My name is Prasad Prabhu, hailing from Madurai. I did my schooling in Montfort (Yercaud), My UG in PSG CAS in Coimbatore; I worked with Amazon in Coimbatore for 6 months and then joined our family business of automobile spare parts and tyre trading. During the initial phase of working in our business, I could sense that I needed more experience and more knowledge in order to have sustainable growth. I felt that I needed international experience for my Post-graduation, I was confused regarding the steps that needed to be taken for the same.

I was then put on to ‘AK consultants’, I already knew Aladi Arun anna, who is a good family friend, a good counsellor and who is known for sorting out a lot of student’s academic careers. In my first meeting with Arun Anna, I told him my requirements, he patiently listened to them and then listed out a variety of options, which were pretty much what I was looking for. The option that was most viable for me was Coventry University, in the UK.

I told Arun anna, “This is what I would like to do”. After that, Arun anna and his well-equipped team guided me throughout the process and clarified all my questions patiently. They could sense that I was nervous since this was my first time going abroad on my own. Nevertheless, they communicated to me in such a way where I felt comfortable and confident. I was prepped for the Visa and the admission process. They even provided a checklist regarding the documents I needed for my Visa interview and the things I would need to buy for my year abroad. The team also put me on to a few students who were alumni of Coventry University, which helped me put my mind at ease.

My Year Abroad:

I left for the UK in Feb 2020 and enrolled in the university, every bit of the experience was a learning moment for me, I met so many different people who were from different countries and from different age groups. When I joined my class, it was a surprise to me that I was the youngest member in my class at 23 years of age! There was a different range of people in their 40’s, a lady who was married and had children, and people from different economic backgrounds which made our class really diverse. Initially, I felt out of place and it took a solid week before I identified a set of friends in my class. It was really interesting interacting with all my classmates who had different perspectives, it was great to see different opinions about a lot of things right from business, to the concept of religion. The best part was we used to have debates in class, and it was always a healthy and civil argument. The results and learning were brilliant!

We had many group projects where we learnt to work together as a team, by delegating work based on one’s core competencies and to get the job done in a time frame.

It was during this time that the whole world was affected by the Coronavirus. We had to do our second semester online, which was a bit of a slump during my study abroad. I couldn’t travel around the UK and visit the tourist attractions.

It was during this time, I learnt some new cooking skills which is something I would never have thought of doing in my life! I learnt from my friends who were expert cooks.

The third semester we had a blended approach to our academics where we had classes offline and some classes online. Our final assessment was a project which we had to do for a client, from which I have studied various marketing methods and how they would help and provide more recognition for a business. This project was important for me as I have actually implemented a lot of the things in our business, and which has provided fantastic results as well.

To conclude, I had a lot to learn from my international experience as a young entrepreneur, and this was the only course that I had enjoyed studying all through my life, we did not have any examinations, all our assessments were based on coursework, which was writing papers on a given topic where we had to do our own research and write in our own words.

My major takeaways from my course abroad were:

• I was able to broaden my perspective while keeping my values and ethics intact.
• I had learnt to become more self-sufficient.
• I learnt the value of good research and the validity of sources of information.
• How important teamwork is, to attain a goal.

I thank Aladi Arun Anna and his wonderful team at AK Consultants for their guidance throughout the entire journey!