If customer asks us, 'Is this milk fresh? Our reply was, 'Lady, three hours ago it was grass.’ For me, this part of my life was my internship. My name is Naveen Naidu and I am from SIMS-Pune. I did my internship with The Nilgiris Dairy. I worked on a project titled ‘Inward Milk supply chain analysis’.
After I got selected for internship program with Nilgiris the first thought that clicked in my mind was I am going to spend my next two months, analysing data while sitting in an AC room, planning and giving suggestions to simplify the action; working hours would be 9 to 6 and obviously there will be lots of learning. But the reality was exactly opposite to what was I had thought. The very first lesson was learned here, ‘A mere pre-conceived notion will always break!’
15th April 2012, 10 A.M.
I reached my corporate office situated in Bangalore, fortunately which is my home town but where I did not get a chance to stay more than 1 week during the next 2 months. And here the story begins, the first day of my internship; I was ready with my all supply chain concepts and had brushed up all the jargons. The first instruction I got from my mentor was, ‘If you want to learn more, than please don’t use any jargons here.’ My condition was similar to that of a soldier who is in under training without any bow and arrow. Next thing given to me by my mentor was a project charter which was like a bang on my planning and assumptions. According to project charter, I was to spend my next 5 weeks in the upcountry of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with cows and buffaloes & will have to deal with local farmers and milk vendors. I packed my bag and got ready for the first ‘official’ tour to Tamil Nadu.
23th April 2012, 6 A.M.
I reached my first destination of internship, Pollachi, Tamil Nadu roughly 400 K.M. from Bangalore. I was scared because my position was exactly like Abhimnayu of Mahabharata; being a Tamilian, I can understand Tamil but I don’t know how to speak and credit goes to Fouj (Army Background). I checked-in a local hotel, next morning at 9 am I had to report at the milk collection centre. There, I met the first friend of my internship Mr Selvaraj, a local guy who was working as a procurement supervisor in Nilgiris.
After meeting him, I understood why experience is important. “Experience is a hard teacher because it gives the test first, and the lesson afterwards” and also world is an open source of knowledge, if you like it than grab it, don’t go for background verification before taking the course because you not have to pay for it!
Same day I sat with him and planned for the next 7 days schedule; I had to travel almost 200 K.M. per day on a “two wheeler” with Mr Slevaraj; my working hours would be morning 5 A.M. to 12 noon and Evening 5 P.M. to 11 P.M. that too in the extremely pleasant climate of Tamil Nadu, in one word, it was going to be fantabulous. I know, you guys are thinking about my weird timings for action. Let me tell you the reason behind my weird working hours, it is because cow gives milk twice a day and farmers do milking only at early morning and late evening; so this is the time when I can catch farmers and collect data from them.
Next day, Morning 5 A.M.
I started visiting respective villages one by one and collecting relevant data for my study. Again my one more assumption failed; language was not the barrier during my conversation with farmers. I understand that if you have a common concern than you don’t need any common language to understand each other. After I was done with my first day work on field I reached my hotel room around 12 midnight, I set my alarm for morning 4.30 A.M. and realized that this is going to be routine of my life for next few days. This part of my life is called ‘sleepless internship’.
Working in rural area is entirely different; “Emotions, Feelings and relationship play a major role in business, if someone loses a supplier (farmer) because of bad relationship, then it is almost impossible for them to do business again with the same supplier”. That is the thumb rule of rural business. One more good part of my work was the respect and greetings I received from farmers while dealing with them. They were extremely helpful and this is one advantage which I had as compared to my other intern friends working in city.
3rd May 2012
My next destination was Erode, ask me it seems like the the hottest place on this planet! I had to follow similar schedule, the same 200 K.M. travelling per day, similar working hours and even worse climatic condition. I was in the middle of my project and I had started understanding the whole process of milk supply chain. It was interesting to know how the timing, punctuality and quality play a major role in milk supply chain; I also understood that the clash of competitors in rural market is more or less similar to big market’s competitors. In villages also people are aware of basic business rule, however they never been to any B-school but they know how to run the business.
Milk industry is very dynamic in nature. We can’t have a single and long term strategy. During my internship, I understood how we can make fast decision based on industry fluctuations; proper prior knowledge and some intuition can be the key to the best profitability in the market. All you need is awareness and some percentage of gut feeling, that of course comes with experience. Some of the common factors like “early or late raining”, government regulations and climatic condition play major role to understand upcoming market conditions.
Last part of my internship was presenting my findings in front of top management, which was no less than passing an exam. I honestly shared all my learning and findings with them. One good practice of the company which I would recommend to everyone is “open door policy, being an intern I could meet anyone at any point of time during working hours to clarify my simple doubts, which was the biggest help for my internship. During the entire internship I had always felt free to interact with any person concerned of any designation.
Finally on 14th June 2012, I presented my findings and learning in front of senior management and first time in the two months of internship, I received appreciation for my work. I realized that happiness is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming. Thank you guys for your liking and sharing and please remember “A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work”.
After I got selected for internship program with Nilgiris the first thought that clicked in my mind was I am going to spend my next two months, analysing data while sitting in an AC room, planning and giving suggestions to simplify the action; working hours would be 9 to 6 and obviously there will be lots of learning. But the reality was exactly opposite to what was I had thought. The very first lesson was learned here, ‘A mere pre-conceived notion will always break!’
15th April 2012, 10 A.M.
I reached my corporate office situated in Bangalore, fortunately which is my home town but where I did not get a chance to stay more than 1 week during the next 2 months. And here the story begins, the first day of my internship; I was ready with my all supply chain concepts and had brushed up all the jargons. The first instruction I got from my mentor was, ‘If you want to learn more, than please don’t use any jargons here.’ My condition was similar to that of a soldier who is in under training without any bow and arrow. Next thing given to me by my mentor was a project charter which was like a bang on my planning and assumptions. According to project charter, I was to spend my next 5 weeks in the upcountry of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with cows and buffaloes & will have to deal with local farmers and milk vendors. I packed my bag and got ready for the first ‘official’ tour to Tamil Nadu.
23th April 2012, 6 A.M.
I reached my first destination of internship, Pollachi, Tamil Nadu roughly 400 K.M. from Bangalore. I was scared because my position was exactly like Abhimnayu of Mahabharata; being a Tamilian, I can understand Tamil but I don’t know how to speak and credit goes to Fouj (Army Background). I checked-in a local hotel, next morning at 9 am I had to report at the milk collection centre. There, I met the first friend of my internship Mr Selvaraj, a local guy who was working as a procurement supervisor in Nilgiris.
After meeting him, I understood why experience is important. “Experience is a hard teacher because it gives the test first, and the lesson afterwards” and also world is an open source of knowledge, if you like it than grab it, don’t go for background verification before taking the course because you not have to pay for it!
Same day I sat with him and planned for the next 7 days schedule; I had to travel almost 200 K.M. per day on a “two wheeler” with Mr Slevaraj; my working hours would be morning 5 A.M. to 12 noon and Evening 5 P.M. to 11 P.M. that too in the extremely pleasant climate of Tamil Nadu, in one word, it was going to be fantabulous. I know, you guys are thinking about my weird timings for action. Let me tell you the reason behind my weird working hours, it is because cow gives milk twice a day and farmers do milking only at early morning and late evening; so this is the time when I can catch farmers and collect data from them.
Next day, Morning 5 A.M.
I started visiting respective villages one by one and collecting relevant data for my study. Again my one more assumption failed; language was not the barrier during my conversation with farmers. I understand that if you have a common concern than you don’t need any common language to understand each other. After I was done with my first day work on field I reached my hotel room around 12 midnight, I set my alarm for morning 4.30 A.M. and realized that this is going to be routine of my life for next few days. This part of my life is called ‘sleepless internship’.
Working in rural area is entirely different; “Emotions, Feelings and relationship play a major role in business, if someone loses a supplier (farmer) because of bad relationship, then it is almost impossible for them to do business again with the same supplier”. That is the thumb rule of rural business. One more good part of my work was the respect and greetings I received from farmers while dealing with them. They were extremely helpful and this is one advantage which I had as compared to my other intern friends working in city.
3rd May 2012
My next destination was Erode, ask me it seems like the the hottest place on this planet! I had to follow similar schedule, the same 200 K.M. travelling per day, similar working hours and even worse climatic condition. I was in the middle of my project and I had started understanding the whole process of milk supply chain. It was interesting to know how the timing, punctuality and quality play a major role in milk supply chain; I also understood that the clash of competitors in rural market is more or less similar to big market’s competitors. In villages also people are aware of basic business rule, however they never been to any B-school but they know how to run the business.
Milk industry is very dynamic in nature. We can’t have a single and long term strategy. During my internship, I understood how we can make fast decision based on industry fluctuations; proper prior knowledge and some intuition can be the key to the best profitability in the market. All you need is awareness and some percentage of gut feeling, that of course comes with experience. Some of the common factors like “early or late raining”, government regulations and climatic condition play major role to understand upcoming market conditions.
Last part of my internship was presenting my findings in front of top management, which was no less than passing an exam. I honestly shared all my learning and findings with them. One good practice of the company which I would recommend to everyone is “open door policy, being an intern I could meet anyone at any point of time during working hours to clarify my simple doubts, which was the biggest help for my internship. During the entire internship I had always felt free to interact with any person concerned of any designation.
Finally on 14th June 2012, I presented my findings and learning in front of senior management and first time in the two months of internship, I received appreciation for my work. I realized that happiness is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming. Thank you guys for your liking and sharing and please remember “A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work”.