This guest lecture was organized with the intention of giving the future HR managers a taste of distributing financial products. Akhilesh began with establishing the differences in distribution of financial products vis-à-vis the other sectors. He listed down various financial products such as Provident Fund, Mutual Fund, ULIP, Insurance etc and how the distribution channel is different for each. He pointed out that in case of PF, the aggregators are the employers themselves and this removes a lot of channel conflict. Thus it makes fund collection a lot easier for the parent organization (in this case the government).

Explaining lucidly the difference in distribution between ULIP and insurance, he mentioned that how organizations and the agents are moving away from “morbid talk” regarding insurance with the clients and shifting to offer a “bundled package” that includes more contribution apart from the premium which would be invested. Sharing such perspectives with the batch of 2008 (HRM&LR;) was very useful as this gave students a broad understanding of the practices. He brought up the issues of testing times for the newer and smaller players in this market because of the kind of commission cuts that the influential agents of the big organizations mainly based out of the metros manage. This lecture was a part of the marketing management class and one of the many Guest Lectures arranged by the faculty and HRM&LR; forum at TISS which constantly strives to bridge academics with practice.

Akhilesh also spoke about something, which it is very close to his heart – the trails and tribulations of an entrepreneur. He narrated the “parable of the pipeline” which mentioned one person bringing buckets of water to a village every time and another building a pipeline to the same. As entrepreneurs he said, the main job is to build a pipeline and constantly see that it is sustainable and free of defects. He talked about this experience as a constant learning process which has helped him and his co-partners capture all facets of organizational building that often goes unnoticed while working as salaried professionals. He further added that the road for an entrepreneur is steep and fiscal discipline and postponed gratification is a must at early stages. A high performing entrepreneur is someone who produces great wealth not only for him but also for others and uses the power of wealth to create a legacy for society at large. Such an experience can be deeply rewarding and the accomplishment of having succeeded in one’s effort, very satisfying.

Even after the lecture he carried on one-on-one with quite a few people. It was an extremely beneficial session for all both from a subject point of view as well as the learning that one derived from his experience and expertise.