There is an old Indian proverb that says “travelling and discovering countries enables you to find the continent within”.
Young Jayadeep Akkireddy, a talented chemical engineer of Indian origins (of course), must have taken it to the letter.
Jayadeep represents an inspiring example of a young person swimming against the tide of immobility that reigns supreme over many professionals, sitting passively in their chairs, their dreams of competing in the global market undermined by an excessively local approach.
Yet on hearing Jayadeep’s story, it is hard not to be taken over by an irrepressible desire to travel, to discover, to move faster and to let yourself be dragged along by the many cultures of the world.
Before his jet-setting days, Jayadeep began his adventure in the world of work at Vedanta Resources, a company in the mining industry.
It was here that, with managerial ability, leadership skills and ambitions in people management under his belt, Jayadeep Akkireddy realised the time had come to start developing in a proactive way and broaden his skill set.
 “To understand business as a whole, I needed an MBA”.
Almost without hesitation, Jayadeep quickly chose MIP in Milan. Why? Easy: MIP encapsulated everything he was looking for from a business school: an international environment, highly specialised courses of unrivalled quality, the possibility to combine theory-based sessions with concrete work experience prospects and, last but not least, a stimulating location brimming with opportunity: Milan.
From the moment he arrived at MIP, Jayadeep bought into the spirit of the MBA: alongside his theory-based classes, the Indian engineer began collaborating with tyre colossus Pirelli as a consultant, and also made the most of MIP’s exchange programme to spend time at the EM Lyon Business School in France.
When he speaks about himself, Jayadeep describes himself as a person with “an open mind, ready to absorb new cultures and ideas”. It’s an attitude that undoubtedly stems from his childhood in India, a country were expectations are sky-high and speed is the magic word, particularly in the modern era.
He’s certainly not lacking the makings of an eager-to-learn leader, then.
MIP’s international alumni network, which Jayadeep describes as “a family…I can count on them anytime”, has helped him to broaden his horizons and experience new cultures. He explains that the theoretical lessons taught on the MIP MBA have contributed to him constructing “a broad prospective of how to run a business”, while the work experience opportunities he was able to enjoy, ticked the remaining boxes of his professional training journey.
As for all the rest, his desire to never stand still has taken care of that.
After the constructive experience at MIP, Jayadeep dug out his passport once again and made a beeline for Haiti, where he worked for Meds & Foods for Kids, a non-profit company operating in the thriving sustainability market.
So what’s he up to now?
Jayadeep has just moved to Tanzania in Africa, where he works as a General Manager for Natural Extracts Industries (NEI). And the talented manager had barely touched down before he decided to mix it up again –off he went to Uganda, where he was employed by Unreasonable East Africa to support the development of local companies, promoting social responsibility and respect for the local area.
But Jayadeep still has more dreams in that head of his. What next?
“Before I turn 40, I would like to travel more and work in South America and Oceania,” he says.
As Jack Kerouac put it: “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”
Read the full interview with Jayadeep Akkireddy here.
