Samta is a CSR and Sustainability professional, with more than 16 years of experience now. She is currently working with Dalmia Bharat Group with focus on CSR & ESG – Strategy, Reporting and Communication. Trained in Sustainability Reporting from GRI, she has been working for Group Companies and CSR Foundation in their Sustainability journey from Sustainability & CSR Roadmaps, CSR Reports to Integrated Reports. She has been instrumental in Dalmia Sugar and Dalmia Bharat Foundation being Industry leaders in their sectors in coming out with their Integrated Reports. She also led Dalmia Cement to be amongst the 1st in the country to adopt and get evaluated on ISO26000.
With an MSc in Anthropology and M.Phil from IIFM, she is now focusing on ESG domain.
Linkedin : Samta Kapur Arora
Twitter : @samtakapur
Insta: @samtakapur
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM so far?
A. IIFM had opened my horizons to an exciting career, growing from an Anthropologist to a CSR professional. In my professional growth, I have worked with Corporates, NGOs and Consulting organizations in the field of CSR, Sustainability and ESG. It has been a journey of CSR growing from International voluntary reporting to statutory ESG reporting. Currently I am working with Dalmia Bharat Group in ESG and CSR domain.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. A learning curve is essential to growth. My journey has given me immense learning which started from working in the field for CSR of Company to moving into Sustainability Reporting for various Corporates to evolving into an ESG Professional to meet the statutory requirements of the Corporates.
Q. What is the most satisfying part in your career?
A. My satisfaction from the professional output comes from instilling principles of sustainability into practice in the companies that I have worked in my career.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Learning at IIFM gave direction to my career. The holistic learning imparted at IIFM, makes a difference and helps us to take on different roles, as we grow in our career.
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. My professors and seniors in job have influenced me a lot. I would advise freshers to focus more on learning at the grassroots so that it can make you a better decision maker at a later stage. No work ever done, no knowledge ever gained goes waste. And always be ethical in what you do in life.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. The class excursions and field trips with professors was a perfect combination of fun with studies. A favourite memory is when we took over the college mess and cooked there, as there were very few students on campus.
And obviously one can never forget the beautiful IIFM campus.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. Continuous learning is something that all professors at IIFM has taught us. At a time, when most colleges were teaching theory and outdated course, IIFM came as a welcome surprise for me. All the courses and teachers were updated with latest developments nationally and globally. The faculty is abreast and part of the development space. And this continues till date.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. I had a wonderful class and most of us are still in touch with each other and interact regularly. All faculties made an impact on me, however I would like to mention Prof. Debashis Debnath, who gave me the insight of courses at IIFM which led me to join IIFM. And Prof. Amitabh Pandey, my mentor at IIFM who introduced CSR and Sustainability to me and showed me the way forward.
Q. As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. IIFM offers multi-disciplinary and holistic set of curriculum so the students should try and learn all the new concepts being introduced to them.
Q. What was your typical day at the work? And how does it look like while you are on a break?
A. A typical day involves meetings, ideation strategies, reading to stay updated with recent developments and collation, monitoring of work across locations for compliance, reporting and communication. Break in office is about getting in touch with colleagues across departments.
Q. And how about weekends, hobbies, family and anything else you want to add?
A. Weekends and Hobbies are about travelling and crafting and being silly with my 2 daughters!
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. Motivational, Spiritual and Romantic books and movies.
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? Your engagement with IIFM Placement or OT/SI?
A. I have not done this before, so I would be ready to take on whatever role/ contribution can help the IIFM Alumni or freshers.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there?
A. The internships for students have increased, which is really good for exposure to students. This learning goes a long way in making students explore their area of interest and corresponding career in the same.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. My classmates are doing great work so you look for Shakti Saha, Sandeep Kumar Rai, Nitin Bassi, Ratul Saha, Deepti Srivastava.