Most Significant Event of My Life

In 2000, our family business was not doing well and our financial condition was very bad. My father was not in a position to finance my education. But because of these financial difficulties, at the age of 18, I got the opportunity to get a first-hand experience in business. For two years I was completely involved in business. It was a life-changing experience, which I think I could not have normally attained even in a five-year period. My father has a construction business, mainly doing irrigation projects and small bridges for the government. It is a small business with 100-120 employees.

During that period, there was a huge delay in getting the bills passed, even after the work is completed. The interest on the loans became a huge burden because of this delay. My father had to spend a lot of time in getting the bills passed, but that affected the functioning of ongoing projects. I was doing my pre-bachelor degree then. I was not interested in business and was planning to go for engineering. But I had to put aside my dream and help my father, even before my exams were over. Initially my father had given me only the accounting tasks.

I had to keep track of the employees and their salaries. I also had to monitor the stock of equipment. I learned many things within short time; preparation and submission of quotations, arrangement of funds, doing the complicated calculations involving kilograms of cement and cubic meters of sand and rubble, and keeping track of work completed and money spent. Gradually he gave me more important duties. After one year, I was responsible for managing employees and monitoring the work. I also began interacting with suppliers and government officials.

Since I started taking care of many things, he got sufficient time to follow up and get the bills passed at the earliest. Gradually our business was on the track again. I still wanted to complete my formal education. After overcoming the financial difficulties, I joined for graduation. Even though I got less marks in my pre-degree, my attitude towards the business was completely changed by that time. I became a new person with added enthusiasm, confidence and experience. My decision to join MBA, to some extend, roots back to my experience in family business.