What Matters Most to You, and Why?

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Tell us about a time in the last three years when you identified and pursued an opportunity to improve an organization.

I was 22 when for the first time, I was standing at the railway station of Ostrava, a small town located in eastern Czech Republic. The temperature was only 45 degrees lower than the lowest it ever gets in my hometown. Five months ago, I had started marketing for Abhitech, a small Indian firm ($8million) that manufactures and sells a range of revolutionary combustion catalysts which reduce fuel consumption of a wide variety of boilers, engines etc. I had topped the class during training and by the third month, nailed a few domestic businesses in successive days, both "third month" and "successive days" being company records. Considering all this plus my apparent people skills, confidence and maturity, the BOD asked me to help expand our market presence to Europe. Outside India, the firm already had its presence in Brazil and a few south-east Asian countries but the potential was much more. So there I was, my baggage and a temporary address being my only infrastructure.

I started with market research. The scope was endless but our resources (man and money) very scant. So I first developed partners and associates, built relations with domestic firms and entrepreneurs to tap into their networks and rapports with clients. I did this across near a dozen EU countries and eventually started a regular product demand from six of them. By the 4th month, a small team was assigned to me and flown from India to assist sustain the generated business. In the 8th month, we established a European company. I scouted for an office space and a warehouse, oversaw imports, custom clearances and logistics of all the products shipped from India as well as the taxes and balance sheet submissions every quarter. All this in addition to further marketing in a continent where English is hardly spoken made for a good script for the movie MI:5.

In the 12th month, I flew to Chile with our Spanish associate to grab some ripe potentials there. Thanks to our success references in Europe, in half a year, Chile overtook Brazil. In the 13th month, along with my Chairman, I started making inroads into USA and in the 17th, Ghana and Tanzania. Leading a team which was 1% the company strength, I generated 4.65% of the revenue and 12.5% net profit for the company in the financial year 2011-12. After 21 months since that first day in Ostrava, I have managed and worked with people from five continents and nineteen countries, led a team in which most members are a generation older than me and added 9 countries and 4 domestic states to the company map. At each of these places, I initially worked solo. After developing a client base only, did a small team fly in to maintain operations. I essentially laid out infrastructure alone, everywhere. With the obvious guidance from the BOD, I have helped light up the world map with our clients. To begin with, I was handed Europe but I ended up with three other continents, making me the Business Head (youngest) of the largest company territory. This international stint has been my proudest achievement till date, one which my bosses say, defines the phrase "exceeding 'incredible' expectations" in my firm.