Meet the SPJ Alum Set to Change the Ocean Freight Industry
After completing her Global MBA at SP Jain, Rubi Solanki first interned with Coca-Cola and then got placed at Cogoport. How did these experiences shape her? Rubi shares.
Q. What made you choose Contemporary Marketing Management as your specialisation?
Rubi: I have about 5 years of work experience, most of it in advertising, with Leo Burnett – India’s top advertising agency. However, I realised that my knowledge was limited to advertising and I lacked skills in different functions like finance and supply chain. That’s when I decided on an MBA. SP Jain was a seamless fit – both academically and with the tri-city learning model. As I was previously working in branding and communications, marketing was an obvious choice for me.
Q. What can you tell us about your recent placement at Cogoport?
Rubi: How can I best explain the business model at Cogoport? It is the MakeMyTrip for ocean freighting. The velocity with which this company is growing is absolutely breath-taking. I am appointed as a marketing manager, and since Cogoport is just about to venture into its marketing journey, I’ll be the first few to step it up. What’s most exciting is that every action one takes here has a direct impact on the customer and that is how we’ve been trained – to solve problems and make the experience better for customers. It’s a refreshing thought which fuels the company’s culture.
Q. What are the learnings from your time at SP Jain that are helping you in your current role?
Rubi: Everything! Cogoport is a start-up with several challenges in different functions and everything I learnt at SP Jain can be applied directly. I am constantly referring to the presentations we made during class projects and implementing the frameworks and models we studied in the Student Board Rooms (SBRs). Another key learning which I can apply at work is time management and the speed of completing a task.
Q. Before you got placed at Cogoport, you interned with Coca-Cola as well! What was that experience like?
Rubi: Everything they say about the company is true – it’s a legacy. The culture is very warm, my team leads were terrific mentors and the amount I have been able to learn in 4 months can be equated to all the years I spent working before joining SP Jain. I was given different tasks to lead, right from event management and Marketing to Data analysis, and more. It was a myriad of opportunities with exposure to different leaders. The best quality about Coca-Cola is its fear to be complacent. I saw a constant effort from every member to be disruptive, think towards innovation and drive constant value for its customers.
Q. What are the tips that you would like to share with the SPJ students who are preparing for their job interviews right now?
Rubi: I always try to project my true personality in interviews because that is what makes the entire talk real and endearing. Also, I would urge every student preparing for their interviews to revise every concept taught in college. Read books pertinent to the role you’re seeking. For instance, I was looking for an out and out marketing role, so I read books such as Business Marketing: Concepts and Cases by Sharad Sarin and Zero to One by Peter Thiel, to name a few.
