Profile Evaluation

[sudhir.18n]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for taking out time and reading my profile. It’s a relatively longer one

Current Age - 28 yrs old (06-09-1982)
Nationality : Indian Male( fortunately/unfortunately neither into IT nor an Engineer)
Educational Background: Qualified Chartered Accountant( ACA/CPA)- First attempt( only 0.1% out of 70,000 students), ICWAI ( CIMA) - First attempt( 1% out of the 40,000) and CMA( USA). Both schooling (10th and 12th) and graduation (B.Com) with distinction from Indias' top 10 Schools.

Work Experience:
I have 7 years of experience (+ 3 years Article ship with Price Waterhouse) in Investment banking, Private Equity, Valuations and M&A having worked with Deutsche Bank, HSBC, GE Capital - Private Equity and Shell India. Have around 3 years of international experience out of those 7 yrs. All the international experiences are for valuations, due diligence and market study/competitor analysis. In fact I have worked in more than 24 countries around the world in those 3 years (Whole of Europe, IND, USA, UK, AUZ, NZ, and ME).

Have significant leadership and people management experience in both current and in the past profiles. Currently working as an M&A and strategy lead reporting to the CFO of an major Oil drilling company in Muscat, Oman looking out for potential acquisitions targets ~$300 Mio to $ 500 Mio. in the oil field services industry across continents. This involves extensive travel to different places, meeting bankers, senior management of target companies etc. As of now independently working on the IPO of the company and would be going public in next 1 year. This would be the first IPO coming out of an Oil field Services company in this part of the world. Designing the Preliminary IPO process, our company positioning the market, Prelim Valuation including that of competitors (EV, EBITDA Multiples...) and listing considerations

Achievements:
-Received university top score of 100% in Quant & Statistics..
-Was selected amongst 50 Employees out of 100,000 to undergo the prestigious GE Finance Leadership Program. - An International rotational program of 2 years with 6 months on each project, Worked on FX/Treasury, M&A, Corporate finance and Internal controls.
- Undergone the leadership program of Shell Oil& Gas Company. Sponsored by Shell Hague at their headquarters- full time 2 months program.
- I am also a certified assessor by CII ( confederation of Indian industries) and a certified treasury manager by catalyst consulting group
- Couple of M&A deals of > $ 500 Mio in oil&gas sphere ( Australia and Europe ). Worked on the valuation multiples, developed financial models and helped due-diligence.
- Good tender contract experience in oil field drilling services (projects> $50 M) in ME, NZ and Aus.


Extra curricular:
-Stated a group called "Mavericks" in 2000 consisting of all F1 fans. I, along with couple of friends, started it and i am still an active member of it.
-Helped our office staff understand the importance of recycling paper and effective usage of paper. Hired a vendor subsequently and ordered the diaries and calendars of the following year using the recycled paper of our office.
-Part of 'Citizen Journalist' program of BBC during the General Elections in '09.Travelled to interior district of Andhra Pradesh, India to understand the real problems of people, captured their views/sentiments through pictures and videos and shared the data with BBC, London.
- A member of our society committee which helps in the day-to-day management of things the locality
-Founded and operated a small coffee shop/canteen (with around 10 employees) during the college days and subsequently sold it to a larger chain of canteen. Started with an Initial Investment of Rs 8000(USD 200) and sold it at Rs 1, 60,000(USD 4000) and used my share of money to fund my further education.

Community service
-worked with an NGO in India during the Tsunami in India in 2004. Visited Nagapatanam (the worst hit tsunami place in India) for a month and helped rebuild the houses and village.
- Been an active member of Teach India Campaign for last 2-3 years.
-Stated a group in our locality to help people understand the effective and efficient usage of water and helped in putting thru a rain water harvesting plant in the locality. Was a huge responsibility to coordinate with the bureaucrats and convince them for approvals.
-worked with an NGO which works for people who have problems related to eyes.
- Set up an NGO with the help of our company for the education and rehabilitation of Arab children- Interiors of Oman.There seem to be a very postive difference in the mindset of ME people towards English and Education. They have finally realised that Oil is not permanant . We in out NGO work towards this and also educate the children.

GMAT in Dec 2008 - 610. Will be writing again in next 2-3 months, expecting a score of 670-680. My post MBA goal is to join a BB I bank in M&A - IBD division preferably in SGP/HK. I don’t want to do an MBA just because I need one to move up in career and do it from some university. I want to do it from the best and the most reputed institute in the world, where learning is a focus and diversity is well regarded. I want to learn and contribute to such an environment.

Please let me know your opinion on my profile on the basis of current achievements and GMAT
Do you think my chances would improve significantly if I improve my GMAT by 60 -70 points? How much of my international experience of working in 24 -28 countries coupled with my leadership experience would be of interest to LBS/INSEAD and how much will they appreciate it while deciding my candidature.


Thanks
Sudhir

[mbamission]

Hi Sudhir,

Thanks for writing and sharing such depth into your profile. It seems that you've been able to gain a wide range of international and high-profile experiences early in your career, which business schools will likely take note of.

As it seems you already know, the 610 is a weakness in your profile. You seem to have all the materials to differentiate yourself from the Indian male candidate pool, but the GMAT is an indicator of your ability to handle MBA coursework, and the schools you are looking at will be a lot more comfortable with you as a 680, than a 610.

LBS and INSEAD should definitely take note of your deep international experience, as would other schools. If you can indeed get that 680 GMAT I would think you would be competitive at those schools.

Best of luck!
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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