Funding my IMD MBA

Dear Investors,

I'm Aishwarya Saxena (27), a Senior Product Manager with 5 years of experience in technology and innovation. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my story and potentially help fund my dream of pursuing an MBA at one of the premier universities - IMD, Lausanne, ranked no. 1 globally by both Bloomberg and Forbes Magazine.

As a child, I was very inquisitive and always wanted to understand how things are built and why they work the way they do. It was this drive to learn and create that helped me excel in academics. Along with winning the best department project award for creating a Mobile App for Microloans, I graduated First Class with Distinction during my bachelor's in Industrial Engineering and Management. Learning the concepts of brainstorming and Lean methodologies cemented my love for creating products. Following my ambitions, I landed the role of an Associate Product Manager at a FinTech Startup, where I continued to strengthen my design thinking and managerial skills. 

Over the next 3 years of my career, I was continually promoted and reached the ranks of a Senior Product Manager, owning the Mobile Applications Team at LeadSquared (now a startup unicorn, >US$ 1 Billion in funding). I built and scaled a team of 30 engineers & designers and reported directly to the CXO level. Here I scaled the mobile business by 45% in revenue and 30% in user base. 

In parallel to academics and work, I've always found time to give back to the community. I worked with Ekjut (non-profit) focusing on maternal and adolescent healthcare with the Indigenous people of Jharkhand, India. I've supported SankalpTaru (non-profit) in building and improving their website to increase their reach and impact. Over time I found myself wanting to achieve more in the sustainability space. So, I decided to switch to Tech-Sustainability by leading the growth vertical at Goodera. Here I learnt about ESG metrics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives by working with CSR leaders at MNCs (Airbnb, Zoom, etc) in the US & EU regions. I soon realized I needed to gain a deeper understanding of strategically implementing ESG principles to facilitate high-impact solutions. And, so for the next chapter of my life, I decided to pursue an MBA program that would equip me with the frameworks required to build durable sustainability solutions at a global scale.

With the Leadership and Sustainability tracks offered at IMD in conjunction with the psychoanalyst sessions, IMD was the best choice. Here I hope to hone my leadership skills and enable myself to build strategic & sustainable solutions. I was over the moon when I got the news that I received an admit to IMD with a Tech scholarship of 20,000 CHF. Even though this amount is a big boon for me, I would need your support to fund a balance of 45,000 CHF for the coming academic year.  I am confident that the IMD MBA will only enhance the skills I’ve nourished during my work experience and I will be able to pay the loan amount well within time.

I look forward to your support. Please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn with any further queries you may have!

Thank you

Aishwarya Saxena