An Inclination toward Business Led an Engineer to Pursue a Global MBA – Anit Nayak’s story
An engineer from Kolkata, Anit Nayak (Global MBA Sept 2019) worked as a Business Analyst for three years before realising he wanted to do something different in his life.
“Life is to be lived and experienced, not optimised. Life has no objective function to be maximised – it is not a Math equation,” Anit shares. “It doesn’t have a destination that we need to hurry towards.”
How did the Global MBA program help Anit achieve his goals and make a 180-degree turn in his career? Let’s find out.
Q. How did you find out about SP Jain’s Global MBA? Why did you decide to enrol in it?
After I resigned from Infosys, I went back home and managed our business for a few months. At this point, I felt the urge to go back to school and do things differently. I wanted to study abroad at a premier institute with global exposure, and SP Jain seemed like the perfect choice. The career graphs of their alums are an example of what they reflect. The network you get from a top B-school challenges you to change your thinking completely, which is one of the main reasons I considered an MBA from SP Jain.
Q. What were your favourite aspects of the GMBA experience at SP Jain?
An MBA is more than its studies. You throw yourself at everything, explore what you like, and pursue it. This experience of two years (extended due to COVID) shaped me tremendously. The first aspect is that you understand the culture and the different ways of doing business in three global business hubs. Furthermore, you move out of your comfort zone and do things you haven’t done before.
The industry projects in each of these three countries, and, in my case, for the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Sydney for the upcoming T-20 Men’s World Cup, was an experience you can’t get elsewhere. The interaction with the ICC CEO in Sydney and working hand-in-hand with the ICC Marketing team to implement a digital marketing strategy helped me understand how things work in the real world. Implementation is key.
Finally, the most crucial factor is the tri-city model and the chance to venture out into these three cities and absorb them. The golfing sessions, the outings, and the global learning activities all add to the experience. I had the best time whilst in these three cities.
Q. You spent your time at SP Jain with people from around the world. How did this impact you?
You can spend time with so many diverse and different people that you wouldn’t get otherwise. You build a network for life. The purpose of going to an SP Jain Global MBA program is getting to spend your time with different people who are nothing like you. You learn something new and know something about the world and business in general that you didn’t know earlier. That’s what I did.
I consciously used to spend time with people who I usually would not even approach because I felt that they were very different from me and that I did not belong to their community. I learned about their way of thinking, worldview, and approach, which helped me tremendously because I saw different perspectives. Having a global cohort with diverse beliefs and expertise helped me become a better version of myself.
Q. How does life after SP Jain look like for you? What positive changes have you seen in yourself since graduation?
I am currently working as a Consultant at Netcore Cloud as part of the Customer Success Team. I am a consultant to 15 brands across Telecom, BFSI, Crypto, Hospitality, E-Commerce, Fintech and BNPL platforms globally and help them achieve their North Star metrics’. Netcore Cloud is a globally recognised marketing technology SaaS company heading for an IPO later this year, and I am incredibly excited to be a part of this journey.
There is never a dull moment at a business school. You’ll be busy with lectures, assignments, on-and-off-campus events and extra-curricular activities. You’ll frequently have to change tracks on the go and manage your personal life as well. As you gain experience with multitasking, adaptability will become increasingly important. The ability to be resourceful, delegate tasks and ruthless prioritisation are things that I have carried forward from my MBA journey.
Q. SP Jain prepares students to become global leaders. How do you think studying GMBA has opened a gateway for you?
A global leader must have a holistic view and deal with various opinions and perspectives. They must be adaptable and sensitive to genuine differences in problem-solving, and my time at SP Jain has equipped me with these qualities. While building a business, some might think about raising money or profitability, while others might think about sustainability, and you need to balance out these objectives. The good news is that you’ll have access to a wealth of resources, including your classmates, professors and the local alumni network, to mention a few.
In the program, we perform a lot of group work in SBRs (Student Board Rooms). Every group assignment, I’ve learned, is a little like operating a tiny business, so you’re learning leadership lessons in every class. We need to work as a team in our groups, acknowledge each other’s skills and shortcomings, and trust that everyone will do their part.
Apart from that, I am an avid investor in different asset classes, including crypto. Seeing the global meltdown and recovery during COVID-19 while being present in their different countries and learning how businesses and leaders work across continents helps me in my daily decision-making.
Q. What advice would you give students who want to take up a similar career path as yours? How can they make the best of their SP Jain journey to be equipped for this career?
If you want to do an MBA, you ought to aim super high and be ready to change personally and professionally. Also, the best part is you spend a good amount of time across three diverse cities and hubs, and you need to explore every bit of them.
Make connections with an experienced peer group, and you can get the knowledge and experience of a lifetime. To make the best of your journey at SP Jain, I would suggest not following any predetermined template. You don’t need to follow a template because someone has laid down the rules before you.
Have great outings and make sure to have fun as this is probably your last shot at college life, and you should be able to make the most of these beautiful countries you will be travelling to.
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