Basant Barik, Mumbai
I come from a farmer’s family in a small village called “Salania” in Odisha. The place was isolated & deprived of basic amenities like road & electricity. I still remember, we use to light lantern (kerosene lamp) in the evenings & electricity reached our village only in the year 1988.
My growing up years were posed with many challenges. I used to walk 4 kms each day to school, passing through farm roads because we didn’t even have proper roads then. But since I was passionate about education so never complained. I really wanted to change my & my family’s life for a better future.
After completing my basic education in my village & graduation from Orissa, I moved to Chennai for higher studies & started pursuing CS in the year 1999, but could not finish it due to financial constraints. Thus, upon insistence of one of my uncles I moved to Mumbai & started working for Avery India Ltd as a sales person. But I did not succeed there & moved to one of the DSAs of Citibank selling Credit Cards. But again, since my command over Hindi wasn’t as good, I wasn’t really able to make sales & decided to quit the industry & move to a non-sales job.
There were moments when I was sad while searching for jobs as nothing exciting came across. I was demotivated many times as most of the people felt that I would not be able to survive in a big city like Mumbai & should go back to my native place. But I stayed put. Within few months, I came to know about an opening in Nielsen & joined them in the year 2001. I worked there till 2011 & I never thought of switching the job as I was financially secure there- I was able to pay for my younger brother’s education, save for my sister’s marriage & survive well in this big city with the fixed monthly salary.
With god’s grace, today my brother has a small manufacturing unit in Mumbai & my sister is happily married in a well settled business family in Orissa.
Though year on year I was being rewarded well for my performance yet I wasn’t really satisfied due to the limited roles & responsibilities – I always wanted more! This thirst finally made me look for the opportunities outside & that’s when Market Xcel happened. I came to know about the newly started Retail Audit Division where I got selected for the role of supervisor in East Zone. I felt like I had got wings to fly & achieve my professional goals here as people were more receptive & open to the ideas being shared by me.
Within few months the organization decided to move me back to Mumbai due to my previous experience in this market & within few years only I was taking care of entire West Zone for Retail Audit work, which was far from my expectations.
I have lived & achieved many dreams after joining Market Xcel, like I got married in 2011, completed my MBA in year 2014 & have a 4 year old child.
I came here as Sr. Executive & today I am Retail Manager, West Zone.
“Life is a journey but not a destination” & I am proud to say that so far I’m doing well in this journey & will continue to do so in years to come.
It is my great pleasure to be a proud family member of the Market Xcel family.
Basant Barik, Proud Family Member