IIM Udaipur

“Whatever I do should create value for someone”

I am Prakash Satyavageeshvaran, a faculty at IIM Udaipur. Looking back, it is easier to articulate my journey than it was to live it.

My early interest was in engineering but due to a lack of focus and opportunities, I could not get into IIT/NIT. Following my father, I chose CA instead & become financially independent at 17. Earning early gave me confidence. But I soon realised nothing changed because of what I did, and that began to bother me. So I left CA.

My first indication that I could do well academically came from my GMAT scores. I studied with a scholarship in France. When I came back at home, there were no jobs. For over a year, I sold insurance, taught French, and interpreted for tourists. I was learning what it means to create value with very little.

I soon got an opportunity to work on a large HIV prevention programme in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Difficult, humbling work, but the first time I felt I was genuinely creating impact. That was what I had been searching for. Yet I wanted to work at a larger scale, so I did an MBA at ISB

Surrounded by high performing people, I realised I had been underutilising myself. Impact at scale requires rigorous thinking. At Unilever, I worked at making clean water affordable for rural households through. Meaningful but once built, routine. I later wanted to create solutions, not maintain them. That restlessness led me toward research and academia.

Throughout my life I have had this instinct, I can identify good mentors, and when I find them, I learn deeply. So when I met Prof. Janat Shah, I knew that I wanted to work with him. The day IIM Udaipur made an offer, I accepted. Public institutions exist to serve people who cannot otherwise take care of themselves. And I believe it is my responsibility to give back to the society.

So many years down the line, I have stopped seeing life in compartments of career, purpose, value, relationships. The more honestly one tries to live, the more they flow into one another. I have not always known what I was doing. But I have always tried to ensure it was worth something to someone. That felt like enough.