AvantGarde

Wise people say, “Love What You Do” but nothing can be better than doing what you love. Travelling places, meeting people, taking decisions & working on company strategy is what I love to do and this is what I got to do for MAHLE FILTER SYSTEMS INDIA LTD (ANAND Group) during the two months of my summer internship.

After getting selected in the month of September, there was a long wait for the internship to start during which I gathered information from previous interns, who had marketing profiles, about their internship experiences. The first day at MFSI, Gurgaon, like any other first day, was all about meeting with the Project Head, getting familiar with the company policies and finding out that we could even come in by 11AM! Since, I was the only (late joiner) intern to join in the month of May, there was no formal induction ceremony or a company visit.

The company had already mailed us the project details before hand and upon meeting my project head, I was told about my project, company’s expectations from me and the support which I could expect from them. My project was to assess new markets for Car Care products and come up with a product launch strategy. The other project which I got to work on was enhancing the visibility of the brand name MAHLE.

Work started from Day 1 and during the lunch hours, I got to meet two other interns from the Marketing Division from two different colleges. They both had joined a month earlier than I had and hence successfully held an informal induction session & a company tour for me. There were other interns too (from Plant operations & HR department) but I had very less time to interact with them.

After studying and understanding the technicalities of the Car Care Product, I ventured into the market and met various distributors, dealers, retailers, local manufacturers, marketers and importers across India in order to identify the most commonly used products in the Car Care Product range, consumption of these products, top brands, competitors marketing & distribution strategies and pricing mix for the various products.

The entire internship was a completely new experience for me and I got to learn many things. It was also very motivating to have a Project Head who was always happy to guide me, no matter how busy he was. He taught me to take decisions based on the group’s strength.

Pretty soon, the final day arrived and it was time for the final presentation. The internship flew by in a flash and though I had about twelve months of work experience prior to this, it was the first time I was involved in such a wide-scoped project, the complete planning of which was left entirely to me. It was a great feeling to work on an issue the company was currently facing and needed suggestions on. The knowledge that I got while interacting with senior team members and discussing the feasibility of my recommendations with them was more than what I could gain from any textbook or case study.

Last but not the least, there is an important take away I gained while working there. College life is precious. Once you start working in an office environment, you are expected to behave in a certain manner. With these learning, I am all set to commence the next year of my MBA with the hope that these teachings stay with me & I get a chance to go back to that organization again. I would end by saying that those two months were one of the most educating two months of my life where I got to do what I love doing the most.

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Anchit Walia
M.B.A. 2013-15