Internship Experience At The Parachute Company - Marico

Since childhood, I have seen Parachute as a prominent part of my family; even today some of my all-time favorite brands are Parachute, Saffola, and Livon. So when I received an offer to intern at Marico during the summers, it was nothing less than a dream come true. I always wanted to learn more about the brands that I have cherished over the years.

Marico is not just a firm to join, it's a family to grow with

In the times when the second wave of COVID-19 hit the nation, the onboarding team of Marico maintained constant communication with its interns which made us feel welcomed even before the start of the internship. One of the major learnings from this internship stint was to never stop asking questions as even Einstein quoted that -

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

In order to inculcate this learning and make us more familiar with Marico, we were assigned a ‘Buddy, who was a PPO holder and alumni of our alma mater itself.

However, due to the sudden lockdown, the pre-decided market visit before the start of the internship to gain the on-ground experience of how FMCG operates was put on hold. But the HR team made sure that we don’t miss out on any learning opportunities which could hamper the quality of our project deliverables through the detailed induction program.

The 3-day online induction process was one of the most insightful experiences as it exposed us to the different fields in the organization from sales to marketing to HR to operations to strategy through detailed sessions with senior leadership members. We even had the opportunity to interact with Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO. I can certainly say that the induction process at Marico was one of the smoothest and most engaging among organizations.

We never met our co-interns during the internship but developed a very strong bond of friendship, which I will surely cherish throughout my career ahead. A very special mention to our HR Team, for conducting fun and interactive sessions even in between our internship to share ideas and play games.

During the entire stint, we interns were treated like members of the Marico family and were part of all the weekly meetings as well as fun sessions with the entire Marketing team of Marico Bangladesh Limited. The accountability on my part was respected at all times. I always felt like I was a member of the 'Marico' family, where I was learning, growing, and at the same time enjoying my work each and every day.

The torchbearers and my enriching project

I was guided by Abid Mahmood, Group Product Head, Marketing – Skin Care Category, and mentored by Tahmina Ferdousi, Category Head, Marketing. Abid acted as a catalyst who not only made sure that I achieved my milestones on time with efficiency, but also learned and enjoyed my stint at the same time. My Superguide was Allen Ebenezer Eric, Director – Marketing, Marico Bangladesh Limited, who made sure that we learn something new each and every day of our internship.

Moreover, having been through the same journey - from B-School to becoming a summer intern at Marico India in 2004, receiving a PPO, joining as Management Trainee in 2005, he was a constant source of inspiration for me throughout the internship on how a summer intern can move up to top leadership position with grit, determination and entrepreneurial culture that Marico offers. I always received instant clarifications and answers, whenever in doubt, and was very fortunate to have been in the company of such a cooperative team, especially my guide.

I was assigned a live project under Marico Bangladesh Limited as a Sales and Marketing Intern. Bangladesh is Marico’s largest international market and is the 3rd largest FMCG MNC organization in Bangladesh.

I was extremely excited to receive the project and learned a lot working with a set of consumers in a different culture. The project was based on core marketing under a new sub-brand created, Parachute SkinPure. Having received a live project I had to deal with real-time problems in a given time constraint, but the constant support of my guide and mentor kept me motivated. Since we all were operating in a virtual setting and with no prior relevant work experience in this domain, effective communication with all the relevant stakeholders was quintessential in acing this internship.

Expanding horizons...

During my tenure as an intern at Marico, I religiously followed the core values, especially Customer Centricity as my project was entirely consumer-driven, and staying true to the values helped me to ultimately deliver the best output in terms of project deliverables.

I interacted with 60 consumers from the country, apart from internal Bangladesh team members to understand skin and the market. Also, this project required me to interact cross-functionally to understand the category in a more comprehensive manner. The focus on consumers and understanding their needs was one of the major philosophies at Marico and helped me in challenging myself and coming up with innovative solutions.

The continuous feedback and complete freedom from my mentors allowed me to explore while correcting myself whenever I went off-course. My guide and mentor asked me to contemplate and chart a complete roadmap so that I can set my project milestones right at the beginning of the project, instilling in me a sense of entrepreneurship.

Though my project demanded to visit the consumers in person to understand their needs better, Marico HR and Marketing Teams’ joint effort left no stone unturned in arranging this complete setup in a virtual mode, making my internship journey highly smooth and worth sharing with all. Also, sitting in a different country and interacting with team members from different countries, I never felt the disconnect between us, be it in terms of communication, language, or culture.

Execution excellence was a key takeaway, which helped me to complete my project within the stipulated time frame. I gained a lot of positive experiences and learnings from my internship. I would always use these learnings in my career ahead to solve any challenging situation.

I am super excited that I was extended a Pre-Placement Offer after a 9-weeks summer internship and will be joining Marico next year as a Management Trainee for their flagship program Ignite. Eagerly looking forward to being a Marconian and to Make a Difference.

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Preeti Mehta - IIM Indore

2020-2022

An alumna of IIM Indore and NIT Jalandhar, she is a fitness enthusiast and an extrovert to the extreme! One cannot turn a blind eye to her zeal to learn about sales & marketing and her hunger to learn and grow.