Abhinav Athavale

IIM Lucknow, Noida Campus

“Someone with a large appetite to learn: earnest and I take the road less traveled.”

Hometown: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Fun Fact About Yourself: As a graduate student at Rutgers, I had taken up a part-time job as a University Telefund operator, where we would call the alumni for donations. Never had I imagined that job would help me learn the critical skill of making an elevator pitch. This experience made me firmly believe in the concept of joining back the dots.

Undergraduate School and Major:

Rutgers the State University of New Jersey- M.S. Mechanical Engineering
University of Mumbai – B.E. Mechanical Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Johnson and Johnson India, Process Engineering Lead

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of IIM Lucknow’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? IIM Lucknow is the fourth oldest IIM and one of the few institutes in the country to successfully manage a satellite campus. The institute boasts a vast alumni base who were happy to share with me how the course and association with the institute had bolstered their careers plans.

What has been your favorite course or extracurricular activity at IIM Lucknow? What has been the most important lesson that you have learned from it? My favorite course has been the Strategic Management. I have been inspired by the passion displayed by the professors from the areas of Strategy, Decision Science and Operations! It is something which I seek to exhibit in my work as well.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I was assigned by the division head to lead a team to qualify an alternate packing material. The project was critical not due to the scale, but due to the sensitive nature. The current packaging material supplier was unable to supply beyond a period of 21 days and there was a genuine risk of having to halt production due to the lack of packaging material of acceptable quality. Compounding our problem was the fact that the city was hit by a wave of COVID. Despite this, the team managed to turn the situation around and complete the key deliverables without any disruptions in supply. This was an excellent opportunity to deliver a critical project while managing stakeholders from upper management.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far: One of my primary objectives of joining IPMX was to learn from my batch mates who come from diverse experiences in career and their lives. I am particularly proud that I have worked on projects and case competitions with people from experiences as different as Technology, Banking, Oil and Gas, Media and Automobile industry. I learnt their perspective and outlook on any particular problem as well as shared my experience of working in healthcare industry with them. I have gained from the collective wisdom of the cohort which I feel is invaluable.

What is your class’s favorite hangout away from school? Why do you gather there? The closest hangout place for us at the IPMX are our dorm rooms! We have mini-gatherings, strategy session, project discussions, gossip and what not …. why go elsewhere when the hostels are so cool!

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? A business degree was always part of my career plan. After working in the industry as an engineer for 6 years, I felt the need to learn the fundamentals of business. I hope to apply the knowledge gained from the course to provide holistic solutions for the organization I join. I also wanted to gain the skill set to lead a team so that I can be an effective leader who inspires people around him to give their best!

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into IIM Lucknow? Reach out and speak with the alumnus. Don’t hesitate to highlight all of your good aspects in your application! Prepare well for the interviews and don’t muck around topics which you don’t know about! It is always better to politely admit that you do not know about something and request the panel for a topic which you’re confident about.

DON’T MISS: MEET IIM LUCKNOW’S IPMX CLASS OF 2023