Biplav, Class of 2001, an Associate Director at PwC India, can be described as a Development Management Professional, who has, post a few initial years spent in programme implementation & management, diversified into consulting, with a focus on livelihoods & microfinance, and CSR (in recent years). He is now into a Risk Management role of late, for his firm. He has spent 7 years of his professional life in development research & consulting, before making a transition to the Big 4 where he has completed 13 years now.
Off his work domain, he is an avid traveller, with an interest in long drives and escapes to the mountains being his preferred therapy to destress from corporate work pressures. He is also a fitness freak, with a renewed passion for cycling, and happens to be one of the administrators of the most prominent recreational cycling club in the NCR – Noida Cycling Club. The year 2020 was a windfall for him from a fitness perspective, with him clocking 5,400 km on the bike.
Social Media
Twitter: @biplav21
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biplav21/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biplav781109/
Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/11694179
Trip Advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.in/Profile/Biplav
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. Post completion of 2 wonderful years at IIFM, I joined RUDA, a Govt of Rajasthan organisation on a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) project, building on the learnings from my second internship with EDA Rural Systems (while a first one was with TERI). Once the project got over, I joined CARE India intending to help promote sustainable livelihoods under the auspices of the DFID supported AP Rural Livelihoods Programme. With nearly 3 years of project implementation experience, I shifted base to Delhi to join my internship organisation EDA-MCRIL, wherein I got engaged in microfinance research & training, in addition to livelihoods, and explored Bangladesh, Nepal, and even Afghanistan. Subsequently, I decided to make a shift to join ACCESS Development Services, a livelihood, and microfinance start-up technical support institution being set up by my ex-CARE boss Vipin. Post a year at ACCESS and with nearly 7 years under my belt, I joined KPMG India where I helped set up the Development Sector Practice, catering to consulting services across all sectors of human development for governments, aid agencies, NGOs, and Corporates. After spending 6 more years in KPMG, I then decided to make a shift to PwC (with my KPMG partner Sudhir), to help set up a specialised team of CSR consulting, to help companies manage & implement their CSR mandates under the revised Companies Act. Recently, I have transitioned into a Risk Management role for the firm.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. I don’t have milestones but certainly learnings, from my peers/colleagues and how they responded to adversities.
Life is short, make it meaningful. I lost a dear & close friend to a road accident in 2003 – a batchmate, who was in fact, a buddy to all of us – Maitreyi. A firebrand, her life had been a lesson to all of us – to be passionate about the things we do and how we do. The way her parents reacted to the situation is an inspiration for all of us, building an NGO on issues close to her heart. She impacted us all in her life that was cut short cruelly but made a difference to all who she met during that time.
Never give up, never ever. Another inspiration to derive from was the husband, another batchmate – Amit, who was the one most impacted by the tragedy of Maitreyi. He gathered himself and arose – an inspiration, like a phoenix from the ashes, and progressed rapidly in the development sector, and is now back in India leading the Social Sector at Ernst & Young India as the partner.
If you believe in something, don’t give up your faith, but back it up with your instinct with the full passion you have got. I completed one book during IIFM – The Fountainhead. Another one, post-IIFM – Atlas Shrugged. Clichéd as it may sound, Ayn Rand was then and still one of the forbearing influences on my life. I never forgot the lessons in those books, and have never strayed off my core convictions, and have tried to remain the same throughout.
Build your own set of morals and abide by them. It lets you go sleep at peace with yourself. Besides, it helps builds you a list of friends, who know that you got their back always, but won’t shy away from listening to you that they may be wrong when they may happen to err.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. Most development institutions, and in recent times with the CSR mandate, Corporates doing CSR, are well intended and helping want to bridge the DELTA between the divides. However, many of them don’t know what to do and how to go about it. Being a development management and CSR consultant, where we get to review and assess the progress and impact of a multitude of development interventions, absorb and assimilate the same and then endeavour to facilitate cross-sharing of these learning experiences not only help replicate the good practices but amplify the impact. Realization of the same is not only satisfying but also inspiring as well as an exhilarating feeling in itself.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. IIFM, during our time, was quite engaging and had a pedagogy with a healthy mix of classroom and field-based learning, through an 8-week field component, and two x 9-10 week organisational internships. I did one at TERI and second with EDA Rural Systems, both luminaries in their fields of work, environment & forestry and livelihoods & microfinance, and with their own sets of global & research-grounded systems and processes, with an immense opportunity for learning by doing, interacting, and most important, observation. This practical exposure was one of the things that made PGDFM stand out, and I am a strong advocate of returning to the roots, to those basics that help ground us, to become what we are today.
And on the lighter side, there is no absolute performance but the relative ones that count. Till IIFM, it was on an absolute scale, but in IIFM, the comparative scale came into the view and that is the reality of 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?
A. I learned a lot from a few individuals: my RO in my second internship – Rajeev Da (batch of 98), now with UNCDF in Bangkok, Vipin Sharma(CARE and ACCESS) – one of the best ideators and conversationists I have met, and my boss in KPMG (Janet), now back in the UK. They had one thing in common, the conviction in their beliefs and their desire to push it through, come whatever may. They supported me despite my idiosyncrasies, and their faith in allowing me to be “me”, which, in hindsight, enabled me to innovate – and is what has helped shape me into what I am today. Other than those, Amit & Sarika from my batch have been there as a constant factor in my personal and professional life.
For people wanting to enter the development/forestry sector, they should look at PGDFM as an opportunity (sounds clichéd but it is true). And if someone asks of you, what can you offer, what you can give is your sweat equity and thought process, most valuable inputs that are still needed by the sector. But (for freshers wanting to apply), if you are wanting to enter IIFM due to the limitation of opportunity being the driver, then drop the idea in the trash can. Join if you believe, else you don’t. For the IIFM graduates, try to make the most of your practical components (don’t give lesser importance to classroom studies but) and observe, assimilate & develop your understanding of how organisations and people interact. This would keep you in good stead. And if you can, try to bring back the two internships, that’s what made us unique.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. Favourite memories are many. We had a co-ed hostel during our times, with the luxury of large rooms with French windows overlooking the Upper Lake and Bhadbhada offering a luxuriant view of the city. Guess it’s the Executive Hostel now. Memories are many:
Bambusa parties where I was the DJ (with 2 cassette players and many cassettes), dancing away to Sabaashi & Rama Chilkamma.
Manu Sinha playing the prelude to Hotel California (which Sarika taught him) but those two lines making the juniors wanting to learn from him.
The episode where we nearly handled a tree snake in our room thinking it to be the Rasna rubber snake and the wild melee that followed.
Going inside the forested regions of Bandhavgarh in the night with 15 batchies to tow, only to be spooked into a retreat by the hushed sounds of a padded predator with ember-ed eyes.
The break for tea by the moat in between the classes.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, and alumni. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. Course structure with 2-3 opportunities for practical exposure was one of the biggest contributors for me.
Peer learning and collaboration came a close second, with the realisation about comparative grounded by the start of our second term.
Alumni was the third one as we had tried rekindling the relationships with the alumni through a formal Alumni Committee, and the small tidbits of advice did help us.
Q. The best friends/seniors/faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share.
A. The friendships that formed then have lasted for two decades and hopefully for the lifetime to be. Friends like Amit, Pranav, Rahul, Manu, Sarika, Sameer Bhai, Yogi and Netra, and others too. We are connected still courtesy of WhatsApp with Prof. Niloy alone handling 60% of the traffic on the group :).
Seniors like Swapnil, Nikhil, Navin Da, Radhika Di who helped us develop a perspective. Faculties also contributed, be it CS RathoreSir, Mazumdar Sir, Pandey Sir, Prof RK Singh, and Prof Raghavan, Suprava mamand Dr. Pethiya, among others.
Q. As an alumnus, what is your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. If I wish, I would bring the two internships back and take the specializations out. However, that’s not in my hand. Considering the limitations of the course structure and the resources, allow me to say that IIFM has one of the best-stocked libraries (was at our time), so try to make the most of it.
And do the one internship you get, with a keen sense of observation, understanding organisational and human dynamics, as well as of the politics that are at work there. It will help you survive the initial challenging years of employment. And if you get a supportive boss, stay on with him/her as they can help nurture and hone your skills, which you yourselves may be oblivious to (the ”Johari window” guys).
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
A. Well, COVID time realities and my recent role have changed the day at the office totally upside down for one who has traditionally been a conformant to office-based work rule and work-life balance.
With Work-From-Home the new reality, I now have a printer, WhiteBoard at home with a communication headset wherein I start my day by doing a run/bike ride for 1.0-1.5 hours at 6:30 in the morning, am on the laptop by 9ish and continue till 7ish in the evening, with a half-hour break for lunch, and numerous calls/VCs in between.
Q. How about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add?
A. Weekdays: Mon/Wed/Fri: an 8-12 km run, Tue/Thu: a 30-40 kms bike ride, with Sundays a bike ride of 60-120 km.
Hobbies: Baking Pizzas, Cycling, Mountain drives, Binge-watching, Reading….
Live in Noida with my wife, no kids…
Q. Tell us about your Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. Books: The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, The Great Indian Novel, Sita, Jaya, Asura, Ajaya, Rise of Kali, Chanakya’s Chant.
Movies: In Pursuit of Happyness, Shawshank Redemption, Face Off, The Kings Speech, Andaz Apna Apna, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Chupke Chupke, Rajkumar Rao’s movies.
Authors: Ayn Rand, Shashi Tharoor, Ashwin Sanghi, Dan Brown, Devdutt Pattnayak, Anand Neelakantan.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
A. Alumni commitment is one of the three pillars for IIFM’s success, the second one being the administration, and the third – students. We have, in our limited roles, been trying to contribute. A year back, some of us alumni engaged in a day brainstorming workshop in Delhi (hosted by Sambodhi) to ideate on what a future vision for IIFM could be. That had representation from IIFM faculty as well, so would wait for something constructive to come out of those discussions.
Apart from that, we do keep on referring clientele to the institute if they wish to engage for internships and/or jobs, both within IIFM or among the alumni.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A. Well, the obvious difference is the course structure. IIFMites no longer have that level of organisational exposure which we used to have (8-9 of 21 months were spent on the field). We used to have a common but ONE degree, now we have three specializations (as per me, it diffuses the brand).
Positives are there: more alignment and networking with the alumni, more corporates coming in during placement, and the apparent willingness of the institute to engage with alumni. Positive intent is there, now let’s see where it leads to.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Rahul Bist (M2i Consulting), Pranav Sharma (BP), Amit Vatsyayan (EY)