Praveen is a go-getter kind of person. His enthusiasm for life in general and new challenges is what summarises him as an individual. His 17 years professional career post IIFM has been a series of adventure and new horizon covering 25 countries executing turnkey base projects (for wood processing units) in Africa and Asia. After a 12 years stint with leading private companies in timber segment, he setup his own enterprise in 2019 focusing on sourcing of raw material for plywood industry apart from doing consultancy to improve productivity and operational bottlenecks for client companies. His experience in working across multi location in multi Culture with multi languages all around the GLOBE is now helping him in slowly moving forward in his own journey.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/praveen-chaudhary-42ba8945
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. It’s been like a rock and roll !! Like everyone my aim was also to secure a good paying salary job during placement. But then eventually you slowly realize about your interest area, strengths and driving force so after spending 2 years with ICICI Prudential I completely changed my industry and went to Timber Industry. I did everything there in last 15 years from sales to procurement to quality controlling to setting up factory to managing local workers in foreign origins and more because i knew the only way forward is hard work…. And i firmly believe in a Hindi quote:
मेहनत सीढ़ियों की तरह होती है और भाग्य लिफ्ट की तरह लिफ्ट तो किसी भी समय बंद हो सकती है पर सीढ़िया हमेशा ऊंचाई की ओर ही ले जाती हैं!
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us
A. I will just put few significant ones here which are as below:
- Setting up a new unit from scratch in Vietnam in 2013 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLyY_urZGcU&t=5s
- Becoming the youngest General Manager in Greenply Industries in West Africa Gabon.
- Setting up my own business, and currently doing annual revenue of more than 5.0 Million USD.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. Complete flexibility in my working hours, travelling all over the world, meeting new people & exploring new things.
And my biggest learning in a Job Vs your own set-up, which I would like to share: in a Job the system motivates you for doing the best reports and targeting a good annual appraisal but in business you motivate yourself every single day.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Absolutely 100%, the 2 years you spend in the amazing IIFM campus with competitive and intelligent people definitely helps you in becoming a better person and a good professional too. “Birds of same feather fly together” so always keep good company in and around you!
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. If you have any plan to do your own business in your life then better join a small company, because you will get far more opportunity to learn and explore as more often than not you will be the captain of the ship. In a big organization you are a small spare part of a big ship and your work and function is very much defined and even if you don’t work then also the ship will reach its destination 😊!
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. So many…. Late night badminton, outings in Sakshi dhaba, drive to old Bhopal, Parties, Birthday bumps in the hostel lawn. … the list is endless.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. I don’t have any role model so to say but I do pick up the best quality from every individual. Professionalism of Rathore Sir, interpersonal relation of Biswas Sir & administration of Pethia Sir is the best combination that i remember from IIFM days. And during my career I was lucky to get some good mentor and bosses as well whom I will credit as my contributors.
Q. The best friends / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share.
A. Our batch was very small so we share a strong bond with everyone but still to name a few whom I keep interacting on regular basis are Tariq, Rishi, Satya, Sanjay, Suraj, Rajeev, Shreekant, Sharad, Kunal & Abhishek. I keep a habit whenever I travel to any other city I try my best to meetup with my friends.
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. Try to choose a career or work which matches your character, interest and likeness; it will do you a lot of good.
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
A. My work related travel is 10-12 days in a month. On other days whenever I am in Kolkata, I reach office by 11.00 am. I try to finish my work by 7.00 pm, but typically for a business man work is 24*7 and I have to work with various Time Zone so there is no fix routine for me.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add.
A. Sunday is mostly with family. I am born and brought up in Kolkata so have a big list of family & friends starting from my school and college days. So mostly there is some family or friends engagement on Sundays.
Q. Favorite movies?
A. 3 Idiots, Dangal, Dil Chahata Hai.
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 am very passionate about my work and this timber industry so anyone who wants to make a career or has any interest in this field can connect with me, i will do my best.
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. The sheer expansion in subjects and course is amazing as it gives lot of options to an individual for making a career. The bigger batch size makes it possible to interact with many more people coming from various spectrum which will be very helpful in learning and growing as an individual.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Jagdish Mundra and Priyank Pradeep.