26/04/2016
The red bricks of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, have seen many a love story blossom. But, this is the first time that they see a husband-wife couple walk in to study on the campus. Anava and SandeepaSinha, married for 10 years, have taken admission in the one-year Post Graduate Programme for Executives (PGPX).
Entrepreneurial dreams in their eyes, the 37-year-old Assamese couple, parents to two daughters aged 8 and 2, left plush jobs and even took a loan for the course. “It was a big decision. But it was now or never,” the couple says.
Their story
Anava and Sandeepa met in class 11 while studying at Cotton College in Guwahati. Anavathen went to BITS Pilani to study mechanical engineering while Sandeepa studied electrical engineering from NIT, Kurukshetra. They got married in 2006 and moved to the US. “We wanted to do an MBA then but things never worked out. He was working in the oil and gas industry while I stuck to the IT domain,” says Sandeepa.
They retuned to India in 2010. Their elder daughter was 2 by then.They went back to the US in 2014. Since things got sour during our second visit, we came back soon. While I joined my younger brother’s newly opened tours and travels agency, Sandeepa joined an NGO to work for Assam silk and handloom industry. She wants to start her own venture,” said Anava.
Explaining his decision, he added, “After working for over 13 years at leading firms in the country and abroad, I decided it was time to start something of my own. I realised that an MBA degree from a world class school would be extremely beneficial. At this age, we were a bit old for a full-time MBA, hence we chose PGPX.”
