Aparajita Agrawal graduated from IIFM in 2002. Aparajita resides in Goa with her spouse Shashi Shrivastava (IIFM, batch of 02), 11 year old son, and 4-year old dog Hobbes. She works as the Director for Strategy and Development at Value for Women (VFW), a global specialized advisory firm that helps businesses in emerging markets become more gender inclusive. Aparajita has over 2 decades of experience in the development sector working on initiatives around entrepreneurship, impact investing, financial inclusion, and livelihoods. In her previous roles, she has worked with Intellecap, British Asian Trust and CARE India.
Social Media:
Twitter: @aparajitaz
Instagram: @aparajitaz
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aparajitaz
Q. 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?
A. When I graduated from IIFM, I had a few pathways to choose from. I was keen to work in a larger, structured environment and was very keen to pursue something that gave me a better feel for projects in rural livelihoods, so I joined CARE India. In my first year at CARE, I was based in Bhopal State HQ with work that spanned Hoshangabad, Chhindwara and Seoni. With frequent field work and travel, and a lot of learning opportunities, I capitalized on learning about designing and running community-based projects, worked on project budgets, wrote proposals, reports and case studies. In my second year, I was deputed to even more exciting role at the CARE’s country headquarter in Delhi and spent a remarkable year designing new projects and delivering training to senior bankers and MFIs officials. Just around that time, one of IIFM’s distinguished alumnus, Swati Rai and Vineet Rai were setting up Intellecap, as a new age consulting company that would bring market based approaches to the development sector. This was in 2004 and I moved from Delhi to Mumbai on this experimental and unchartered route. For over 12 years, I remained a part of Intellecap, and much has been written and said about my journey there under the guidance of Vineet. You can see the Young Turks episode that chronicled part of this in 2012, Niiti Consulting did a short interview on how we were building the social entrepreneurship system through Intellecap and Sankalp Forum, that I led. Intellecap was a fantastic opportunity for me to don the hat of an intrapreneur, learning the ins and outs of building a consulting business and growing professionally with an organization that went from 2 people when I joined to a group with over 1000 people when I transitioned out.
Later in 2016, I joined the British Asian Trust which was another great opportunity to learn about social finance, fundraising for philanthropy and working with a high powered team between London and India. The highlight was the opportunity to meet HRH Prince of Wales (now HRH King Charles!) and the Duchess of Cornwall in 2017. I finally took a much needed break for an year when Shashi (my batchmate from IIFM and spouse since 2005) and I decided to relocate to Goa. As we settled in, I continued to work on independent consulting assignments in impact investing and innovative finance. However, the desire to work in a growing organization with a more substantial role and teams to collaborate continued to make me look for my next career destination. That’s when in 2020, in the middle of the raging pandemic, I found my current role at Value for Women. I work with a fully distributed, virtual team of 30+ gender and business professionals and lead Strategy and Development at the company. We work with enterprises, investors and financial institutions in emerging markets and help them become more gender inclusive.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. In my current role, I work with a fantastic team of gender and business professionals based across 15 countries in 5 continents. Being part of a growing organization with a strong social mission and impact, I am proud that I get to play a role where I offer my skills to build our partnerships, service lines and revenue while at the same time learn something new everyday about how we can tackle deep seated discrimination and gender inequality in a business context.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. IIFM offered me the first opportunity to look beyond the comfortable city life I have had. I owe IIFM everything in opening up a world that was unknown to me until I joined it. Reading about poverty, inequality, rural livelihoods, social impact and social innovation, is still not the same as seeing it at close quarters. The organizational training at IIFM, fully immersed us into these issues. It helped me define my place and role in the complicated construct that is social and economic development. Apart from the social and hard skills I picked up at IIFM, I think some of the biggest contributions that IIFM made in my thinking were:
- to replace my skepticism with a healthy optimism, that I have continued to use in building platforms and partnerships in my various roles at work.
- To work in under-resourced settings and still be able to give my best.
I spoke about this in a fair amount of detail in this video interview with the Alumni Network Committee (ANC Sakshatkaar series) in 2020.
Q. What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles?
A. My advice would be to use IIFM as a springboard to your career, use the time at campus and the opportunities that you get to network with alumnus and sector professionals to understand more about what real jobs look like, what are the fields and opportunities available to you once you graduate and hone your skills alongside. Research well, don’t assume – this is one of the chronic problems that I have seen with many young graduates from IIFM. There is a reluctance to read and research, please go beyond google to know about subjects, to pick up real skills and perspectives. I would strongly urge upcoming IIFM students to work hard and smart in the trainings that you do, the assignments that you attempt, and the first job that you take up. Learn from your peers, understand what “best” is and try to bring perfection in your work.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. My favorite memories from IIFM are a mix of times spent with friends, forging lifelong bonds and that of time spent during fieldwork working with communities and learning about resilience and livelihoods.
The number of field trips we did, ever so often made for a fantastic mix of travel memories – the long trip to the forests and national parks in MP, visits to the smelly paper mills, plant nurseries, and the grandest of them all is the trip to Kanha and Jabalpur. The trip to FRI, Dehradun was fun one too, especially because on our way back we stopped at my home in Meerut, where my parents hosted our entire batch for some delectable lunch, chai and charcha.
There are many other memories, of random parties at Bamboosa, to trekking to the sunset point to watch sunset in campus. The foodie outings to the paratha stalls at the railway station, to Madhuram for snacks, to New Market for chat and street food and Top n Town for ice-creams and sundaes. I must not forget the Indian Coffee House, as one of the other often visited places.
With the few girls that we were in our batch (there were 5 of us), and only me with a professed active interest in all cinemas, I remember being asked to join by all kinds of groups of batchmates for movie outings, mainly because the ladies’ queue at the movie halls was always shorter! Ok, and maybe I was good company too.
There are so many other memories too…once we went around looking for tribal costumes for one of our freshers’ or seniors’ farewell theme party – that was one hilarious tryst. We came back with so much random stuff and eventually dressed up in these funny (but mostly cringe worthy) costumes that had nothing to do with tribal dressing ethos and everything to do with how young and foolish we all were!
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. IIFM played a significant role in shaping me as an individual and as a professional. The independence and exposure at IIFM helped me build my own decision matrix for my life and gave me a lot of wisdom in choosing between what I wanted and what I needed. I don’t think there was one decisive factor amongst those that can be mentioned.
Courses gave us a learning framework, but even when we were in campus, the common lament was that they were dated, and did not have enough practical/ what’s-needed-for-the-job orientation. We often felt that we were forced to learn Forestry subjects despite most of us knowing quite clearly that we would not choose that as a career line. But in hindsight, I wish we were oriented about how this was an opportunity to learn and excel at a new field. I wish there was more practical orientation back then and the academic rigor was more than what we saw. Once I started working, there were many a new sub-sector we learnt about on the job, including some bits of technical forestry, and other unrelated subjects like public policy or international trade when assignments called for it.
The formative and substantive part of my two years at IIFM was definitely the organizational trainings (OT’s) – the practical and field-based orientation was unparalleled. I was lucky to get excellent mentors at my first OT with Eklavya in Bhopal and my second with TCS in New Delhi.
Q. The best friends / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share.
A. This is going to be a very long list. I had the most fantastic of times at IIFM building friendships and bonds for life. It’s a pity that there were no mobiles and no insta back then, so we have way lesser photos of the moments, but some fantastic memories.
I was quite fond of, and would like to believe that they were too of me. These include Prof. Yogesh Dubey who taught us EIA back then, but continues to be in touch and has invited me a few times back to the campus to address the incoming batches. Dr. Rekha Singhal who was always encouraging me to do better, Dr. Madhu Verma (who fed us some amazing freshly baked banana bread at her home once), Dr. BP Pethiya who was very strict in class but every time I met him later at conferences when I was working, he was very warm and lovely. I remember Prof Raghavan, and Dr. Deep Pandey quite fondly as well. Prof. CSR who taught us GIS and ICT related subjects had the most whacky sense of humor I have seen in a teacher. Honestly, most of our teachers were great to know and learn from. I don’t remember all of them, but can say for sure that all my interactions with the faculty members I have met after graduating, has always filled me with a sense of nostalgia.
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. My advice to new students joining IIFM is to gain some perspective from the 2 years at campus, and learn from your peers, seniors and professors about what life after IIFM would look like. Volunteer and work on new projects, pick up research skills. Don’t rely on your courses to take you very far, the real trick is about how you apply your knowledge, not what or how much you know. Hone your talent, and if by the end of 2 years you can atleast have clarity on what you would like to pursue that is great. If you are planning to study further, reach out to the alumni that has done so and seek guidance. And in all this, do not forget to have fun!
Q. What is your typical day at the office? (We want to know what your day job looks like)
A. I often laugh about how the “Future of Work” is upon us already. If you had told me five years ago, that I would work in a fulfilling job right from my home study with a fully virtual team, I would have laughed at the notion. But now here we are! I work in a fully remote team at Value for Women, with 34 team members across 15 countries in 5 continents, which brings with it challenges of juggling time zones and planning work in a way that I can hand the baton to my team that waked up after I sleep.
I have a home office set up and usually start my workday between 9:30AM and 10.30AM, based on how much it extends in the evening. I start with clearing my inbox and prioritizing my To-Do’s for the day. Calls with clients and colleagues take precedence on the schedule and are often scheduled on the calendar, weeks in advance. The nature of my work involves a healthy mix of virtual meetings to plan and work on strategy and BD opportunities with my team, and scoping calls with prospective and current clients. I usually take 30 mins off for lunch in the afternoon and wrap up my work by around 7 or 7:30PM in the evening on most days. Now with post-pandemic travel opening up, I have started traveling a bit for work and this includes being at conferences, client meetings and meeting our team.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add
A. I have many hobbies. I love to cook, bake, read and travel. Not always do I get enough time for all of these, but I try to take time as much as I can. Living in Goa for the past 5 years has helped achieve a better work life balance. The outdoors is more accessible, nature is in our backyard, the beach a short drive away. We get many more opportunities to host friends, family and colleagues, who are living in Goa or passing through while on vacation. That’s what weekends are usually about. Catching up with friends and family, planning for the next vacation, catching up on my reading list and watchlist. We have a 11-year old who keeps me entertained and engaged in whatever free time I may get and we have a 4 year old dog, a golden retriever (@hobbesthegoldendog on insta) who is perfect company for days we are just being lazy at home.
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. I look forward to contributing to IIFM and its students, and I have done so by sharing my experiences, my time and opening my networks to IIFM students. I have often hired IIFM alumni in my various roles and have gone back time and again to the campus to share my perspectives with the incoming batches of students and talking about career choices and life choices to them. I would love to continue doing that, as much as time would permit.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Well, everyone has had an incredible story since after IIFM. Successes, failures, challenges and growth – the stories are incredible and there is so much to learn from them. I’d love to see interviews from some of my batchmates who came from SAARC countries – also because I have been least in touch with them. I’d love to hear from some of my seniors who I was fond of like Shakeb Nabi, Amit Vatsyayan, Pedda Naveen, Sarika, Manu Sinha, Bharti, Deepak Kujur, Alice and so many others, that I am not specifically naming, because now it is time that I close this interview.