Mobile money is not just a product, but a way of life in Africa. Africans buy everything from vegetables to plane tickets, pay bills, pay merchants and manage international remittances using mobile wallet platforms. Vinay Solanki, Global Head (DGM), Airtel Money, and a graduate of IIM A’s One Year Full Time MBA (PGPX), Class of 2015 shares his insights into the category from working on it as Global Head of Airtel Money.   

The History

Mobile money was launched by SafariCom when they realized that people use talk-time as a barter for payments. Me2You service was used to repay debt in the form of talk-time. Safari and Vodafone realized the need and joined hands to form VodaCom and launched M-Pesa.

It became an instant hit because using mobile wallets provided a cheaper alternative compared to using full fledged banks. Penetration of banks in Africa is low and maintaining a bank account is expensive. Unlike India, even checking your account balance is charged at banks and high minimum balance criteria affect its adoption among daily wage earners and low income groups.

Safety concerns are a big driver of mobile payments as mugging is common in Africa. 

Mobile money penetration and success got a fillip with increased mobile usage, reduction in calling rates and reduction in handset prices.

Unlike India, even checking your balance is charged at banks which make it an unpopular among daily wage earners and low income groups

Availability of cheap second hand phones also helped spread the deep penetration of mobile money in Kenya and other countries in the African continent like a forest fire. 

The Present

Gradually moving from the basic P2P (Person to Person), P2B (Person to Bank) and talk time topups, operators and service providers started building large merchant network such as multi brand retail stores (NakuMatt), car service provider, construction contractors and so on to expand the usage of mobile money.

The basic idea they followed is to on-board the entire ecosystem to increase speed of adoption. For example to get the labor class to use mobile money they on-boarded contractors, labor organizations, unions and suppliers.

Looping in the Government organization to disburse salary through mobile wallet was a smart move to increase the penetration. For example civil servant employees of an entire country receive their money through mobile wallet. Cable TV providers accept payment through mobile wallet and I saw in Kenya that you can even book a plane ticket using mobile payment. 

I see lot of innovations in this area, where service providers have enabled cross border or international money transfer to compete with MoneyGram and WesternUnion, which are very expensive routes of cross border remittances. The mobile wallet based transfer could revolutionize the remittance industry.

The Future

NFC (near field communication) enabled cards have also been launched recently, which are linked to the mobile wallet and can be tapped to the receiver to pay quickly by just entering a PIN number. Time will tell whether this can be successful medium as currently few merchants wish to upgrade to NFC based payment collection option.

GSW (group saving wallets) in the region where not everyone can afford to own a mobile or are educated enough to carry out cash-out and cash-in transactions, is an attractive proposition. It is quite like cooperative banks in India, where there are signatories who are responsible to carry out transaction on the community’s behalf.

Micro loans to the needy or people at the bottom of the pyramid is fast catching up, where by companies that wish to offer loans are tying up with mobile operators to leverage their distribution network through mobile wallets. These companies are building customer credit scores using their GSM usage data, social media footprint, mobile money history and few other information. I have seen loan value as low as $1 is offered in Africa with interest rate ranging from 11% a month to 17% a week through this service. I see a huge potential for such services in India through mobile wallet or payment banks route. 

Mobile payments, wallets and transactions could possibly replace every other form of payment and become a way of life for business transactions.

In the next article I will focus on fraud and risk scenarios associated with open wallet and what are possible ways to manage them. (Cover image courtesy twimg)

Vinay Solanki is Global Head, Airtel Money RAFM (Deputy General Manager, Finance). Vinay graduated with an MBA (PGPX) from IIM Ahmedabad in 2015.

The post Vinay Solanki, Global Head, Airtel Money & PGPX ’15 Grad: Mobile Money – Insights From Africa appeared first on OneYearMBA.co.in.

…and what I learnt once I got there. 

By Vinay Solanki  I am not a subject matter expert and by no means want to influence your decision to pursue a one year MBA program or choose a particular school. My idea is to put down my thoughts on what a one year MBA is all about and why someone with 8-10 years of experience would leave a job and pursue a full time MBA. Being a current student at PGPX, IIM A lot of my examples will refer to the college and the program but that is only to explain my thoughts through analogies. If you have questions, simply post them on the forum at Ask Vinay and I will get back to you.

Career 

After having worked in the financial services domain for over 9+ years at Goldman Sachs, New York, thoughts about how my career was going to progress over the next 5-6 years occupied my mind, day-in and day-out.

My parent were ageing, so I also had an urge to move back to India to stay close with them. However I was leading a securities frontline team as a Vice President, Technology, so I wasn’t facing any major career crisis and was comfortably placed in my role. But I still took the plunge.

Why did i do it? Let’s start with my career graph highlighting how my career choices evolved, ultimately leading to the wonderful one-year MBA (PGPX) at IIM Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

The Goldman Sachs office at Broadway, New York

I started as an assistant lecturer teaching C++ and Artificial Intelligence at DMCOE, Mumbai University. I thoroughly enjoyed this but it was obvious to me that it would not offer the money that I need in the long run.  

There was also natural pull from friends who were joining MNC’s and Indian IT companies. I’m a Bachelor in Computer Engineering so I joined ‘the god of IT firms in India’ TCS, worked there as a web designer for a year and then went on to do Masters in Computer Science at SUNY Binghamton University, New York, USA.

It was a very regular/conventional path that many of my friends wandered on and I wasn’t an exception.

Then I joined Goldman Sachs and started building my skill set in the web and server technologies as well as financial services. I utilized the internal mobility and moved from sales to trading after 4 years at Goldman Sachs, which introduced some novelty to my work. However after another 4 years in trading technologies, I started to feel restless and an urge to learn or do something dramatically different.

That’s when I decided that since I anyways wanted to move back to India and wanted to explore business beyond what my technologist profile afforded me, I should get more insight on various business functions, at least a high level view.

That’s when PGPX came to my mind (I had heard about it from a friend at Goldman, who graduated in 2012). I prepared religiously for GMAT, worked hard on my application (applied only to IIM A) and got through.

Opportunity Cost

I was working in New York, earning reasonably well – something that would be true for all those with 10 years average industry experience. So, when you think about full time education at the age of 30+, the 1^st think that props up in your mind is the loss of one year’s pay. Next comes in tuition fee (average 22 Lakh in India), living expenses and the dilemma on how to source it (personal fund or bank loan or a mix of both).

But also something crucial, which should be calculated as the opportunity cost is time – the time that you will dedicate primarily focusing on studies, networking, events, etc. and hence that time you will have to steal from time with your family and friends and of course personal time (sleep included).

If you’re married and also have kids, then these 365 days will be challenging because these important individuals will get less attention from you. Some people in my batch left their families home and are living in the hostel and some have got their families (like me) on the campus and live in MSH (Married Student Housing).

However it doesn’t matter because most of your time is spent in classroom, libraries, syndicate study rooms, etc. but yes your family being on campus definitely eases things a bit for you and your family when you are in need of each other. However it is still a point to ponder over carefully. I may be speaking of an extreme but even on average TIME is limited commodity in such programs.

Of course it depends on how you manage your time but on an average you can expect to spend only 2-3 hours a day with family. Even parents won’t hear from you every day, if there is habit of talking to them daily then forget it.

Rigour

Now let’s talk about the rigour of the program and what it entails. Remember that most of us will study after a long break, most of us will hold pens to write loooooong exams after almost a decade. So that shock needs to be absorbed well. Lectures, quizzes and especially 2 ½ hour exams can take their toll on you in the first term. My take is that while these tested us, we managed the pressure.

You are grouped into study groups with 5-6 people, potentially from various backgrounds (if the class diversity is good) and then you need to learn to adjust in that new formation. We all work in teams, manage people and handle peer pressure but being a student and interacting with peers is a different ball game. You need to be sensitive and accommodating.

You may like it at the start and enjoy the newness of the group but you may also face the tension, the stress and the pull when either you have a pressing group assignment or an exam or just simply due to the fact that you don’t gel well with someone in the group.

A big positive of this group structure is that you will potentially make close friends pretty early in the program and more importantly you’ll very likely learn to interact with peers and handle difficult situations.

Also thanks to the diversity in backgrounds, you get different perspectives on each assignment you work together.

If you read my earlier post about my first six months at IIM A PGPX you would have come across the structure of term I, term II, International Immersion and term III briefly.

However the key point to notice is term I and term II are very ‘heavy’ especially because they only comprise core courses and there’s no getting away from them regardless of your interest. Believe me some of us behave like school students and worry about grades all the time, although our seniors have told us that plenty of times “dude at this age and experience grades don’t matter!!”

Anyways we have a Grade non-disclosure policy so that should somewhat relax you.

What to focus on?

What should be your primary focus in a one-year MBA – a course that recruits candidates with work experience the same as MBA courses abroad? Horizontal learning across all domains/functions or vertical deep understanding of a particular topic?

Tough to answer this question with 100% clarity… and possibly harder than it is to find a needle in the hay stack. Along with the never ending list of courses there are so many other activities, events and opportunities thrown at you (case challenges, interviews, committees, focus groups, extra-curricular, blah blah), at times you don’t know what you should choose and what you should let go.

People (including myself)  jump on to any opportunity that comes across and then find it difficult to manage all commitments at once. Therefore I think before you join the program, ponder on what area/field/subject you want to focus or maybe you want to do anything/everything possible in this one year and widen your horizon. Iron out your priorities. As David Allen said “you can do anything, but not everything”.

Also count how many times I say ‘you’ in this article because it is ultimately your decision, your call and your clarity of thoughts that will help you decide the best course of action.

Another highlight of the program is the quality of the faculty. Some of them are really world class, and have industry and international experience and bring wide and deep perspective on the subject they cover. Case based pedagogy is an invigorating method to learn a topic but at the same time confusing and long winded when you’re not familiar with it. Most of us coming from presentation and oration based learning approach have to make an effort to transition to a discussion-based learning.

You learn from the amazing professors here but it is more important for you to participate, share your views and build on to other people’s views and ideas. Sharing is the mantra!! Om Share Namah!

Student Driven Committees

Something I was totally unaware of before joining the program is that everything and anything is student driven here and this is true with most of the one-year MBA programs in India at least.

Of course you are guided by the alumni’s, seniors, professors and the office staff, but you can only get so much of their time. The upside of this is you get a lot of experience working, running, managing or contributing to various activities ranging from organizing cultural programmes to placements, from alumni relations to brochure design and from event management to academic coordination.

I think in addition to learning various functions of a business by being part of a committee, the experience also adds a different dimension to you. An important facet of being on a committee is being responsible, reliable and answerable.

Even the selection process involves elections and it is fun and stressful at the same time. Some of you will manage funds for various committees and some might do more of coordination job and some of you will be part of placement committee (the most important one), which I will talk about next.

Placements 

How many of you scrolled down straight to this section?

Just joking! Placements are a key factor and something assigned the highest weightage while selecting degree, school, location and program. Two-year PGP candidates are generally young and hence can take a risk and try out few jobs or career tracks but we have to be more precise in deciding where to go, what to do and how to manage a decent standard of living.

We always discuss, that 85 of us are 85 niche profiles or 85 individuals who need to be placed in 85 specific job roles and functions. Similarity and diversity both in experience and expectations is the paradox here.

It is important to think about where you want to go (re-iterating points discussed above in sections titled ‘focus’ and ‘rigour’ above) and what you want to become. It takes a lot to prepare for placements, ranging from preparing your resume (reviewed by at least 10 people) to creating a summary profile and networking to practicing mock interviews.

Understanding the market, the prospective employer and the fit for the job should not be ignored. The placement process starts somewhere in term IV (October/November) and runs until graduation and even beyond sometimes, if student is picky or has a very niche profile. Placement for the one-year MBA at IIM A is a student driven activity (as it is for all courses at IIM A) and the placement committee along with the help of alums and current students tries to get as many good companies on campus and as many on-phone interviews as possible – but a lot depends on you too.

A lot of people when they join the course also express an interest in starting their own venture and some form groups and find partners as well. Although it seems tough at this age and time with all the responsibilities you may have, but not impossible.

You’re provided an ecosystem that includes Centre for Incubation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), professors, an alumni network and internal clubs. If you’re really serious you can opt-out of the placement process and diligently follow your dream. As we say “CEO bano, Manager nahin !!”

Key takeaways

Some of the key takeaways (I may have definitely missed many here so this is not a full list).

Branding: Management education is good for your all-round development if you’re serious, focused and attentive. Be open to feedback, but more importantly seek feedback from your batch-mates and professors. A top school will also spruce up your individual brand and build a positive perception to a certain extent. Having said that even a decent school should give you a good exposure to the reality of business management, people management and self-management.

Networking: You either end up building a strong network or at the very become adept at networking. Events and activities push you to prepare elevator pitches, interact with strangers, and break the ice. Overall you learn to open some form of communication channel.

KASH: We say at IIM A that you build KASH in this program. Knowledge, Attitude, Skills, Habits, which is generally true. Most of us build knowledge in various topics, areas and sectors (for sure not very deep in all areas but to a level where you understand the topic to build upon it later). We develop an attitude of being perfectionists, of being calm, cool and confident. We acquire lot of Skills – from technical stuff such as accounting to soft skills (very important for managers) such as team/people management, sharing information, expressing yourself, etc.

Such programmes make you look at things afresh and from a new perspective, which reminds me of a quote. “Creativity, as has been said, consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know. Hence, to think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted”. – George Kneller

Self-actualization: There are some unique courses offered here at IIM A and I hope at other one-year MBA programs too. If you’re serious to know more about yourself than you have plenty of resources at your disposal. A course called MCC (Managing and Creating Creativity) is pretty unique in its format, it focuses on how to foster creativity. We also have course such as ILPM (Integrated Learning through Personal Mastery) another gem of a course for future leaders and managers. There are many other courses, sessions, activities and opportunities to spend time with yourself, for yourself and understand yourself better.

To summarize, it is important to consider all these points and many more that I may have missed, before you make the decision to take the plunge. I think I made the right decision because I now know so much about so many things or at least a little more about few things. I have discovered some of my skill sets, which I was not able to at my professional environment. I have identified some of the weaknesses of myself as well and hence I think the opportunity cost is worth it.

Have a question about the PGPX? Ask Vinay here.

Vinay Solanki is an MBA candidate at PGPX, the one year full time MBA program at IIM Ahmedabad, Class of 2014-15. Prior to joining IIM A, he worked for Goldman Sachs, New York managing and building trading platforms and risk management systems and has a total of 9+ years of experience in technology. His primary interest are Finance & Technology and his hobbies include reading, blogging and dancing. He holds a M.S in Computer Science from SUNY Binghamton, New York and B.E. Computer Engineering from Mumbai University.

The post Why I left Goldman Sachs for a One Year MBA at IIM A… appeared first on OneYearMBA.co.in.

By Vinay Solanki

It feels like just a few moments have passed, but the reality is that I along with 84 other diverse, wonderful, enigmatic, charismatic, energetic people have already spent 6 months at the one-year full time MBA (PGPX) at IIM Ahmedabad (IIM A)!

Making the decision to come back to India, the decision to pursue an MBA and that too a one year MBA was confusing and complex. But we took the plunge and rode the wave to finish 3 terms and are currently swimming hard to reach the end of term 4 with multiple things happening all at the same time. 

Getting to PGPX

I can still feel the butterflies in my stomach from the time I went for the PGPX interview and faced three friendly, but at the same time serious and tough interviewers. It was here that I first met the humble and always smiling Prof. Shailesh Gandhi – his demeanor didn’t give any hint of how tough he could be in class. But thanks to his grilling, I am today conversant with Balance Sheets and Income statements – he taught us so well that a non-CA like me can today talk in the terminologies of the financial accounting world.

Click to expand – Article in The Economic Times talking of Indians abroad coming home for the PGPX

I still remember the excitement I felt when I got accepted to PGPX and the nerve bending tasks to wrap up things in the USA that followed. I enjoyed a one month honeymoon period at my previous employer and I can never forget the joy in the air and the freedom of speech that I enjoyed during those days :-). But wrapping up, selling everything and then landing at Ahmedabad, India was daunting and tiring.

Inside PGPX

Term I started with a bang, the first ever result of a quiz came out and many of us got the shock of the life when we looked at our grades – most of us were studying again after a 9-10 years gap and many of us had forgotten how to write with a pen :-). But we managed and we learnt!

Gradually, as Term I progressed, we met and understood our syndicate mates (group members for project work). We fought, we laughed, we inquired, we pestered but we managed to get through all the courses.

Prof. Saral Mukherjee taught us Operations Management and his style and aura of teaching with his punch lines and his analogies left an indelible mark on all of us. I will never forget the analogy of Toyota to a Cheetah and Boeing to an Elephant. Communication skills and Organization Behavior courses really opened up for us the interpersonal side of business organizations.

By Term II we were well versed with the case based style of learning and by now the stress of getting good grades had also subsided  – the focus was more on learning, knowing each other and also on an upcoming competition – The Talent Nite (Intra IIM-A talent fest).

Most of us were studying again after a 9-10 years gap and had forgotten how to write with a pen

Talent Nite was an exciting, creative and challenging journey for the entire batch. PGPX had never won this against the PGP and other programs at IIM A – the added load of studies, assignments, other extra curricular activities made things even tougher.

We learnt a lot about how under stress, even close friends can end up challenging each other and can get embroiled in a fight – but that learning was very important to understand the dynamics of the batch. It was a grueling 3 weeks efforts but I am proud to say that PGPX won the competition and created history! I will never forget the dance the 3 of us in the team did on Bedardi Raja wearing Ghaghra’s

Term III – The international immersion program (ESCP at Paris, France) was superb and was a fun filled trip to Europe. We managed to find some time to visit places of interest too – I went to Switzerland and others visited Rome, Italy, Amsterdam, etc. Two weeks of this program taught us design thinking, working in Europe, the business style in Paris, and luxury brand management.

A few of our batch mates went to CUHK, Hong Kong and one group to Warwick, UK. I think all the three groups learned well and enjoyed the international immersion programme to the fullest. We all came back to the campus satisfied and rejuvenated. 

The current term is critical because as soon we came back we started with our elective courses and a few core subjects as well. Choosing elective was a tough decision – choosing the course that best suits your long term goal is a complex and time consuming process. However even before the study mode settles in, the placement season started and people got busy building resumes, thinking about companies and job descriptions, understanding whether they are taking the right course for their life or not, etc.

A new wave of group formations are taking place to work on case challenges, business ideas, case discussions and mock interviews. Looking at the economy and positive sentiment after the election of Mr. Narendra Modi, we feel that this Class should end up creating history in terms of placements.

But keeping that aside for sometime and thinking more of what we have gained in these six months – I can come up with so many points that don’t correlated directly with jobs: soft skills such as better communication skills, a deeper perspective of business, leadership skills, a new network of close buddies, picking up french, growing self confidence and of course getting branded as an IIM A student! 

I would like to thank all the 84 batch mates and all the amazing professors (Shailesh Gandhi, Saral Mukerjhee, Deepti Bhatnagar, Asha Kaul, Arvind Sahay, Prem Chander, Shailendra Mehta, Krishnesh Mehta, Anurag Agrawal, P. K. Sinha) and many many more for the amazing journey at IIM A.

I cannot end this post without thanking my wife, who has to manage my 13 month old son Vinmay and bear with my timings and tough schedule with me rarely present in the apartment since I have to spend most of the time in the syndicate room studying.

But I know that both of our sacrifices will pay off soon.  

The post Letter From The Trenches: Half-way Through IIM A PGPX appeared first on OneYearMBA.co.in.