He is using entrepreneurship as a way to make elected officials more accountable, and to transform the parliamentary culture in a country that has been beset by numerous political scandals.
Most entrepreneurial MBAs have a bright idea that they hope will change business and result in reward for their risk. While consulting remains one of the most popular MBA Jobs, establishing your own firm instead of linking up with the Big Four is a viable way to merge the function with entrepreneurship.
But for Arun, it is a way of solving corruption in Indian politics.
Arun has a background in engineering and worked for a leading global services company after studying a BE in Information Technology. He worked in the Bengaluru Area of India and Düsseldorf in Germany for four years. But his fascination with politics in his home country could not be dismissed.
"I was interested in how a common man, people like us who hold the power to elect their leaders, can bring some change he says," he says. “Myself and a friend who I was working with on a consulting project in Germany at the time had very similar thoughts. We wanted to reorganize the political system in India.”
At the time in 2008, Barack Obama had just been elected into the White House. His landmark political change in the US had inspired Arun to take a risk and completely switch career paths. “We wanted to bring something like that to India,” he continues. “We both had vision to startup a political consultancy firm. In 2010 I left my job to work on this full time.”
Arun felt his political consultancy was fulfilling a need. He aspires to bring transparency to a system that has endured its fair share of controversy, make political leaders more accountable and bridge the gap between constituents and their elected MPS.
“In India, there is a perception that you only see a political leader when elections are there, when elected officials are coming to you personally for a vote,” he says.
“During those five years between elections they have to be in touch with constituents and hear problems. That is our task. To make constituents and voters feel their MPs are doing something for them.”
Arun’s consultancy startup, Yudofud Consultants Pvt. Ltd. has begun building an IT system to help improve that communication, and has started working with a Speaker of one of India’s legislative bodies. With under ten employees, Arun seeks to bring financial transparency to the political system and shed light on what MPS are spending Government money on.
India's ruling Congress party was hit by a series of damaging corruption scandals throughout last year, with the opposition making regular calls for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign.
In March 2011, KPMG released a report claiming that corruption threatened India's growth. A few days later, the country’s parliament was in uproar after a leaked cable described how a senior Congress aide showed a US embassy official cash that was allegedly used to bribe MPs to support the government in a crucial vote of confidence in 2008. The Congress party and all of those named in the cable deny the allegations.
A year earlier, the head of India's anti-corruption watchdog, PJ Thomas, was forced to resign by the Supreme Court on the grounds that he himself faces corruption charges (that he denies). In March 2012, army chief Gen VK Singh said a defense industry lobbyist had offered him a bribe of $2.7m if the army bought hundreds of trucks that the general considered sub-standard, provoking further outrage in parliament.
Despite its political controversy, India is popular among those seeking MBA careers in emerging markets – although its economy’s growth has slowed in recent years.
Arun was the Director of his consultancy for almost three years before studying a full-time MBA and one of the biggest projects they took on involved trying to improve the tourism sector for local politicians. With a general election looming in 2014, he has plans to begin a political campaign as early as December this year.
Technology plays a vital part in their quest and Arun’s background is no doubt helpful. But he realized that management skills were necessary to bring about real changes: cue the EMLYON Business School MBA.
Arun learned a lot from the international exposure at b-school and chose EMLYON for its strong entrepreneurship background. “It was ten months of good investment,” he says. “EMLYON was great for entrepreneurship and I’ve always loved being in Europe. It was a really good experience and I learned a lot.”
Finance is a top concern highlighted by entrepreneurial MBAs running startups. Arun admits money was a consideration but he was awarded a scholarship to study at EMLYON and maintains that “education cannot be compensated”.
It was a challenge communicating with people in southern parts of India while trying to launch the company. Arun says that his MBA helped him make better decisions and that he is more pragmatic now; helping him to avoid business mistakes.
But one of the biggest challenges was navigating through a political system which is often criticized for its corruption. Arun seeks to make the system more open and make officials more accountable for the money that they are granted.
He admits bribery of public officials is a possibility in his line of work to get things done more quickly, but strongly condemns the practice: “We never gave up on the ambitions we had just because of these things,” he said. “We were not prepared to bribe officials.”
After studying an MBA, Arun feels he has the confidence to take on new job opportunities and could leave this startup and enter a wide range of industries. EMLYON has given him the skills to advance his business career. But he is committed to the cause: his ultimate goal is to bring revolutionary change in Indian politics.
He plans to help raise money for political leaders who want to be held accountable and wants those candidates to represent the people, fighting for their issues in The Parliament of India.
His startup is starting a campaign – ‘Cast Not Caste’ – to encourage people to cast votes and move away from the social hierarchy that has traditionally distinguished India’s social structure.
These are big issues and Arun is under no illusions as to the size of the task at hand. But he has a vision to help improve the political system in his home country.
He is an MBA entrepreneur like few others. While the scale of his challenge is vast and complicated, his vision can be summed up in one powerful sentence: “I want to bring real change to India."
After studying an MBA at EMLYON, he has the business skills to make that dream a reality.
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