ISB empowers women

Sipika Singh switched careers from being a senior consultant with Ernst and Young to a regional marketing role in the pharma major, Novartis in Singapore.

Swati Singh who had five years of experience in merchant marines moved to the real estate company, Tishman Speyers, in London.

And Aarthi Ramesh, having worked for Satyam Computer Services in the US for six years, joined Cognizant Technology Solutions in Chennai as their business development manager for the Asia-Pacific region.

The common thread among all the three women is the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. Sipika, Swathi and Aarthi are among the scores of women who are now opting for an MBA at ISB mid-way in their careers.

Many of them are looking to change their career and an MBA helps them in specialising in their chosen streams.

Sipika for instance did an MBA in marketing from ISB after having worked for four years.

"My primary objective in pursuing an MBA was to make a shift from core finance to marketing. After graduating from ISB, I joined Novartis's two year global rotation program which offered a fantastic orientation to marketing in the pharma industry," she said.

Sipika chose ISB since the institute prefers students with work experience. Also, the one year MBA program of ISB is ideal for professionals who do not want to take a two year break from their career.

Aarthi who had worked for six years in technology consultancy wanted to pursue an MBA to shift from technology consulting to the business side of IT.

"I wanted to gain an insight into consumer minds. Before joining ISB, I was a complete techie. After doing an MBA, I am more confident of handling clients," Aarthi said.

It is not just women who choose ISB. The institute too has a policy of according preference to women candidates. The present class of 2007 has 418 students, out of which 20 per cent are women.

"We do give preference to women students. Every year the percentage of women students at ISB has been going up steadily, even as the class size has been increasing. ISB is committed to bringing in more diversity to the classroom and maintaining global standards by increasing the number of women students to 25 per cent," said Bhuvana Ramalingam- Director Communications, ISB.