1.

Tell me about yourself

I am Vallur Thowfeeq. To start with my professional experience, I interned at KPMG. I worked in

their IGH department and worked with Strategy and Operations team. I worked on a project (title).
My responsibility was to create a module on demand-supply gap of water through primary and
secondary research. I was successful enough in providing a detailed report by performing cost
benefit analysis of the project. I’ve also worked with a start-up named Genius IT solutions which is a
digital marketing company where I promoted the website using google AdWords and measured the
results through Google Analytics. Talking about my educational qualifications, I pursued my
engineering from MJCET. One of the most enriching experiences I had during my graduation was
leading the Editorial Board in final year of my engineering. I am very passionate about cricket and I
was also a member of U-14 school cricket team. I was also the captain of my college department
cricket team which went to finals every year during the 4 years of graduation and clinched the title
twice. Leading the team made me realise that leadership and team-building skills are some of my
biggest strengths.

Apart from my passion for cricket, I am inclined towards writing and I write about my travel
experiences. I would like to help society in the best possible way I could. I worked for an NGO named
youth for seva which helps in providing unfortunate kids with education.

My name is Thowfeeq. I am from Hyderabad. I have both professional and start up experience. I
have interned at KPMG. I have worked in their IGH dept. with their strategy and operations team. I
have created a module on demand supply gap of water in India and performed cost benefit analysis
on different methods that could mitigate the demand supply gap.(conducted primary and secondary
research by taking inputs from various industry players) I have successfully created a module and
contributed to the project 'Incremental availability'.

I have worked with a start-up geniusitsolutions which is a digital marketing firm which offers digital
marketing courses. As the start-up was in initial stages I was given a task to increase number of
visitors and conversations. Through CPC bid strategy and radius targeting I have successfully
increased the number of visitors by 50% within a span of two months.

I have always been a passionate writer. So I have taken up the responsibility of being Editorial board
head both in UG and at IIFT.

Apart from writing, I have lead my college's cricket team at the University level. Leading the team
made me realise that leadership and team-building skills are some of my biggest strengths.

2. Why MBA?

Right from being the head boy at school to leading a team in my college, I have always realised that
my strong interpersonal skills deliver great results. I think an MBA needs them more than anything
else. (Cricket captain example) Also, the opportunity to bring about a change in challenging
conditions through decision making excites me to pursue MBA (Example of Editorial Board). I have
seen a stark difference in the way a manager looks at his personal life in the form of my uncle who is
one of my inspirations.
Why did you do Btech then?

I felt B.Tech would be a stepping stone towards understanding the future problems I would face in
my role. I have seen few instances at my workplace where the lack of sound technical understanding
of a manager can hamper the productivity overall. This happens because, the manager would be
wanting something and the employees who are working in the technical ground know the actual
feasibility of that idea. I did not want this to happen with me. So, I did B.Tech to mould my brain to
think in that way.

3. Why IIFT?

Sir, I see business as a global entity and not a local entity. Any business idea can make a global
change given the communication we have these days. So, to manage such businesses, I need
knowledge of international business practices. I don’t think there is any B-school better than IIFT
that can inculcate the practices of International Business in students. This very reason has made me
choose IIFT as my Institute.
4. Mention 3 strengths. Write 2 lines about each. Give 1-2 instances to support the strength
mentioned.

Communication skills: I have always banked on my communication skills to solve many situations
that would otherwise create disturbances especially when I was leading a team. When I lead my
team in college, I could convince people regarding team selection using my skills and avoided
internal rifts in the team. This ensured that the morale remained high.

The ability to be a protagonist: I never shied away from being the protagonist. While there is
always a risk attached with it, I enjoyed the challenge and gave my best to reap the benefits of being
a protagonist. There were many incidents in my personal life where I helped my friends in problems
by taking the initiative and solving the problem.

Being sensible and non-egoistic: I am very sensible and non- egoistic. If I have to take an advice or
help from someone who is subordinate to me, I am open to it. I don’t let my chauvinism come in the
way. I realised this can be of great use especially during my working in teams in my college and at my
work place. I also believe being sensible and honest to ourselves and others solves half of the
problems.

5. Mention 3 weaknesses. Write 2 lines about each.

Being too meticulous at times: Sometimes, I get carried away with the mood. This happens
because I enjoy doing whatever I do and try to do it perfectly. But, in that process, it delays the end
result. While I think this helps me in getting a more comprehensive view of the situation, I have been
allotting a definite time depending on the seriousness of the side track. I try to complete it before
the deadline and get back on the main track.
I find it difficult to say No to a friend when asked for a favour: A protagonist always faces this
problem of getting involved without requirement. I also face this problem few times. I am making
sure these days that I ask if my involvement is needed before getting involved in anything.

I always take the blame on myself: At times even when I did all I could do, I blame myself if my team
could not deliver. While this gives the fire to give 100% in the beginning, it sometimes makes me feel
down and low. This has happened in my final year project when I was the SPOC of the project. I did
my best throughout the period of the project but we could not answer some questions asked by the
scrutinizer. While not answering the question was a collective failure, I was quite cross with myself
for not preparing in that angle.

6. My favourite communities (websites/blog etc)!

I am avid user of Quora and write answers to questions people ask me.
I also follow articles on cricket during my leisure time at Cricbuzz and Espncricinfo.

7. Give 3 adjectives that best define you.

Good communicator.
Pragmatic
Optimistic

8. What has been your biggest failure in life? What did you do to overcome that failure? What did
you learn out of the failure?
When I look back, one thing that comes to me as a big failure is when I could not crack my IIT
entrance examination. Though I was performing above par in my first year of intermediate and till
the first half of the second year, I could not completely devote myself to IIT as I was also writing my
Intermediate exams. Even though I knew that IIT was my priority, I did not devote myself to it
completely because there was weightage to Inter marks as well. But what I could not also realise was
that the relative weightage is very small to divert my concentration on to it. This cost me the seat. I
always had a dream of studying at an Indian Institute. Introspection about my failure made me
realise the importance prioritizing. I tried my best to rectify the mistake I made throughout my
graduation whenever I got an opportunity to test myself. The biggest opportunity again came after 4
years when I started preparing for the MBA entrance examinations. This time, I started preparation 1
year before the examination. Though I was occupied with my responsibilities at my job place, I
reminded myself of the mistake I made and made it through this time and came to IIFT.

9. What do you propose to do in your career in the short (5 years) and long term (15 years)?

In the short term, I wish to learn the principles of management effectively at IIFT. I see myself
applying the principles I have learnt in the organisation I work for to bring about tangible results. I
want to be in a place where my organisation can count on me in situations that need effective
decision making through a comprehensive approach. In the long term, I want to make use of the
experience I acquired in the operations of my own organisation or the organisation I work for. I see
myself inspiring myself and people around me to bring out the best of capabilities.

Ethical Dilemma

When I was captain of my cricket team, there was no measure to select a team because no faculty
was involved in the team selections. I did not have the command to reject someone outright. It was
a knockout tournament. I also had my very good friend who I knew had a quality cricketing
experience. So, I convinced others and took him into the team for the first match. Unfortunately, he
could not perform in the first match. He got run out. Since the tournament was very short, I could
not give him another chance as there were many players who were waiting to get a chance. I knew
he would play well. He was also a good friend of mine. He But I had to rest him for the second match
because it was his mistake to miscommunicate and get run out. If I gave him another chance, it
would have meant favouritism and could have bought down the morale of the team. So, I decided in
the other way.

When you showed aggression and went ahead with a plan

I was the head of public relations team for my college fest. We were deciding to go on publicity for
other colleges. We had some issues with a college few years before. We were in a dilemma if we had
to cover that college as well as a part of the publicity. Everybody was of the opinion that we would
be rejected if we asked the permission of our principal to visit that college. I was very keen to go to
that college because it was near to our college and had a large strength which would greatly increase
our foot fall. So, I went ahead against the core committee’s decision and convinced my principal
about this. We saw a substantial increase in foot fall because of that. This tradition is being
continued even today.

Risk that paid off

When I was head of Editorial chapter I was given the responsibility of printing and publishing the
magazine. I have given the responsibility of printing to the event head of the fest as he told me he
would take care of it. But a day before when he brought the samples I was dissatisfied with the
quality and I had to say no to the further printing process. Fest was on the very next day and the
delegates would be launching the magazine if I couldn’t get it printed, it would be a disgrace to the
college. I had to consult one of my friend’s father who had a printing press, he helped me in
rectifying all the details of the magazine. Then I was at the printing press whole night and got them
done by the morning.

Risk that dint pay off

I was a fast bowler for my college cricket team. I normally bowled the second over after the ball lost
its shine a little and I could grip the ball well. In the final match of a tournament, one of our main
bowlers was injured. So, I had to open the bowling. It was a tricky situation because the ball
normally slips a bit and added my pace, it would be an easy pickings for the batsmen. I however took
the risk hoping to bounce the ball and disturb the batsmen. New ball bounces well. But, I ended up
giving away 16 runs in the over which gave the batsmen much needed confidence. He went on to
score a half century. That’s how the risk dint pay off.

Praise awarded/Rewarding office experience/Rewarding college experience/Volunteering

experience

Editorial Board.

What are the takeaways from Internship?

First year of my college is more of content building and it was more theoretical. So this has given a
stage to explore myself in real life business scenario. Meeting clients.
Personal level.

Presentation skills, good speaker, expressing myself, the amount of exposure I got during my
internship, people’s skill.

Leadership skills

Leading a team in cricket interpersonal skills, team management skills and decision making skills

Coming to technical skills, Digital marketing

Editorial board head

Reliance TUP

Learning something new every day motivates me