Arthur Conan Doyle once said in his book Valley of flowers that “Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.” This year Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has also recognised the talented pool of students and enrolled them in the current PGP batch.

IIM-A has achieved a milestone by welcoming a batch of students that fulfils the criteria to meet gender diversity, work experience and educational background. In fact, some of the students in the batch have already achieved awards and recognition in various professions including film-making, sports and fashion.

Batch Profile of IIM Ahmedabad

Let us take a look at the diverse background of the candidates and their achievements before entering into the IIM-Ahmedabad.

1. Akanksha Choudhary

Educational Background: Akanksha is a Bachelor of Arts (Economic Honors) from Shri Ram College Of Commerce. She was ranked 5th in SRCC. She has also exhibited one of her paintings at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. 

Exceptional Achievements: She was a winner of a national pageant - Miss India Elite. This recognition has given her the opportunity to represent the country in International Pageant -Miss Face of Beauty International). She has also worked with celebrities like Kanika Kapoor, Randeep Hooda, Gauhar Khan, Zareen Khan among others during eminent fashion shows.

2. Apeksha Sanganeria

Educational Background: She has graduated from BITS Pilani Hyderabad as a Bachelor of Pharmacy and Masters in Science, Chemistry.

Exceptional Achievements: She worked with a healthcare startup called IndiaHealthLink. She worked as a Head of Business Development at IndiaHealthLink, and was involved in the company from its inception to seed funding stage. She even commenced a social initiative called MediDrive to supply people in need with free medicines by collecting unused medicine from households.

3. Aprajita Sharma

Educational Background: She has done Masters in Public Policy from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. She has even represented her university in Inter-Varsity Swimming and Basketball, and possesses a keen interest in public speaking, making short-films, and photography.

Exceptional Achievements: She has assisted a reputed Parliamentarian as a LAMP fellow.

4. Aditi Agarwal

Educational Background: She is a fashion design graduate from NIFT, Raebareli.

Exceptional Achievements: Drawing experience from her bachelor’s degree she has worked in the online retail of Chikankari (native hand-embroidery of Lucknow) garments under the brand ‘Go Lucknow’.

5. Girish Baj

Educational Background: Girish has completed his engineer from College of Engineering, Pune.

Exceptional Achievements: Girish was a part of the college team that developed a student satellite ‘Swayam’ that was launched in space in coordination with ISRO.

6. C.S. Prakhyat

Educational Background: He has a background in commerce and has done CA successfully.

Exceptional Achievements: He is a self-taught internationally acclaimed filmmaker with a very diverse portfolio consisting of documentaries, short films, music videos, advertisements and promo videos, all of which can be found on his Vimeo channel. He even has 9 award-winning short films which have fetched him 17 International Film Festival selections, spanning the USA, UK, Canada, Slovenia and India.

7. Kanishka Khaire

Exceptional Achievements: During his under-graduation, he designed an Automatic watering system for Urinals in collaboration with his professor. It has since been patented and published in the Indian Patent Journal.

8. Ozair Hamdani

Educational Background: He has pursued Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Exceptional Achievements: Ozair has interned with a start-up on a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has spent the majority of his life on the African continent, twelve years in Botswana.

9. Rashmi Teltumbde

Educational Background: She has a degree from Texas Tech University in the US as BBA in Economics and Management in 2014.

Exceptional Achievements: Rashmi has 14 academic awards in her name. She has a work experience of 28 months in Nettech Pvt Ltd as a Business Development Executive. She is a professional tennis player, and has represented the country in 3 junior Grand Slams (two Australian Open and US Open) and also captained the junior Indian Fed Cup team.

10. Umang Agarwal

Educational Background: His highest qualification is a Ph.D. in Animal Sciences from University of Maryland.

Exceptional Achievements: Umang has 6 years of rich experience in animal and human nutrition research in the US. He has also worked with multiple animal species and humans to understand the partitioning of nutrients for increased production efficiency (in animals).

Opinion of Selection Committee 

“These are interesting times. The increasing diversity is a testament to the increasing relevance and acceptability of Management education and to the vision of the Director and Leadership of the Institute. It is extraordinary and enriching to witness a Rocket Scientist and a Miss India Elite engage in an argument in the same class,” said IIMA Students’ Affairs Council general secretary Mohammed Raafi.

This is the list of the few toppers with exceptional background whom IIM-Ahmedabad has enrolled for the current batch. You could be the next IIM alumni if you wish to pursue a managerial career and wish to seek MBA degree from the IIMs.