INSEAD L'Oreal Scholarship

In no more than 550 words for all the questions that follow: 1. Give any relevant example of a
particularly creative personal achievement. 2. Give an example in which you set yourself a very
ambitious and even risky objective. 3. Provide a concise but accurate description of your financial
circumstances. 4. Explain why you believe you should be considered for the L'Oreal Scholarship.
What amount do you think appropriate?

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Carl Jung’s seminal words are an apt summary of the professional and personal paths that I have
traversed, however unconventional they might seem.

Personal Achievementss

Due to a 33-year old family dispute over real estate, I have experienced continuous turmoil ever since I
can remember. Knowing I could not single-handedly settle the matter, I anyway decided to show the
property to real estate developers without my family's knowledge. Once they were convinced of its value,
I requested them to approach the rest of my family with offers to develop the property and demonstrate
that there was an immense opportunity cost for not exploiting the family asset that was now dilapidated
over time. My focused rationale and innovative approach finally led to an amicable division in ownership
of assets within my family.

Ambitious or Aggressive?

During my stint at Ernst & Young (EY), since many of the new hires came from small towns. Their lack
of experience/ exposure meant that they did not understand the importance of EY's dress code policy.
Consequently, I observed their discomfort when they, in front of our other colleagues, were asked by my
manager to "dress appropriately". I was only an intern but I wanted to help them out as I could imagine
their embarrassment and I truly disliked my manager's brash attitude/ reaction to such a sensitive issue.
One day after witnessing another such episode, I emailed my team head/ partner, also marking my
manager, suggesting that there was a need for a standardised training module explaining the company's
dress code to the new hires in my division. I knew there was a possibility that my manager would
perceive such an email as a judgement of/ complaint about his leadership skills. On the contrary, my
initiative was so well appreciated by the Partner as well as by the manager that it was recommended to the
Human Resources team and made a compulsory training for all new hires in all EY service lines across
India.

My Balance Sheet

I estimate to incur approx.Euro 85,000 on my MBA. Till a few weeks ago, I was at ease about funding
this amount with my family business' internal accruals and an educational loan that I have availed,
amounting to Euro 50,000 and Euro 35,000, respectively. The internal accruals included a 'non-
refundable' security deposit which my family acquired through a recent, real estate joint development
project. This project is suddenly facing a roadblock as the Government is imposing restrictions on the
scale of our project, resulting in the security deposit now being termed 'refundable'. Accordingly, it would
now be legally impossible to use the security deposit, even as collateral, to fund my education. Also, I am
unable to get a higher education loan and the other internal accruals of the family business need to be kept
aside to meet the legal costs involved in obtaining the plan sanctions from the government authorities for
our project.
Because I am Worth It

I have been a tax consultant, a retail and real estate family business entrepreneur, a soft-skills trainer, an
accounts professor, a social worker, a mentor to two start-ups, a pseudo arbitrator, and a financial
journalist. On a personal level, my interests include swimming, running marathons, playing tennis,
travelling, politics, and learning Spanish.

The L'Oreal scholarship is meant for someone with a perfect blend of creativity, diversity and
entrepreneurial spirit. I believe my work/ interests are testament to my worthiness for this scholarship and
I believe that Euro 25,000 would be an ideal amount as it would significantly ease my financial burden,
given the recent turn of events mentioned above.