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About Me
“Those who travel higher travel lighter”
It is important to realize that as you move forward in life, at times, what not to do makes more sense than what to do. Modern man has no dearth of options or opportunities - be in personal or professional life and hence it becomes important to focus only on the essentials and keep moving forward. Be ready for changes, accept them as reality of life, for change is the only constant.
My Background
I grew up in Rajasthan in a doctor’s house, was good in studies as well as in sports, went on to pursue engineering from IIT Kanpur
Post IIT, I did what everybody else did - joined a software company and worked in the IT industry for 4 years. But while working there, I realized that my heart wasn’t there. Writing codes didn’t move me, technical side of the work seemed boring. I decided to prepare for CAT and joined IIM Lucknow’s flagship PGP program.
I joined Usha International from campus and after a year, I got an opportunity that really took my professional life to a different level. I joined Olam International, an agri commodities giant and moved to a little known country Benin (I can bet you’ve not heard of it yet!) to head its rice operations. I kept on shuttling in between Benin and Nigeria and handled rice import and distribution business in both the countries.
In 2015, I moved back to India and joined Snapdeal in the Supply Chain business where I headed two businesses and then saw layoffs of my friends in 2017. I learned a lot during those days and weeks and moved on to Moi International, Singapore where I worked for two years
My Entrepreneurial Journey
And then an epiphany happened. I had been working non stop for almost twenty years and got what can be best summarized as is-this-all kind of a feeling. I wanted to start something of my own, start from zero once again.
I moved back to India - started a company of my own - Choix, scaled it up and then moved to another VC worked venture and scaled it up.
In total, I’ve spent over 20 years in the corporate and entrepreneurial world. I’ve worked across several industries such as IT and consumer durable. I’ve lived in Africa and Singapore trading in agri commodities heading multi dollar businesses and multi national teams. I’ve worked in E Commerce domain handling daily operations, supply chain, business development, and a lot more.
A Confession
Truth be told, I was never the gifted one, rather the hard working one - who kept on trying and kept moving forward in life. Slowly, steadily, life has been a ruthless albeit wonderful teacher.
My Passion Project
In between, I wrote a fiction (hyperlink to the page) - a coming of age book, which is now available on Kindle. My protagonist is Kavi with whom a lot of people in their twenties, thirties and fourties will relate to.
Right now, I have also started working on my next book. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Mentorship
I teach entrepreneurship and operations at IIM Indore and IMT Ghaziabad. Visiting IIM Indore is like revisiting my college days and it is super fun to talk to students, talk about their aspirations, what moves the next generation and what they want to create. I’ve taught students across the spectrum - students who are just out of school, fresh young corporate employees in the flagship PGP program, defence personnel and experienced corporate employees. Everybody brings something new on to the table.
Each of them have taught me something and has taken back something back from me.
Belief
And in midst of all this, I meditate and believe in miracles.
We all travel in life - it is a journey and it is incumbent on us to make it lively, enriching and one which makes it worthwhile for fellow travellers.
I wish to lead one and welcome you to walk with me!
“I can think. I can wait. I can fast
- Siddharth by Herman Hesse”