Team IGNITE 2022 poses as Upamanyu takes a selfie

Forty-two young graduates from India’s top B-schools have begun their summer internship with Samsung India at its corporate headquarters in Gurugram.

After two years of almost everything online, they had bright smiles on their faces when they walked into the office, glad that they will be able to experience their workspaces, bond with colleagues, and sit in for “meetings”.

The two-month-long summer internship program – Samsung IGNITE (Inspiring Growth & Nurturing Interns Towards Excellence) started with a fun-filled two-day induction which involved interacting with the senior leadership at Samsung India.

Leaders from across Samsung India will help these interns from IIM-Lucknow, IIM-Kozhikode, IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Ahmedabad, XLRI-Jamshedpur, MDI-Gurgaon and FMS-Delhi to work on real-time projects within various verticals of the company.

“IGNITE is all about generating that spark, awakening that eagerness and nurturing raw talent to produce magnificent results,” said Sameer Wadhawan, Head, Human Resources at Samsung India.

All smiles for Ankita Mohanty, Nikhil Mathew, Abhishek Kumbhalkar, Rishabh Kumar, Yutika Chandrashekhar Kulwe, Arwinderveer Singh, Ankita Mahesh Purkar, Avijit Mridha, Hem Singh Boro, Monisha Das, Tarun Kumar Meena, Vivek Oraon, Mudit Singh Banyal, Lucky Wamankar, Riya Dhan, Ekansh Agarwal, Mukeshwaran Madhu Kumari, Gaye Krishnanjali Ishika Rajaram Meena, Tangella Veera Venkata Surya Satish, Komal Keshav Meshram, Bagya Rekha Runkani Shaili Soni, Athul Murali L, Nikhil Singh Gangwar, Mihir Mahesh Tupe, Vankudothu Shravya, Tanvi Patodia Upamanyu Chatterjee, Thacker Maulik Kalpesh, Shwetal Rakesh Patel, Gopal Sethi, Jatin Goel, Nalin Nehra, Piya Dutta Chandan Gupta, Ankita Anand, Shivam Pandey, Sarthak Yadav, Abhinay Shrivastav and Ravi Kumar

“We are delighted to once again conduct this internship at our Samsung India headquarters in Gurugram, and these two months will give this very cool bunch an opportunity to contribute to some interesting business properties and hone their skills with some of the best in business,” he added.

One of the interns, Madhu Kumari, a student of IIM-Ahmedabad, who is from Varanasi, said she has always dreamt of an opportunity like this and is super excited about the internship.

“We have literally lived a virtual life these last two years. I am so glad I am getting to attend a physical office and it is going to be a lot of fun,” she said.

Team IGNITE 2022 right before they begin their journey as interns

During the induction, Madhu and the 41 other interns got a deep insight into Samsung and its journey from a Noodle exporter in 1938 to a technology giant today. They were excited to meet interns from last year and connect with Samsung leaders even as they explored growth opportunities for themselves in the company.

“I was a little nervous at first but right now this internship is turning out to be way more exciting than I expected. It’s amazing how 42 of us have been made to interact with each other,” said Piya Dutta, who hails from Delhi and studies at XLRI, Jamshedpur.

“This is so inspiring and fun. I also suddenly feel so responsible,” she said.

The interns are looking forward to an exciting and fruitful two months at Samsung.

At Samsung, ‘people’ is one of our core values. We believe a company is its people and we are dedicated to giving our people a wealth of opportunities to reach their full potential.

Yashjeet leaving his home to deliver the lunchboxes packed for Covid patients

Aligarh, a populous city in western Uttar Pradesh, is known for its traditional door locks, a leading University, and for being home to one of India’s oldest thermometer brand.

As the day temperatures soar in the city, a 23-year-old hurtles down the street with a bagful of lunchboxes. He is in a hurry as a group of elders are waiting for him at an old age home that has been turned into a Covid relief camp.

As a child, Yashjeet Varshney saw his parents buying food for people on the streets and setting up bhandaras (community kitchen) regularly for anyone and everyone around their house.

His mother, Deepali Varshney, is ever eager to just take out her big wok and start cooking for anyone, always with love.

When the second wave of the pandemic started, the family learnt that their immediate neighbour was down with Covid and was admitted to a nearby Covid relief camp, but there was no one to feed his two young kids – a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl – who had lost their mother eight years back.

“When my mother got to know about this, she immediately cooked up some homemade poha for the kids, and asked me to take some food to the camp for their father as well,” says Yashjeet.

Yashjeet’s mother, Deepali Varshney, is ever eager to just take out her big wok and start cooking for anyone, always with love

When he reached the camp, Yashjeet wondered what other patients there, many of whom were very poor, were doing for food. The staff there told him that while they try to make some arrangements, hot and nutritious home-cooked meals were a luxury.

That’s when he realized he and his mother needed to scale up, and provide for these patients.

“My parents loved the idea, as always,” says Yashjeet, a B-School student who joined Samsung India as an intern a month ago. His little food delivery system continues through the internship, while working from home.

His mother cooks light and nutritious meals for 10-15 people at a time. Yashjeet packs them hygienically and delivers them to patients at the relief camp, in between attending virtual meetings with business leaders at Samsung India.

“It’s hard to describe how it feels to be able to help people, especially in times like these.”

On one of his visits early on, Yashjeet got infected himself, but his parents weren’t discouraged. “Rather, they kept me motivated and we resumed our little food delivery system soon after I recovered,” he says.

Yashjeet says he has imbibed the importance of valuing people and acknowledging their pain from his parents and that has helped him evolve into the person he is today.

These values of his resonate with the core values that Samsung stands for – of People and Co-Prosperity.

“It’s hardly extraordinary to me. Sharing is just the way of life in my family. And that is what makes me feel at home even at Samsung. I remember reading about People and Co-Prosperity as two of the core values of Samsung when I bought my first mobile phone. And I thought to myself how perfect it would be if I ever got to work with the brand,” says Yashjeet, who is a first year student at B-School MDI Gurgaon.

This year is no different, only the rules have changed!

No handshakes, no audis buzzing with activities, no gym or yoga sessions, no foosball or table tennis, no conference room meetings and no snacks to munch on together! This year’s Band of 36, mostly GenZs, are experiencing Samsung and togetherness from their respective homes, across different cities. It is different, but exciting nonetheless.

The interns got inducted into Team Samsung virtually, given the focus on remote working and social distancing.

Behind the scenes, Samsung’s HR and IT teams worked round-the-clock to provide corporate coordinates and software solutions, so that it would be BAU (Business as Usual) for these ladies and gentlemen. To make the induction exciting, Samsung India’s leadership team joined in via video conferencing to put the new interns at ease.

The induction session was a marathon five-hours, but it was encouraging to see our interns were as cheerful and full of energy.

“I would call this batch of interns one of the luckiest because the first lesson that they have been taught is that with technology and innovation, everything is possible. They have joined Samsung in our endeavour to make remote working and social distancing a success,” says Sameer Wadhawan, Head of Human Resources at Samsung India.

Debmalya Banik Chowdhury from XLRI: I’m really excited.

Rupal Chopra from MDI, Gurgaon: Great learning experience.

“Anxiety to excitement! It was my first #WorkFromHome experience and I had doubts regarding how the entire process would work. But I ended up getting reassured and a nice overview of Samsung,” said Silpa PS from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

All interns are required to start work on their projects immediately. To help them, Samsung India has provided each intern with a buddy, guide and mentor.

“It’s an unusual experience to be an e-buddy. It’s a challenging time, and we all need to pitch in to make this wonderful programme, a success,” said Riddhi Ranjan, Insights and Innovation, e-Com Team at Samsung India.

From setting up their home office to finding work-life balance, the two-month #WorkFromHome regimen will be quite a journey for this delightful batch of 36.

From Team Samsung, it is a big welcome to all. Namaste.

More than 500 bright and young minds from premier engineering institutes have recently joined SRI-B. These Magpies will undergo a rigorous training at the Research Institute for next two months.

“We hire best talent from top engineering colleges and management schools every year as we want the young minds to work with us and leverage their skills in creating technological breakthrough that can enrich the lives of our consumers,” said Sanjeev Prasad, Senior Director and Head of HR, SRI-B.

As part of their internship, the Magpies work on cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, 5G, communication protocols and multimedia among others. The Campus team kick starts the hiring process from May till December every year.

SRI-B has a tailor-made programme curated for the Magpies to acclimatize them with the workflow. An Intern Day is organized where they participate in different activities and get the feel of campus life once again. They interact with senior leadership and are given a chance to select their areas of technical expertise to further hone their skills. They are encouraged to participate in community services, or hobby activities such as photography, badminton, football and others.

Samsung believes in catching the Magpies young and encouraging them to put ideas into action. This helps groom them and bring forward the best talent of the country.

Pranjal Mehta, student of IIT-Madras, got the opportunity to intern with Samsung India, after winning the inaugural Samsung E.D.G.E. competition. He shares his experience at Samsung with India Newsroom. 

“Engineering students trump MBA candidates to win Samsung E.D.G.E.,” read the news headline. I couldn’t believe it! What looked like an impossible-to-win-but-let-me-try-it competition was now on my trophy shelf.

I had never imagined winning the Samsung E.D.G.E. competition, considering our undergraduate engineering team was up against students from top B-Schools. But the win turned us into overnight rockstars in our college. For a brief moment, we became the talking point in B-School campuses too.

Pranjal and his teammates from IIT Madras receiving the first prize from Mr. HC Hong, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia at the inaugural Samsung E.D.G.E. competition

As the euphoria wore off, we realized that we may not be eligible to intern with Samsung India, a privilege promised to winners of Samsung E.D.G.E. We were undergraduates, while internship opportunities existed for B-School graduates.

But cool companies do things differently is what I realized when I received an internship offer for summer of 2017. I jumped at this opportunity and joined the Samsung Pay team since our winning business case was on “Leadership Strategy for Samsung Pay”.

My teammates chose to take the technical route and joined Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore, Samsung’s biggest R&D facility outside Korea.

I arrived for my internship in Delhi on a hot May evening. This was only my second time in Delhi, the first being for Samsung E.D.G.E. competition. I was excited. I’m a Rajasthani who grew up in Bangalore and has been studying in Chennai for the last two years. I like exploring new cities. Add to that the opportunity to work at one of the global tech giants. What more could you ask for at 20!

Pranjal (L) with his mentors – Manasvi Vedhera (centre) and Sanjay Razdan (R) of Samsung India

After finishing the paper work, I was introduced to the Samsung Pay team. My guide Manasvi Vedhera turned out to be a brilliant mentor. By the second half on the first day, I felt like I’m at home.

I spent the first week understanding everything about Samsung Pay. As with a lot of interns, I was full of energy and ideas, but I soon realized that not all ideas are good. I would throw ideas at the Samsung Pay team and they’d explain why it had not been done or what the roadblocks are and how we could go about it. This learning was a remarkable experience and helped me develop my business acumen.

Engrossed in work… Life at Samsung India is a healthy mix of hard work and fun, according to Pranjal

I spent a lot of time identifying new use cases. I also worked with colleagues across the globe to do feasibility checks for these use cases, both technical and business.

The Samsung Pay team did a fabulous job in accommodating a rookie like me. They were extremely friendly and cooperative. Few of the best memories I have with the team are from the elaborate lunches hosted by our director Sanjay Razdan. Age never felt like a barrier between me and my colleagues. I was engaged in the team’s ongoing projects to gain corporate experience and make me business ready.

I can now confidently say that I have a sound understanding of the payment scenario in India and across the globe. Through the internship, I had the opportunity to visit offices of popular Indian startups and MNCs, organize meetings, give presentations and attend mobile phone launches. All this has helped me become a much better professional.

“Then there are several cool lounges to unwind…”

Samsung also has some amazing facilities for its employees – a multi-cuisine cafeteria that serves Indian, continental as well as Korean food. Then there are several cool lounges to unwind.

One of the things that I really loved was the amazing offers available for employees. Unfortunately, I could not avail these offers; I would have loved to buy a Galaxy S8. Just think about the headline doing the rounds in my campus. “Pranjal goes for a Samsung internship with a different branded phone and returns with Galaxy S8”. Maybe next time when I’m here I can have this privilege.

There are other perks too. Samsung invests well in its employees (and interns). I come from a prestigious yet government-run institution. Hostel food is good enough to keep us just above underweight. From those standards, the lunch in office canteen is delicious.

Pranjal (centre) at the Masterchef competition organized by Samsung India

One of the best memories I will take back from here is the Samsung Masterchef competition I took part in with my teammates. We cooked spring rolls which disappeared into the bellies of the audience, 3.142 microseconds after the judge praised its stuffing.

Even beyond these materialistic perks, the satisfaction of working on and for something touching millions of lives across the globe is beautiful.

I have loads of stories to tell my friends when I get back. One particular story that I would like to share is when I walked into a Samsung store with a date and told them I work at HO – the royal treatment that came next worked wonders! Hope Samsung has stories to tell about my work here to future interns as well!