00:00My name is Harshadhan Sureka. I have experience in credit analytics, financial knowledge and along with that I am also
00:06gaining some experience in analytics in soil. I have done my graduation from Calcutta University pursuing commerce. After that I
00:15was working with Zashmani in Bangalore and then after in American Express in Gurgaon. It is that point of time
00:22I decided I need some refinement in my career. That is the time I opted for soil.
00:30I was too much into being from a Marwadi family. The whole environment, the day-to-day environment in my
00:37family was related to finance. It was related to sales, purchase of the commodity. My family they were into rice
00:45manufacturing. So there were a lot of financial terms used in our family on a day-to-day basis. Along
00:53with that there were certain learnings which I gained from my family.
00:57So from the very starting I was very much inclined toward the commerce. So my decision was to go with
01:04the financial field. Either it can be CA or CFA or doing just the graduation in commerce.
01:13It was in 2019 actually. At that point of time I realized that even after putting so much effort in
01:21this particular course I was not getting the outcome.
01:24So this course was not meant for me. So this course was not meant for me. And I could have
01:29used that effort and strength which was within me, the knowledge which I had gained to leverage it in some
01:36other field.
01:37Because that was my young age. And I used my efforts and strength in some other field rather than utilizing
01:44in that particular field from where the result is not coming.
01:49So that was the reason I diverted from CA to another field. So dropping CA was a tough decision. But
01:58I was being supported by my family.
02:02Whatever decisions I am going to take, they supported me in each and every step I have taken in my
02:10life. So that is not the end of your life.
02:14If you are not able to complete any particular course or any examination, you fail. So I was having that
02:22mindset because lots of opportunities were standing for me in the future. So I was too much into that.
02:32So my role in ZestMoney was analyzing the claims which we are getting from customer, whatever the loan applications which
02:44we are receiving from customer to analyze those applications, whether those are viable for the company or not, and to
02:52approve them.
02:53And in ZestMoney, after working for six months, I got opportunity in fraud department. It was FIU, Fraud Investigation Unit.
03:05With that experience, I joined American Express in Global Fraud Department.
03:10So when it comes to volume, MX is like 15x, the volume which I was dealing in ZestMoney. But the
03:20system in MX was way too smooth.
03:22My objective of choosing PGPM was that I was not looking for a restart in my career. I was just
03:28looking for a refinement because I was already having a corporate experience of around four years.
03:34And then after I was looking for an institute which can actually give me those corporate values and which are
03:42actually aligned with my current values also. So Soil was one of the institute which was offering PGPM, which was
03:48of one year aligned with my values and also imparting some other values which will be helpful further in my
03:56career.
03:56Learnings which I received from Soil, if I speak about Bianca Mam's predictive analysis or machine learning course. So I
04:04can clearly see that even though I am having a financial knowledge, but now those variables introduced by Bianca Mam
04:13in class, when I put the regression models while doing the financial analysis, it gives me a different perspective of
04:23how I look at a financial instrument.
04:26Or the financial books right now. Even I was not having the sales experience, but the assignments which I did
04:34in analytics course itself. It gave me a very broader aspect of how the industry and how the corporate world
04:43actually is working with those analytical mindset, not having a fixed mindset of just finance or the financial instruments or
04:51financial bookkeeping.
04:56The one thing that excites me about this role is that being from a finance background, I wanted to leverage
05:04my career into a good finance role actually, but I built my career step by step.
05:11So being after working in operations, then getting an opportunity in soil. So both these experiences actually shaped me in
05:21a way that my financial knowledge, my operational knowledge, along with my analytical knowledge, which I gained, helped me get
05:29into a good financial role.
05:32So it was kind of a dream of my life and kind of a circle of my life where I
05:37actually am getting ended by getting a good role from soil.
05:41I am excited about the role because it will give me a lot of financial exposure in the company along
05:49with that. I will also get to work with many of the many big clients, which the company is having.
05:57It is the clients in the auction partners. If I speak about those are like the top 20 investment banking
06:07companies are the client of auction partners. It is handling a portfolio of 800 billion dollars.
06:15Before joining soil, I was having some good values, which I was just following because those were implemented on me.
06:23But when after joining the soil, after joining soil, my perspective changed. How about implementing those?
06:29So in my leadership session, I had with Anil Sir, in those sessions, we were actually not just told to
06:38follow those values. Suppose if I speak about integrity. So integrity is one thing most of the Indians lack in
06:47their day to day life. But if you are working in corporate, you are you are supposed to follow that
06:53particular value.
06:55But how about implementing that particular value is what Anil Sir actually taught in his leadership session. Not just integrity,
07:05there were certain, there were other values also mindfulness, compassion. So if I speak about compassion, I can be a
07:13good person outside, but what if I am not a good person inside?
07:16So those kind of changes happened with me, which actually helped me changing my overall perspective of the life.
07:28It's not about what you are doing right now or what will happen in future. You will reach the destination
07:36when you are supposed to reach. After having those learnings and having those experience, you will get a correct time
07:45when you will actually realize that you will be able to implement those learnings.
07:51At that point of time, you will actually crack your desired role or your desired opportunity. So you should not
07:59be worried about your current situation, you should be worried about the learnings and gaining some good values in your
08:06life, which will actually help in future if it is not able to help you currently.
