Graduate School Admission Essay

KEY SKILLS

Customer-first mindset, Leadership in Customer Service and Relationship, Product Marketing and Management, Agri-input Sales and Marketing Project Management, Crop Agronomics Knowledge, Business Development, Technology in Agriculture, clear communication.

EDUCATION

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, PUNE

Masters in Business Administration (Agriculture) (CGPA: 8.56) 2012

· Anchor, Agro Industry Interface 2012

· Lead Campaigner, VNR Seeds, Kisan Agro Exhibition 2011

· Student council committee (arts and culture section) and industrial visit committee member

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DAPOLI

Bachelor of Science, Agriculture (CGPA: 7.83) 2010 National Service Scheme – Agriculture Projects (240 hrs.)

 Agro-livestock: Cattle-rearing to produce milk, egg and meat; Emu farming for small enterprises.

 Crop field management: Trained farmer by educating soil testing methods and crop nutrients dosages

 Trained 3 self-help groups to cultivate mushroom, empowering women in rural areas

EXPERIENCE

Mahindra AGRI SOLUTIONS LIMITED (HO)

Deputy Manager – FRM and MAV 2018 – current

· Digitization platform Kisan dost portal project : Collaborated with IT team to architect and design digital platform system to capture database of agricultural business verticals (Cropcare, seeds, EPC, import and export, and Tractor division) under one single access point to ensured efficient usage of data to achieve strategic goals.

· Farmer relationship management project: Ensured efficient call center management and drive cross- selling on the existing database of the customers through Kaizen process and QC tools.

· Drive and support the offline marketing campaigns of different verticals on digital platform by designing android APPs.

· Micro soft dynamic portal: Developed, Implemented and monitored system for call center to capture utmost database of the customers to enhance the business of the verticals through lead generation.

· Heartbeat portal: Coordinate with different business verticals to close the product complaints received in the Mahindra heartbeat complaint portal within stipulated timeline. (here actually my role is to close the complaint on portal and identify and make changes in the user interface for efficient usage)

· Mahanayak Portal and Mahanayak app project :Executed Hi-tech farm prosperity strategies – Mahanayak (FARMER AS A PROMOTOR) to improve farmer relationship and involvement , enhance sales of the products to overall $1million from 518 loyal customers and their referrals through collaboration with IT team and sales team to design inputs for digital platform (MAHANAYAK APP)

· Mahindra Agri village project: Spearheaded the project of the MAV (Mahindra AGRI VILLAGE) through adopting 14 villages till date across India. Identifying and addressing farmers pain areas both Agri & non-Agri sector with the help of baseline survey. (please rephrase this – here I want to say that MAV are adopted villages by Mahindra to enhance the standard of living of the farmers by giving trainings for 3 years)

· Lead the project of integrated farming system to optimse the resources available with MAV farmers,ultimately enchancing the farmer income . IFS – interconnectivity of different components or resources available with farmer such as the output of one farming module becomes the input of other. For eg : the droppings of the poultry birds becomes the fish feed at fish farming. The straws of wheat can become the input media for mushroom cultivation. Digitalization of such projects on social media platform. (my Agri guru app , facebook , youtube)

· PRERNA foundation for women entrepreneurs in Agriculture domain : Networking with government and NGOs for project and training of MAV farmers

· Farm tech prosperity project under FAAS (farming as a service) : Developed, implemented, and monitored the agriculture economies for major crops across India to drive the project of precision farming.

BIOSTADT INDIA LIMITED (HO) 2016-2018

Senior Marketing Executive, Biologicals – Crop Growth Stimulants (India region)

Developed, implemented and monitored sales and marketing strategies to achieve targeted market sale ($1.5m), contributing to 11% market share and pioneering Biostadt brands in the plant growth stimulant category

 RISE project : Collaborated with field staff and sales team of 250 members to achieve top line sales of $1.5m by conducting regular training sessions on crop and stimulant information and market intelligence training programs to identify prospective customers and their needs

 Spearheaded the customer loyalty programs, schemes such BSA (Biostadt Star Alliance)-Retailer scheme, BAP( Biostadt Astha Parivar) -Distributor Club and Elite Farmer Club (950) across India to improve customer relationship and involvement, enhancing customer services resulting in 453 distributors that contributed to 61 % of sales

 Forecasted & monitored availability of inventory through SAP to improve usage, timely and safe delivery of Biological products

 Formulated strategy to identify and map 15000 retailers in the ATR (Any time report ) system, resulting in 20% market presence and brand awareness

· Developed a marketing mix for the category including ATL/BTL activities and campaigns, provided promotional (POP) support, and implemented mass media campaigns (TV Ads, Radio jingles), targeting market segments, which contributed 30 % of total sales

· Sativus App : Consolidation of the database structure to design and implement solution to farmers through artificial intelligences ( database captured and structured as input for sativus app for easy identification of pest and diseases and other conditions in crop to provide instant solution to farmers)

· TEA CAMPAIGN: Collaborated with the agronomist and sales team to identify the major problems in tea garden thorough digital database capturing system.

· To plan and execute in tea campaign for Biozyme tea and Hexythaizox –Acaricide molecule in Tea plantation (North-eastern states) by designing modules to resolve the problems of tea gardens

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED 2013-2016

Senior Solution Executive, Retail Management

· Ensured implementation of promotional inputs, branding materials and availability of special offers and schemes in 3000 stores across Mumbai city by coordinating with IT team, improved store sales by 25%

· Generated leads through regular follow-up and cold calling with help of Customer care team and provided information to corporate clients about new products introduced by the company

· Informed 81 millions customers about new promotional offers and schemes through SMS campaigns, increasing store walk-ins by 40%. Ensured movement of solutions on a weekly basis to maintain attachment ratio of 60% along with the main product

· Participated in hiring and training the newly recruited employees about the new offers and schemes

· Trained sales staff in creativity merchandising and imparted knowledge of latest technology to enhance the customer service and to prospect new customers

· Formulated and executed store merchandising plan for launch of 15 new stores to maintain store assortment and inventory level and provide ATL/BTL activities and campaign.

JIO 4G Launch Project, Jio Mobile and Jio TV

· Developed and implemented the merchandising and space planning in 150 stores across Mumbai to support 4G experiences on customer devices, resulting in increase of sales by 23%

· Collaborated with 1000 sales team to ensure availability of JIO SIMs and JIO devices to digital stores all over 3000 stores Mumbai city

· Awarded STAR performer for excellent training of staff for 4G experiences and effective implementation of schemes and offers in peak season sale

MIDI (MAHARASHTRA INDUSTRIES DEVELOPMENT INSTITTUTE) 2012-2013

Project Officer, Agro-entrepreneurship and Farming Innovation Development Program

· Mentored 6 agriculture startups to set up cost, schedule and performance components

· Managed development and training program providing entrepreneurial inputs to 4 small and medium enterprises in agriculture and animal husbandry

MAHARASHTRA AGRO INDUSTRIES DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 2012

Market Researcher Intern, Competitive Analysis – NOGA processed food products

· Measured the brand equity for NOGA processed food products in hotels and military canteens segment with the competitors (5% users from 50 hotels and 150 walk-ins in military canteens)

· Developed manufacturing process report for supply chain and led data validation effort to reduce the demand and supply gap by 2%

CADBURY PVT LTD 2011

Market Researcher Intern, Brand Awareness – OREO Biscuits

· Measured the brand awareness of newly launched OREO biscuits through market survey. Studied the customer perception on packaging and taste parameters, improving overall packaging quality

· Analyzed the customer buying behavior in processed food category, obtaining 15 % sample size preference for the category

RELEVANT PART-TIME EXPERIENCE 2010-2012

KFC: Customer Behavioral and Retail operation management

· Acquired customer service, operation and floor management experience at KFC retail outlets. Conducted quantitative research to understand behavior of the walk- in customers

FUTURE GROUP: Customer Relationship and Retail operation management

· Trained the sales team regarding the offers and schemes for BIG DAYS and converting the walk –in customers and driving sales. Floor management and sales management at BIG DAY

· Designed and set up floor merchandising plan to ensure visibility of assortment of best selling products, products on sale and new launches through efficient space management and creative displays, improving customer prospecting by 25%

PIZZA HUT: Customer Service and Kitchen Management

· Enhanced on-time delivery of orders to customers by analyzing kitchen management system, improvising standard operating processes

· Managed the day-to-day floor and kitchen operation

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

IT Skills: MS office 2010, SAP CRM, SPSS (Statistical package for social science) , QC tools

Languages: English (fluent), Marathi (native), Hindi (native), French (Basic) Interests: Photography

Women Empowerment: Facilitated workshops about hygienic sanitary practices for 80+ high school girls from marginalized section of society

Classical Dance: Completed highest-level certification in professional Kathak dance