still there with me till date. I wore it in all my MBA admission interviews and it will continue to remain close to my heart.

When the news of the Idea Cellular being merged with Vodafone India broke, it again taught me to how important it is to take tough decisions in the critical times and that the power of coexistence and common understanding shouldn’t be underestimated.

These learning from Aditya Birla Group played a great role in instilling the values in me and making me the person who I am. And I believe, the organisation so big will continue to thrive and inspire me.

How did I overcome challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far?

It was the time of the June 2010 when I was planning to take admission in my dream college of north Campus, Delhi University. I even secured a seat there but destiny had some other plans and consequently, I was admitted to one of the best colleges of my state’s university engineering college. Now, this college was 25 kilo meters away from my hometown and I had to take public transport daily to reach there. Reaching there itself was a daily struggle because it involved travelling by bus and then changing 2 Auto Rickshaws. It was taking up at 1.5 hours of time for one side travel. I was very tensed because I wasn’t getting enough time to study. Also, I was teaching 5 children at that time. I was still able to manage the time but the cumbersome task of travelling was draining all my energy.

I decided to approach the transport department of my college to start the bus service from my hometown. When I went to the transport in charge, he told me it’s not feasible for them to start bus from my hometown as the distance is long and there are not enough students to sign up for the service. I asked him for the minimum no. of students required to start the bus service.

He gave me a number of 15 students but told me to find a driver as well from my hometown or in the nearby area. Also, the fee had to be submitted in advance to get it started by all the students. I started gathering the information of people in my college who were from my hometown. I could find 16 students but 4 of them were residing already in hostels. Now these 12 students were unwilling to pay the fee in advance as their parents were skeptical given the few past failed attempts at this. I tried reaching out to the parents but they were not at all willing to take a chance with their sum of RS. 15,000/-

I went to the Director of the college with the transport in charge requesting him to kindly start the pilot bus service for a week from my hometown so that people will get to experience the comfort and will also realise the tremendous amount of time saved as the bus took only 30 minutes to cover the distance.

The Director refused for any such service. But I was persistent in requesting him over and over and finally he agreed to send a 15 seats bus there but for 2 days only. I put my heart and soul to make sure that people go by college bus in these two days. As expected, after availing the service and being assured that the bus service this time is for the real, all the students agreed to pay the fee. My uncle helped me get a good driver too for the same and eventually we had the bus service.

Now, I am very proud to say that next year the number of girls taking admission in my college was more than twice the previous years. This is all because parents now felt that travelling to college now is safe. And I still feel a sense of accomplishment whenever I see that bus in my hometown still in service.