Ritesh Dhawan (PFM 2008-10) currently works with the GSMA, world’s largest association of telecom operators with all major telecom companies as its members. The world renowned Mobile World Conference is conducted by GSMA. At GSMA, He works as Market Engagement Manager, South Asia, in the Connected Women Team. His role is to increase the number of females who use mobile internet and mobile money in South Asia, thereby decreasing the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money usage. To achieve this objective, he interacts with top management of telecom operators in 10 countries and help them devise strategies to increase female customer base.
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
When I started preparing for CAT exam in July 2007, I got to know about IIFM from Mr. Arun Sharma, the author of the coveted Quant book for CAT preparation. He spoke very highly of IIFM and thus IIFM became my dream college. However, with my CAT percentile of 90, I was a waitlisted candidate and had to join BIMTECH Noida for 15 days, until the waitlist got cleared and I landed in my dream college. That’s about how I got there. Now, at IIFM I was blessed to have made some awesome friends for life. We studied together, played counter strike together and drank together. I landed onto two jobs from campus placement and I opted to join MicroSave, now called MSC in April 2010.
At MicroSave, I learnt the art of moderation. I learnt how to interact and understand the financial needs of poor. MicroSave gave me life enhancing lessons which have shaped me professionally and also personally. I spent 6.5 years at MicroSave and travelled extensively to nooks and corners of India, consulting with banks, MFIs, tech companies and multilateral orgs such as IFC, and BMGF.
From MicroSave I moved on Paytm Payments Bank (PPB). There I was part of the core team which built and managed India’s largest mobile money agent network. I contributed significantly to the creation of 500,000 BC agent points and acquisition of 300 million (30 cr) customers. At PPB, I was responsible for setting up a fraud monitoring cell, leading training vertical of the bank, liaising with product and tech teams to create new financial products and making UI enhancements in the app. I also built an in-house manpower hiring tool to manage employee life cycle of 5000 off roll employees and infinite other tasks. At the end of my role at Paytm in March 2020, I could very confidently say that- “Apart from writing codes, I can very well manage any other task in the bank”.
Q.What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
At IIFM I headed the mess committee. With consistent and persistent efforts around liasing with college management and Director, I was able to get a TV installed in the mess. This was no small feat at that time. 🙂
Once I entered professional life, at MicroSave I was blessed to be surrounded by a very strong alumni network. My immediate seniors and some very senior people from IIFM were now my colleagues. With their support, I learned a lot. Some milestones worth mentioning from this stint and then from Paytm are:
1) Several publications on digital financial inclusion under my name
2) Author of the most read blog of MicroSave.
3) Won two ROCKSTAR awards at Paytm for consistent and high class performance.
4) 2 Promotions at Paytm in 3 years.
5) Led the launch of Paytm Fastag in the market
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
In my current role, I am lucky to be contributing to the upliftment of the underdeveloped sections of low and middle income countries by connecting women with the internet. The opportunity to work with the top management of telecom operators, gives a lot of visibility to my work. I am also contributing to the Mobile Gender Gap report, which is an internationally acclaimed report on gender gaps in mobile money and mobile internet. The opportunity to travel to a lot of countries opens up great networking possibilities for me, and I get to meet some really intelligent people across.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
IIFM taught me about being empathetic towards your surroundings. This, for me, was the biggest takeaway of life from IIFM and has helped me thrive throughout my professional career as well as personal life. The development oriented subjects, several field trips, late night brainstorming with friends on socially motivated business ideas, group discussions on topics such as how poor people live and earn, all helped me broaden my perspective towards life. IIFM is surely a place that teaches us to become good human beings and that for me is the most profound and also the most rewarding learning for life.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
The ability of a mobile phone to transform lives of poor people has astonished me. I have seen people increasing their standard of living, saving more, spending wisely, feeling more secure, and gaining a sense of pride after they have connected to the internet and digital financial service through a mobile phone. I very firmly believe that mobile connectivity and digital financial services hold unlimited potential to transform lives of poor people in low and middle income countries. Why should the privileged urban population only benefit from the luxury of doorstep delivery of services ranging from milk, Uber and bank accounts? Mobile phones hold the potential of extending these luxuries to underserved markets too. I have been lucky to have worked for expansion of these services to larger masses.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
Co-learning sessions with batch-mates, sleeping on the library table, late night birthday celebrations, endless hours of counter strike, long walks in the night after dinner within the beautiful campus, last moment hustles for assignments, festival celebrations, Kalpataru, alumni meetings ( and chicken twice a week!) in the mess are all lovely memories of IIFM which I cherish for life and also shared with my daughter while watching 3 idiots.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
The faculty at IIFM are knowledge powerhouses and do their best to pass on that to their students. This makes IIFM a place which uniquely blends theoretical knowledge with practical implementations, which prepares the students, especially freshers, to face real life situations of professional life. I got selected for my first job at MicroSave, because of my interpersonal and market research skills that I developed at IIFM because of my interactions with the faculty members. The field trips where we get a chance to interact with a variety of different stakeholders helped me to learn the art of interacting with people.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
I have always been a foodie. So the best friends that I made were aligned with my fooding habits. My room-mate Satish, who is now a senior employee at TCS was always my go-out partner. We explored all by lanes of Bhopal and explored some hidden eatery gems of Bhopal. My friend Aritro, the most voracious reader that I have ever met, is the one who inculcated the habit of reading in me. He was my encyclopaedia about football, history and English and my counter strike buddy. Prof. Biswas and Prof CVRS are two great personalities who are stalwarts in their field. I can relate the importance of their lectures even today in my daily work.
Q. As an alumnus, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
The best way to make the best out of IIFM is to fill in the blank in this statement. “I love doing ________?” To know what you want to do at the end of 2 years at IIFM is the biggest win. To explore an answer to this, students will have to keep an open mind, explore as many areas of interest as possible, take up problems and assignment not only from the perspective of scoring grades but from the perspective of learning something out of it, which you will take away with you for life. The library is a powerhouse of knowledge. Try to get in love with the library. All this will help you fill in the blank and if you are able to do so, life beyond IIFM will be blissful.
Q. What is your typical day at the office? (We want to know what your day job looks like..)
I am writing this when the world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since I joined my current job at GSMA, I have been working from home. So a usual day is spent on video conference calls with team mates, attending webinars on a variety of subjects and interacting with MNOs in Asia.
Q. And how about weekends.. Hobbies.. Family..
Weekends these days are all about finishing household chores, spending time with family, learning piano with my daughter and binge watching Netflix. When the world was normal, I loved driving to nearby places and exploring eateries in Delhi NCR.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors, ..
Some books and movies that I have loved reading and watching are:
Some books and movies that I have loved reading and watching are:
• The moment of lift by Melinda Gates
• 3 idiots
• Gangs of Wasseypur
• Dil Chahta hai
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
I suggest we interview Anushree Shukla (PFM 2007-09) here.