Vidhu Venkatesh 

Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business

“I’m focused, adaptive and enjoy working with wide variety of people towards a common goal.”

Hometown:  Chennai, India

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m a Vegetarian. Most people do it for health reasons or to prevent the harming of animals. My reason is a little unusual. It is an ethnic tradition and an important part of my culture! My parents are vegetarian and so are my grandparents and their parents before them and so on from the beginning of our line. My whole bloodline has never had meat. Most family heirlooms are articles of jewelry or some trinket being passed down the generations. Mine is a way of life called vegetarianism.

Undergraduate School and Major: BITS Pilani, India, Mechanical Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Deutsche Bank, Senior Analyst, Sell-Side Risk & PnL – Emerging Markets

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At my first job at KPMG, I revived a dormant project and transformed it into a new revenue-generating service line for the firm. I laid the groundwork for the R&D, built and led a small team of interns, and successfully pioneered the new client service. With this service, we disrupted the market of software asset management as a first mover and today the service has grown to more than 20 client projects globally with a project team of more than 10 members. I was awarded the Rising Star Award for exceptional performance as a new joiner.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Collaborative. All the classmates I’ve met so far have been so welcoming and compassionate. They’re all looking forward to working together and getting to know each other over the next two years. The level of togetherness I’ve seen so early in the program is amazing.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I wanted a school that combined the traditional aspects of the MBA degree with modern and innovative opportunities in the world today. I wanted to explore cases and understand business strategies that have been present since several years ago and at the same time be at the center of today’s and tomorrow’s business landscapes. Hence, a school with strong roots in the past and a vision for the future was the ideal choice for me.

Fuqua ticked both these boxes. With the historic traditions and brand of Duke University along with the modern outlook to business the school boasts, my decision was fairly a simple one. Also, Fuqua is a powerhouse for traditional careers like consulting (which is the career path I wish to take up) and also a leader in the fields of social impact and technology—both of which are part of my past professional experience. Hence, I knew that being at Fuqua would expose me to all the opportunities across sectors to build my dream career.

The MBA program is renowned for its “Team Fuqua” culture, which is predicated on six paired principles: Authentic Engagement, Supportive Ambition, Collective Diversity, Impactful Stewardship, Loyal Community, and Uncompromising Integrity. Which of these resonates most with you – and what does that principle demand of you as a Fuqua MBA? I think the principle of Supportive Ambition resonates most strongly with me. Without a doubt, the class is filled with accomplished and highly ambitious individuals and just speaking to any of them would make that clear. Fuquans come from a wide variety of backgrounds and all of them are highly motivated to excel in whichever career paths they choose. And the way this ambition manifests itself at Fuqua is truly amazing. Across the entire class, there is a common feeling of support and camaraderie along with ambition. This is evident in the way students work together and collaborate. There is a keen sense of ‘we’re all in this together’ among Fuquans and that ensures no one is left behind. In other words, everyone is motivated to realize their ambitions together. That system of support and collaboration has really impressed me, keeps me motivated to keep raising the bar, and at the same time makes me feel at home every day at Fuqua.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I look forward to being involved with Fuqua’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) in the field of impact investing. Participating in the center’s various initiatives like the CASE i3 Initiative on Impact Investing and Summer Internship Fund will put me on the fastest path to realizing my career aspirations.

In return, I wish to further the center’s ideals of driving social change and building the right environment for social entrepreneurs to succeed. At CASE, I hope to share my knowledge of entrepreneurship in developing regions especially in the field of financial inclusion and poverty eradication. These are burning issues in those regions and I aspire to work with CASE on addressing them.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? ‘If there was just one seat left to give in the entire MBA class, why should that seat be yours?’

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? After exploring multiple industries—manufacturing, consulting, investment banking, and social entrepreneurship—I finally had attained clarity on my career goals. However, given where I was at that juncture, my reach and opportunities were limited and I needed a jump in my career progression.

I felt an international MBA would be that crucial jump. It would give me the skills, network, and opportunities to transform my career path and reach where I wish to be in the coming years. Hence, I felt that ‘stars were in a perfect position’ for me to take up the MBA degree.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Darden, Stern, Anderson, Foster

How did you determine your fit at various schools? For me, three factors were key in determining my fit with b-schools:

1. School Brand: Branding is key when it comes to recruitment and being at a b-school that has an established brand can be crucial in gaining access to key career opportunities.
2. Class Profile: I wanted to build a network of classmates from across backgrounds, cultures, and professional experiences. Diversity was a key aspect of my school selection. The international student numbers, the career paths of the current and past students, and the overall composition of the classroom were other important aspects.
3. School Culture: I wanted to be at a school with a known culture of collaboration, ambition, and teamwork. In the challenging two years of an MBA that consists of classes, assignments, projects, and recruiting, having a strong school culture helps create a feeling of belonging and support. This enables students to tackle any challenge effectively.

Fuqua, with its strong global brand and endless opportunities, was a clear choice for me. The diverse classroom and varied career progression possibilities at Fuqua helped me understand my fit. Lastly, the strong “Team Fuqua” culture of collaboration was also a deciding factor in my school choice.

The process of understanding these features of the school for me was mainly through networking with current students and alumni. I spoke to several Fuquans to understand each of their experiences so I could clearly decide if the fit was right. Specifically, speaking to Fuquans who have pursued career paths similar to the one I see for myself was an eye-opener in understanding if Fuqua would be the right place to realize my career goals. And anyone I’ve spoken to from the school has always been more than happy to help, guide, and inspire.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? “Transfer money? People like us are too poor to own a bank account!”

That’s what my housekeeper said when asked if I could transfer her salary to her bank account. Something that was an indispensable part of my life was unheard of by her.

My housekeeper’s situation shook me awake to the state of financial inclusion in urban India. I reached out to other communities and discovered that there were millions who were totally oblivious to the banking system and its facilities. All their savings were in cash locked away in their homes not helping them build their wealth over time.

This marked the inception of the MF Project, a venture I co-founded more than a year ago to bring financial inclusion to the lower-income classes of urban India. My team and I are building awareness, enhancing financial literacy, and maximizing the savings of people in this income bracket. I share my financial knowledge in some of India’s poorest urban areas helping people invest in mutual funds and savings deposits.

Educating these underprivileged people by searching them out, earning their trust, and motivating them to understand these new ideas was a challenge. We started by reaching out to local employment agencies that give jobs to housekeepers, security guards, gardeners, and similar low-income positions. We then held awareness campaigns to introduce these people to the formal financial system. Our impact began spreading by word of mouth and the attendance is each subsequent roadshow grew.

Today, in addition to 2,000 views on our website blog giving us the attention of national organizations, our work has directly empowered 400 low-income earners to save through systematic investment plans indirectly impacting more than 1,000 lives. These investments are projected to return over $50,000 in five years. Our work is bringing the financial security that was only a dream to these people very much within their reach.

The MF project helped me discover my career calling. I wish to work in emerging markets and help tackle issues like financial inclusion, access to technology, and urban development. This venture was truly a defining moment for me in realizing my career path and in defining who I want to be tomorrow.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?  Growing up in the developing world, working on emerging financial markets at Deutsche Bank, and co-founding an entrepreneurial venture has given me a front-seat view of the challenges these regions face thereby laying the foundation for my career path.

My long-term goal is to address challenges in the developing world like financial inclusion and urban development with access to technology and renewable energy. In 10 years, I wish to have worked for a global consulting firm in their emerging markets space and to have gained the skills to address the challenges of the developing world. I would then use these skills to start my own impact investing firm to direct capital and investments into the economically challenged regions of the world.