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Alumni Connect: Collaborative culture helped me sail through career lows, says Swati Ketkar
Ketkar, spearheads the corporate development activities of the group Harbinger Group
Ketkar, spearheads the corporate development activities of the group companies. Her focus is on the opportunities for inorganic growth like strategic alliances, acquisitions and third party partnerships. Since 1990, she has held various positions in the organisation related to engineering, project management, business development and numerous leadership roles.
Your educational background? What is the essential data?
I did my bachelors in computer science from SP College in 1989. Later, I pursued my masters in the same subject from Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). I was a brilliant student is terms of logical and analytical skills and mostly secured the top rank. However, after several years of hands-on experience at Harbinger Group, I pursued an executive MBA from Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
What drove you to choose this career, how did your college help you in achieving your goals?
Computers were relatively new when I was in Class 12. During the summer vacation, I enrolled for a course and like it, hence, I wanted to pursue a career in computers. I was a part of the very first batch of the BCS course, and the curriculum helped me focus on software fundamentals. As ours was the first batch, it was initially difficult for the administration to get faculty and provide all the facilities. But SP College made sure to give us all the required resources. I take pride in being an alumna of the SP College.
Highs and lows of your career so far?
There are many highs. I helped grow Harbinger Group from the ground up. Our customer-centricity, ability to learn new things quickly, creativity and flexibility have helped me grow. I am also very proud to say that 40% of Harbinger’s employees are women, taking a variety of responsibilities in the business. Of course, with a career spanning 30 years, there are lows as well. There are external market situations that can affect your business. Not all your strategic decisions work out the way you want them to. I have learned that there are areas where I may not excel, but our collaborative culture and teamwork helped me sail through those areas as well.
What are your future plans?
We aspire to achieve further growth in our business while maintaining our core values of customer-centricity, continuous learning, and inclusivity. Personally, I take a lot of joy in team empowerment (especially for working women), mentoring and helping individuals to bring the best out of them. I will continue doing my part.
