My internship at Kuvera was a discovery of hidden skills! -By Surya Jain from GLIM Gurgaon

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Read how a first-year MBA student managed to bag an internship at Kuvera, amidst the chaos caused by the pandemic.

As a part of the curriculum, we have to intern in companies for two months to gain corporate exposure, the chase for which started in September. Being a bright student, I was fortunate enough to secure a good internship in September itself and was happy to be the first to get one, unaware of what the future held for me.

And the twist of fate

The internship was supposed to begin in April 2020. But, on 25th March at 11 pm, I received an email regarding the cancellation of my internship due to the outburst of the Coronavirus. But with the help of my college, I secured another internship within a week. But as the lockdown extended, this one got cancelled too. The internship was in Mumbai and there was no chance I could travel there and even working from home was not an option considering privacy and security issues.

I was quite disheartened, but I didn't lose hope and resorted to LinkedIn where I contacted the CEO of Kuvera, Mr. Gaurav Rastogi, and told him that I was looking for an internship. Coincidentally, he was looking for an intern. He connected me to his product team who took my interview. The very next day I got a confirmation for the role.

Kicking-off my internship at Kuvera

Kuvera is a fintech company and India's first completely free direct plan investing platform with zero advisory fees and zero commissions which means higher returns for their customers. I had been assigned a role in the product team where I was solely responsible for the curation and creation of a comprehensive financial product that could be offered to its client base of around 6.5 Lakh. This was the first time I have been involved in the curation of a financial product. 

Earlier, I had worked as an investment banker for ICICI Bank for a year before applying for an MBA. Due to my past background and interest, I always had an inclination toward core financial roles, but this was more holistic.

As a product manager, besides financial knowledge, there are multiple areas that you have to take into consideration, like the design aspect, technical knowledge, market research, and consumer behaviour. The most challenging part for me during my internship at Kuvera was to design the product. I was introduced to completely new software. I took a two-day course to get familiar with the software. What's surprising is that designing never fascinated me, and it's definitely not something I would do with my own will, but I had to and when I did my team appreciated me for that work. I realised I actually excelled in something which I was reluctant to do in the first place.

Challenges bring out the best in you

This internship at Kuvera has proved to be a whole another level of a learning experience for me. I was directly communicating with the CEO and CTO over various aspects. In my last meeting with my CEO, I received an overwhelming response where he appreciated me and said that I exceeded his expectations. Despite it being a work from home internship, I could interact with different people from different departments. My product manager guided and helped me throughout the internship.

When I lost two internships, I was clueless about whether I could secure an internship or not. But as they say, God must have planned something better for us. In my case, he surely did. I could get the exposure of the fintech industry, of which I had only read about. I did things I never thought I could do. And more importantly, after this internship, I have become more flexible in choosing my roles. Earlier, I was only confined to core finance roles, but now I'm open to a product role too, which I feel is a great value addition. Maybe that's what an MBA is all about!