ANKIT KHIRWAL’S INTERVIEW

Mr. Ankit Khirwal, currently a student at IIM Bangalore is one of our esteemed alumni. Not only because he made major contributions in giving a strong inception to the organisation, but also for his entrepreneurial excellence that gave rise to our flagship project, Life On Wheels. Read on to know what he had to say when Enactus members Akshita and Pallavi took his interview.

1.      SIFE is now rebranded into Enactus. Enactus or SIFE? Take a pick.

SIFE, obviously. I know only SIFE. Enactus is something alien to me. I associate more with SIFE. Rebranding was a corporate decision. It should not affect the work that we do.

2.      Enactus works on the principle of SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Kindly share your views.

Not for Profit: Which is mostly NGO work.

For Profit: Which is where you make money, but you benefit the society.

For example, Rang De, a micro finance organisation which works on NFP basis but also follows social entrepreneurship. For me, Social Entrepreneurship is when you make money and you affect the society. As compared to the time in my first year, social entrepreneurship is seeing more initiative now.

3.      What difference do you see in the team now and then ?

We were not very structured and delegation was less due to the small size of the team. With more number of projects and team members, it is different now. I just hope the structure doesn’t hamper the entrepreneurial spirit making it more formal and less interactive. But structure is important for growth of better quality people who are now showing interest in the society.

4.      We have interviews now for recruitment. Was it the same even at your time ?

In my first year, I had to pursue people to join. By in my third year, we had the same format as you guys (forms, GD, PI). Stringent selection process will result in better talent induction. Now SIFE has become a lot more sought after in college and there is an evident surge in the number of applications.

5.      Talking about Project LOW which was given birth to by your batch, can you tell us about how you conceptualised this project and what difficulties did you face?

SIFE started in my first year. Nobody, except Abhay Kumar Sir, the society’s Faculty Adviser  knew about it. An article about rickshaw pullers and their plight interested me and I spoke to its writer after  which I got to know Mr.Pradip Sharma who started something very similar to LOW in Assam. Fragmented community and presence of contractors were major hurdles to the replication of his model in Delhi. We thought of starting something in North Campus, and DU Darshan came simultaneously. After doing a survey of about 100-200 rickshaw pullers around campus, we had a meeting in college to tell the rickshaw pullers about the project. We enticed them with snacks and tea. *laughs*

The licensing was a nightmare. The MCD didn’t appreciate the whole idea. We thus got the project inaugurated by the CM of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit. As the top brass of bureaucracy approved it, the lower brass could not create a problem.

6.      How did the Banks respond when you went to them for the first time?

 Abhay Sir gave me a lot of numbers of officials from different banks after which we met a lot of people out of which many were our college alumni. The banks didn’t see a lot of returns, plus we didn’t have a proper business idea at that time. When we finally managed to fix a meeting with Punjab National Bank we were pleasantly surprised at knowing that they knew about Pradip Sharma and his work in Assam and already had something similar going on. So that was that. And so, we partnered with PNB.

7.      How did you feel sitting in the SRCC rickshaws?

Sife has always been a baby to me. Our batch started SIFE and got people into the society. And LOW is still the flagship project! I remember even after graduating, Abhay Sir had asked me to think of new ideas for projects. It was all about doing something new.

8.      Tell us about your journey in SRCC and IIM B. Which one would you miss the most?

SRCC was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not because of the college but because of the people. It was the first time I'd stepped out of home and everything was new. The friends I made in SR are the only friends I have. Undergrad friends are for life. Undergrad years are for experimentation. IIMB is hectic. It’s competitive and has very few girls. I only had two girls to chose from *laughs*

9.      How do you remember the friendships, team dynamics, as well as the fun moments you experienced in your journey in SIFE?

I loved going for field trips, talking to strangers and accomplishing something new. After a while, it was weird to have no role to play in something you started. SIFE was very intimidating with respect to the work I did. The satisfaction, however, was immense.

10.  How is SIFE different now (apart from the name :P)

Well, I would say, it has a lot more boys now.

11.  Tell us about your experience in SIFE and how it has contributed to your life.

I come from a business family and the business aspect has always been in my life. But the whole risk taking and adventurous aspect of entrepreneurship was given to me by SIFE. Till date, I talk about SIFE in every interview I give. I cleared my IIM interviews thanks to LOW. Piece of advice, don’t care about the organisation, care about what you do. I met some very nice people through SIFE and I'm happy to still be in touch with them.

 - Akshita Yadav and Pallavi Chadha