Why I Chose SOIL: A Unique MBA Journey in Business Design

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Why SOIL? Answering the most asked question since I joined the only Business Design B-School in India

8 Nov 2024
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In September of 2022, I came across a video of Mrs Manjula Srinivasan on YouTube featuring a Design Thinking Case Study. That was the first time probably when I came to know that something unique was happening in the MBA segment in this country. Back then I was also working at Amazon.com as a Customer Service Associate in the Alexa department for the USA process. And there was this one thing which I could closely relate to what Mrs. Srinivasan had mentioned in the video – “customization of services”

That is something that comes from nothing but Empathy. I was taught this during my training at Amazon too. In further research, I found out that companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Apple religiously implement Design Thinking in their businesses to build products and services. I was mind-blown!

Cut to now! I have completed one whole year at SOIL and my journey has been nothing short of enriching, packed with challenges, progress, and countless moments of discovery. MBA at SOIL is about learning Economics and marketing, reading Financial Statements, Emotional Intelligence, practising gratitude, and having fun while learning.

Every time a professor at SOIL, a friend or a recruiter has asked me why I chose SOIL, I have always answered – “If I’m not getting into the premiere B-schools in India, I should get somewhere where I get a premiere Curriculum!”

In my one year of SOIL, I have met amazing people – like the founders of BluSmart Cabs and Studybuzz.

I got featured twice on YouTube. Once on Studybuzz and the other time on SOIL’s page itself.

As a placement Coordinator, I have been a crucial part of some of the most important events at SOIL

The best part of Year One was our batch trip to Sidhbari or our rural immersion program. In this, our whole batch goes to the town of Himachal, in the valley of Dhauladhar ranges for a week and engages with the people of the villages. The whole experience is filled with ironies of life, many realisations, and learning the essence of simple living. The whole week brings forth introspections among all the students.

A 6-week long project where you work with NGOs in Delhi-NCR and solve real-time problems with your ideas, creatively. Just imagine – learning business through cases 4 days a week and implementing all of it on the fifth day. Most importantly, your contribution impacts somebody’s life positively! It’s a different feeling altogether.

Immersion of Liberal Arts with Business subjects? You will ask what is even the use of Sociology, Psychology, and Anthropology in the Corporate.

Well, I would like to say that this was the prime factor in having me apply for a seat at SOIL!

Economics, Finance, and Marketing – these teach you how businesses work but liberal arts make you a critical thinker, adding a sparkle of curiosity to your business mindset. Anthropology teaches you how we are what we are, Sociology teaches you why we think what we think and Psychology teaches why we do what we do. These subjects have helped me to navigate even more deeply into the minds of the stakeholders whenever I would do a case study!

Last but not least, I like being an SOIL student and in the future, it could be your reason too. Experiential Fridays!

I feel so proud to say that at SOIL, I get to paint, dance, sing, and do public speaking and storytelling in the same classrooms where I give presentations, and solve business cases and complex equations.

Where else would I get so much exposure, so much to explore – inside and outside? I’m left with only a few months now before I graduate and become an official Alumni of this institute. Hence, all of us are garnering as many memories as we can and live the campus life to the fullest.

A special mention to Ms Neerja Raheja, a brilliant mentor for all the students preparing for placements, Chandan and Naveen sir for shedding their IIT and IIM experiences and learnings and ensuring maximum learning, and last but not least our own Fin-Woman, Mrs. Manpreet ma’am for making us fall in love with numbers and excel sheets!