Arvind Garimella (PFM 11-13) is the Associate Director at KPMG. Arvind started his career as a young professional in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh where he worked on rural livelihoods, technology, and other innovative projects and then moved on to work as a Research Associate at The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI). He has also worked with UNDP under the Roshini Project, which is a placement-linked skill development in the left-wing extremism-affected districts of India.
Driven by innovation in the development sector and synergies for SDGs, Arvind has a programmatic experience of 11+ years working in diverse organizations and handling projects internationally, nationally, and regionally across the development sector, with specific experience in environmental and social impact assessments, sustainable development, education, sustainable livelihoods, welfare, local governance and many more.
Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvind-garimella-87457025
Q-1) How has been your journey from IIFM to this role? What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
Ans-1) For me, it was a complete career restart and domain shift and there were the initial “what ifs?” that were there at the back of my head, having said that the journey was exciting and rewarding.
I started as a young professional in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and worked on rural livelihoods, technology, and innovative projects. The presence of alumni from my senior batches Richa Singh (09-11) and Varun Dutt (10-12) was a big advantage. It was also the period during which the World Bank mission teams frequently advised and guided us apart from the existing state rural livelihood mission. My very first assignment was to help design an IT application for 900+ paddy procurement centers across the State. This application was being made for the SHG women across AP with all kinds of variations in education levels so the application was developed with the prime logic of a simple and easy user interface while ensuring all the SOP are well captured. It was a great success and a perfect start for me. I also worked in the tribal areas and one of the most backward regions in the eastern ghats. My time and work there is something I hold very close to my heart where I learned a lot and was able to develop an information system for nutrition centers that addressed the challenges in the tribal areas and it was well appreciated by the World Bank team and the SRLM heads. The formation of a new state and elections had a lot of flux in administration and at the same time, I got the opportunity to work in an international project in TERI which was related to developing a supply chain for clean cooking and lighting products in Ethiopia and Kenya, so I moved on from AP to Delhi. In TERI as well I got lucky with our alumni around to help me out – Arun (10-12), Abhishek Kar (05-07), Omkar Patange (10-12), and Mradul Chaubey (10-12) was great support for me. The responsibilities compared to my previous role were much higher here which helped me in developing my skill set as a researcher apart from the learnings from the field. We were able to leverage the strong farmer cooperatives to increase supply as well as sales and, in the process, overachieved our targets. I was fortunate to travel through the Rift valley, Lake Nakuru (reserve), Lake Victoria, and Lake Ziway (Ethiopia) all straight out of our geography books which was an amazing experience. I also got a chance to attend some wonderful conferences (by JICA among others) and publish reports and papers too.
After the project concluded in 2015, I landed a role in UNDP in the Roshni project. Roshni is a placement-linked skill development in the left-wing extremism-affected districts of India. I have great memories of the work I did in SERP in the tribal areas and wanted to operate in similar terrain and geographies. That’s how I moved to this role. I worked in a team which was led by Mr. Vineel Krishna (IAS), Dr. Ravi Babu (IRTS), and had colleagues from IRMA and NIRD. This was a project that was in its nascent stage, and we were given a free hand to try out innovative approaches to streamline and improve envisaged outcomes. Some highlights during this project; I understood candidate retention in a job is low and we organized the very first Alumni meet for candidates trained under Roshni and working in Hyderabad. It was a big success as each of them realized that many candidates were coming from similar backgrounds so they are not alone. This was very well received and replicated in other cities. I also helped training partners to work on innovative methods of mobilization conducting volleyball tournaments in the tribal areas bordering Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. We also partnered with Digital Green to create instructional videos on good practices, partnered with the industry to train the trainers. This project was a perfect balance between extensive traveling, planning, M&E, reporting, and I had a great time achieving the deliverable and concluding it in 2016.
I moved on and joined KPMG as a senior consultant to work on a Welfare Project with the Andhra Pradesh Government where the role is an interesting mix of welfare, impact, education, and livelihoods projects across Government, private and not-for-profit. We also work in the higher education space; now I can see how a lot of the insights can add value to IIFM as well at this current juncture where it needs to realign to move towards becoming financing independent and sustainable.
My entire journey towards an Associate Director at KPMG is shaped by the learnings & interactions across multiple projects with various teams, faculties, alumni, and my family and I am very grateful to all of them.
Q-2) What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
Ans-2) Consulting lets you grow into the space you as an individual want to build, it provides resources, systems, tools, and networks to support you in the process of creating your own practice. It’s like the environment provided in the incubator/accelerator to help you create your own practice.
Q-3) Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
Ans-3) Beyond a doubt, IIFM played a crucial role by empowering me with the basic tools, skills, and exposure along with the network to head out to build my career. I still seek technical and personal advice from alumni and faculty. Across my roles, it was the presence of alumni and support by different faculties that always gave me the cushion to take the plunge at various junctures of my career.
Q-4) 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?
Ans-4) I realigned my career after my involvement in an IT Firm’s CSR activity in Adilabad Kawal Tiger Reserve and from that point onwards I wanted to understand more about the development sector and how do I pursue a career in it. That’s how I planned and reached IIFM.
My advice to freshers is not to worry about where you start, have a solid grounding through extensive work in the field. These learnings matter and will add a lot of value while differentiating you from the rest.
We are not coming here for a regular MBA and hence look at these learnings and insights from that perspective as they are very valuable. Identify your subjects of interest and take them seriously, invest time to learn your tools and concepts then apply them. Network and the ability to leverage it is very important and networking is not taught in classrooms but is a very important skill so try imbibing it. Participate in events, pursue ideas and innovative projects, and then share the findings – create a pull factor and always remain relevant through the knowledge you build that is what will sustain and help the network grow. Irrespective of the sector, few things are very important in today’s world like digital tools, basic financials, data analysis and report writing so invest your time in them.
Q-5) What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
Ans-5) The monsoon reminds me of IIFM, the Kaliyasot dam water bordering the campus wall is a spectacular view which I can never forget. I got to do my internship in Spiti with the Nature Conservation Foundation, the learning was great. I loved the people, the landscape, and the life there; the community was living in a constant collision course with climate and they were such a closely-knit, friendly, and happy bunch of people always welcoming – it was a very memorable experience.
Winning the 2012-13 Independence Day cup and the Kalpataru cup beating the team from Vanika in football was very special. The events organized by the clubs, cells, and the numerous planned and unplanned adventures in and around the campus are going to stay with me forever.
Q-6) 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?
Ans-6) I think I am where I am, is because of IIFM and how it gave me the knowledge, experiences, strong network of friends, and guidance in the form of faculties and alumni. A ground-level understanding of the sector is what adds value in the long term and the strong foundations have been made in IIFM.
Q-7) The best buddies/seniors/faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
Ans-7) I joined IIFM along with 2 of my graduation friends Havish and Vamsi Krishna and over the two years at IIFM. I developed very strong bonds with many of my classmates.
Among the faculties, Bhaskar Sinha Sir, CVRS Sir, Ujjal Sir, CP Kala Sir, Biswas Sir, Yogesh D Sir, CSR Sir, Dharni Sir, and Ashish David Sir extended a lot of support. Honestly, it is very difficult to list out just a few, almost every faculty has helped shape and support my journey. I have even reached out to Madguni Sir, CVRS Sir, Amitabh Sir, and MMY Sir post my time at IIFM and they were very helpful.
Tidbit is a long list: Almost a week after our induction we got to know about leopard sightings on the campus. The leopard entered the campus during the dry season and its retreat got blocked due to the surplus rainfall, so imagine the thrill with this backdrop just after our batch started!! A major fire in the grasslands with even students trying to help with the operations. Barbeque nights in the grasslands. My attempt to swim in the waters bordering the Kaliyasot dam. Cycling down the grassland terrain. The one time we mistook a juvenile krait as a wolf snake and tried to pet it. Walking through the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park in the dead of the night, crossing a Himalayan gorge using a manually operated trolley to conduct some interviews, being warmly welcomed by the Alumni during our campus outreach for placements. The list is endless.
Q-8) As an alumnus, what’s your advice to freshers or those who are joining IIFM to get the best out of the 2 years there?
Ans-8) Be open to the experiences at IIFM, if you have missed out a couple of semesters due to the COVID hopefully you will have the chance this year to experience the campus, resources, interactions with the faculty, and the various clubs/cells and activities.
We are in a college where the sector collides with a lot of interaction with societal issues, environmental, etc. so make the most of SI, Project work, and the field trips and try to learn from them, it is also important to hear from the community/stakeholders as they might already know what the root cause is and may have a solution too. In fact what I didn’t do and what some of my classmates and juniors did was they started their project while on campus along with an advisor (faculty) in the field of their interest and went about it. Taking Bhopal or even the surrounding areas of IIFM itself as a project area you can design many projects/ideas to work on. These will also help you know which sub-sector you might want to work towards, it helps in even eliminating some which initially you might find interest in.
We have a great outdoor ground, some indoor sports facilities, a lot of paths to take within the campus and beyond the grassland wall so use them to the fullest.
And if there is any suggestion or questions you have for the administration or faculty, be proactive and take them up, it will help you as well as the next batches. I remember writing an email to Dr. Kinhal (our Director at that time) highlighting some of the things that can need changes and might need some investment, I least expected him to respond but he made sure to tell me that he has taken note and wrote back again after 6 months informing what are all the changes brought at IIFM.
Lastly any aspirants – don’t join the college just for some “ROI” if you are not inclined to the sector it would be good to look elsewhere for an MBA. Else, a lot of resources, faculty time, your two years will go invested into it and it might also prevent someone who likes the sector to miss out. It is a niche sector that IIFM targets and it also deserves similar aspirants to join, with the right attitude and aptitude.
Q-9) What is your typical day at the office?
Ans-9) It is divided among speaking to colleagues / virtual meetings across multiple geographies on project deliverables/ operations, time spent with the client-facing, planning, learning new skills, and business development.
Q-10) And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family, and anything else you want to add
Ans-10) I try to find time for playing football, badminton during the weekends and some chess. I also try to catch some of the best football fixtures. Playing with my son and family time.
Q-11) Favorite Books, movies, authors
Ans-11) I like the genre – a certain type of historical fiction that questions some of the established myths and mythology that surround us and has been a part of our childhood in the form of stories we grew up on. These books humanize the element of God and show them as people and how a lot of the actions can be questioned today and need not be eulogized. Anand Neelakantan’s Asura is such a book, a book from the perspective of Ravana and a commoner who lived during the same time offering another parallel perspective. Another book of his, Ajaya, is also quite fascinating.
- A Pale blue dot, Cosmos both by Prof. Carl Sagan. Even his lectures and recordings are quite fascinating.
- I was very recently introduced to books by Yuval Noah Harari and I just loved his books – Sapiens, Homo Deus. I am also hooked on a lot of his lectures, podcasts/recordings/interviews and the perspective he presents are brilliant.
- Tsetsuko Kuronayagi’s memoir of her early education is a very fun and happy read. “Totto-chan – The Little Girl at the Window” is a true story about a school, founded by Sosaku Kobayashi. The book takes us through the very unconventional and innovative pedagogy adopted during the WW times by the Japanese educator and how he made learning interesting and fun. This book is prescribed worldwide as part of the curriculum and for school administrators too, and I think there is a school in India that has also tried to adopt this idea.
- Dargamitta Kathalu by Khadir Babu it’s a Telugu book, if anyone gets a chance to read the translated work do take the time, it’s a beautiful story of childhood .It initially started as a column in a newspaper and readers loved it so much that it was made into a story.
- I love movies like The Man from Earth, Ex-Machina, Modern Times and among regional movies, I liked these recent movies a Marathi movie “Cycle” and a Tamil movie “Mandela” and my all-time favorite of my childhood “Mayabazaar” (Telugu)
Q-12) IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni students?
Ans-12) Would love to contribute towards the new journey IIFM as an institute is taking. Further, if there is a group where new ideas or projects are shared and discussed by students who would be interested in listening to and contributing, it’s a great way for me to learn as well.
Q-13) 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?
Ans-13) In terms of the campus experience, teaching content delivery – During the very recent year – Owing to the COVID all the faculty had to move towards online classes and there are a few batches that missed out on a couple of semesters at the campus. During my time as all are aware it was completely classroom-based. I understand this is a solution forced due to the external circumstances and what the batches and even the faculty have gone through during this time is quite tough and unprecedented. Having said that, I believe there are a lot of learnings from this and it’s also an opportunity for IIFM to look at digital as a solution.
- Multiple institutes have moved some of their credits online in the form of self-paced learning courses and LMS platforms, reducing the workload on faculty and allowing them to take up research/projects/consultancy, and allowing them time to build new courses and curriculum to offer.
- Online is also an opportunity to let students interact with multiple industry experts in a blended form of lecture delivery. In fact, the lectures can be structured to bring in an expert to give their inputs on any of the important modules. During our batch and most of the previous batches it used to be a specific hour where we set aside for guest lectures and interactions, the logistics are planned by the institute admin team and the SI/placement cell and student representatives ensuring there is adequate attendance at the sessions. This should definitely continue as it gives the industry to experience IIFM first-hand, it’s a great opportunity to bring in industry, external faculty/researchers as it brings in relevance in the field, application-based learning, and makes the learning journey more exciting.
- Administration, I see the institute has invested in the placement cell by bringing in a full-time resource couple of years back, many other institutes of repute have also done similar investments like industry outreach/government projects. During our time it was just the SI and placement cell run by junior and senior batches respectively. I got to know from sr. Alumni (Rishi Prakash, Abhinav Shekhar) that before 09 the placement cell had representation from the junior batch as well so it was a judicial mix of senior batch as well as the junior batch. I believe this way of operations should be brought back, as there is a lot of value for both the batches in it.
Q-14) Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
Ans-14) From my batch (11-13)
Abhinav Sen (C&L), Aditya Raipuria / Shobhit Mani (entrepreneurs), Ankit Patidar (He is building his supply chain for milk – in fact, that was his 1st question in IIFM during induction interaction “how do I build a supply chain” and he stayed true to his course), Amit Maheshwari (Agri – strategic alliances), Neelima Mishra (Oxford), Ruchika Bammi (Financial incl.), Tashi Tshering Lepcha (State Forest Service)
- From my junior batch
Achin Phulre (Filmmaker), Sprih Harsh (Researcher), Ashutosh Senger (Legal)
- Sr Batch
Mradul Chaubey, Varun Dutt, Navneet Bhatt, Sampat G
- Rishi Prakash (2005-07), Varun Singh, Alark Saxena (2001-03), Richa Singh (09-11), Archana Sharma (94-96)
*The views expressed here are personal