“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve”, this is what was conveyed to us by our alumnus, Mr. Sumeet Anand. His corporate journey has seen many lows and highs. He passed out from IIPM in the year 1998. Knowledge, Patience, analytical skills and perseverance are the foundations on which he has built a strong career base. Eye to details, striving for perfection, precision in content and calculative approach, makes him most appropriate for Financial Services Sector.
His days at IIPM were exhilarating. Mr. Sumeet Anand, remembering his professors recalls the lessons imparted by Late Prof. P. C Bagga. He opines that though he appeared strict, Mr. Bagga taught some very important lessons. He also reminiscences his Marketing Management sessions with Prof. Veena Mallik. During his IIPM days a lot of classes were organized at Lodhi road campus along with some make-shift classes at various places in Delhi. Although, students had a lovely time commuting to various centers, the exciting part was when Dr. Chaudhuri’s farmhouse was converted into a campus and in winters it used to look really beautiful, recounts Mr. Anand. The last six months, which he spent there made the academic journey worthwhile.
Mr. Anand made his first shot at a publishing house in Bangalore, which was his native place. While in Delhi, he had an interview session with the Modi group, where he worked for an year with one of the Modi Care Companies
Every worthwile achievement, big or small, has its stages of hard work & accomplishment;
in Bangalore. Eyeing for better prospects to excel in his career, he got an opportunity to be a part of Birla owned Hindustan Motors. He worked as a Marketing Officer in Chennai and was involved in the launch of Mitsubishi Lancer. Mr. Anand appreciated the culture and working environment of Hindustan Motors which he experienced during his tenure.
In the year 2001, when Mr. Anand gauged the openings in insurance industry he moved to Delhi. As finance has been his forte, he knew it would open the doors of success for him. In the quest of his dream to be a renowned name in this industry, he joined ICICI Prudential Life Insurance as Branch Head for western Uttar Pradesh and set up an office in Meerut. His managerial abilities were tested and he thoroughly enjoyed the challenges. He started off from scratch, i.e. getting the infrastructure in place, forming the sales team and operations team. With this scrupulous planning, he brought some level of stability in the branch and his career simultaneously.
This rich and learning experience in ICICI, paid dividends to Mr. Aannd; as he got an offer from Citibank as Regional Sales Manager for Retail Wealth Management (RWS) in Delhi. According to him, this was one sector which was booming. He had a team of 35-40 relationship managers. Mr. Anand did not adopt any particular leadership style as he felt that one has to be participative.
Often people do not have a positive opinion about a sales job. But Mr. Anand has a different point of view, he feels that a sales job offers a lot of insights into an organization. Although it is a tough experience but one gets an opportunity to meet a lot of people, manage and maintain teams. It provides a perfect stepping stone for an individual to graduate to a senior level.
While studying at IIPM, Mr. Anand always thought that brand management, product management and strategy based jobs, are the most exciting jobs and he was always aspiring for such profiles. Finally, his dream turned into reality as he moved to the then ABN AMRO Bank as a Product Manager. This was a turning point in Mr. Anand’s career as he got a perfect platform. He was part of the product team and he left behind insurance sales. Its been five years and Mr. Anand has experienced a lot of transitions in his organization. The most significant being the acquisition of ABM AMRO by Royal Bank of Scotland. Presently, he is the Investment Product Head for one of the wealth arms of RBS, which is known as Royal Wealth Management. Mr. Anand is involved in the third party distribution of mutual funds, bonds, alternative investments, which includes real estate products, private equity products. They do not manufacture the products on their own rather, they gather information from their sales team and customers about the needs and accordingly cater to these needs by understanding the kind of products available in market. Thereby, in this whole bargain he earns revenue for the bank.
Mr. Anand says that the kind of portfolio he handles, offers a lot of challenges. “In investment area, every month a new product is launched. There are almost 1300 mutual funds in the market, 39 to 40 asset management companies and huge amount of exotic products like mutual fund products and private equity products are available”, analyses Mr. Anand.
Talk passionately about his family, Mr. Anand says he is very fond of playing with his son, Aahan and remains engrossed in the various activities like tennis, badminton and cricket with him. He got married in the year 2004 , his wife Natasha, who works with American Express at a senior position.
For the young generation passing out from IIPM, he would like to say that the course they are pursuing is to gain more knowledge to further their prospects and specialize in a particular field. He says it should be treated as a serious course by the students and they should give their 150 per cent.
If you want to be successful then the challenge is there, but if you are at it and working hard towards your objectives, then you will get what you want. Thus for him, “Every worthwhile achievement, big or small, has its stages of hard work and accomplishment; a beginning, a struggle and a victory” and this is how Mr. Anand’s success story has been scripted at every stage with devotion and dedication.
