Adding the chain back to supply chain during my internship at Marico -By Sahib Chawla from IIM Lucknow

"Internship" is undoubtedly the most common buzzword used in a B-School. There is an emotional connotation to this word for every MBA student. So, here I am with an anecdote of my internship experience at Marico.

When a fresh batch starts its gruelling journey at an IIM, it is made to sail through the never-ending sessions of CV reviews and domain preparations along with the ‘usual’ academic rigour. Everything is aligned towards making their thought process structured, enabling them to represent their soon-to-be alma mater in the corporate world. Those 3 months of preparation at an IIM brings out the best in us.

 The summer internship process at IIM Lucknow helped me land my ‘second’ corporate experience at Marico. 

A company with a clear roadmap and objectives

Though I had attended their campus presentation before, the realities kept exceeding my expectations from my selection day onwards. Within the next 30 days, we had already received the official e-mail ids and the offer letters. The clarity on the process of onboarding confirmations was something I kept on admiring about Marico. In no time we were already on the streets of Lucknow understanding their products, just two months prior to the start of our internship at Marico. 

This was the iconic 2-Day STAMP Marketplace programme for all the interns hired across the top-15 B-Schools. This ice breaker kept us engaged when our internship was almost around the corner. 

And a bolt from the blue...

I always believe that an MBA has its own ways to set us all on a track full of surprises. However, this time the surprise was something that was not planned by any MBA institute. This was something we were least expectant of.

It was the tragedy where the world was fighting against Covid-19. Soon after India was put to a complete lockdown for precautionary measures, Marico made sure that the communication with its summer interns for the virtual internships was one of its top priorities. When most of the companies were either delaying or rescinding their internships, there was not even a single day of delay in our joining dates. 

Such was the level of commitment Marico showed for us!

In today’s world, It's hard to find such a corporate which puts the highest regard for their employees, when we were ‘mere’ summer interns, whom they have not even met before (except for the selection process, of course).

The closed-knit system of a Buddy, Guide and a Partner

To prompt us into the habit of getting our doubts cleared, we were mapped with a ‘Buddy’. A Buddy was a PPO holder from the last year who had been in a similar situation as we were during our internship at Marico. He/she was different from a Guide and a Partner, who helped us with the project deliverables.

My guide was always objective with the expectations he had from the projects and had a rich experience in different verticals of Operations. My super guide was a Partner with 20+ years of experience and closely monitored my progress. He guided me with direction whenever I needed some.

The structure of the process was so aligned that none of us ever felt that Marico was conducting a virtual internship programme for the first time. The ability to adapt to a change for a mature organization with such ease gave us many awe moments during those 2 months.

Moreover, since none of the summer interns had met each other before. Even that stone was not left unturned. The campus team made sure that there were occasional activities on the weekends to inculcate a feeling of camaraderie amongst us. I still remember the detective hunt we played in groups of 4-5 each.

Dealing with the intricacies of Supply chain

I was a Supply Chain intern as a part of Marico's STAMP internship programme, and my project was on the lines of procurement for the Saffola brand. Since, none of us ever connected physically, my prior experience in procurement & operations from my first job helped me here with the vendor interactions. Adding a clear set of communication protocols with different stakeholders started doing wonders. Toastmasters was one platform that helped me a lot here.

I was clear about the objectives of my summer internship project. My guide made sure that I knew that the success of my project would directly impact the top line of the business.

The supply chain network had already been disrupted for many companies during the lockdown of April-May. Many times, my guide used to spend his office hours to resolve those challenges and would connect with me after his working hours for a quick update or feedback. He made sure I had the right resources available at my disposal.

That was the level of importance given to all our projects. The learning which Marico was ready to impart to someone who was working in an FMCG sector for the first time was tremendous. Never had I ever felt that I was not an employee of Marico. The accountability on my part was respected at all times. 

Way forward

It has been more than a month that I was extended a Pre-Placement Offer to join Marico next year as a Management Trainee and it still feels like yesterday that I was working on my summer internship project.

All in all, my internship at Marico for 2 months felt like a blank page waiting to be written and expressed with all the learnings from the previous days. I cannot wait to join Marico next year for their flagship MT programme Ignite.