From designing a green finance app to improving company processes using blockchain, MBA candidate Ritika Israni has won multiple awards during her time at the University of Bath and was shortlisted as a finalist in the AMBA Student of the Year Award. She receives her MBA at the University’s Winter Graduation Ceremonies on Wednesday 12 December.
Encouraging green investment
Early on in her MBA, Ritika was part of Team Green Finance, which won first place in the final of Leading Futures, an annual competition for top MBA students from around Europe.
The team created a business model for an app that rewards banking customers financially for reducing their carbon footprint.
It does this by giving users a carbon footprint score based on their transactions. Customers can then reduce this by investing in green finance opportunities.
Carbon positive users will be able to sell their carbon credits, gained through achieving a good score, back to the market and earn money on their investments.
The team pitched their idea to a panel of business experts and won a prize of nearly £1800.
Improving the procurement process using blockchain
Ritika was also part of the winning team for the Amsterdam MBA Challenge, beating students from top business schools across Europe.
Along with three fellow students, Ritika was part of team BathBlock, who worked on a Blockchain challenge with Heineken.
The competition took place at the Amsterdam Business School over two days in April. The event included talks from industry experts and workshops.
The teams involved also met representatives from the challenge sponsors to work on their business ideas.
AMBA Student of the Year Award
During her time at Bath, Ritika took on extra responsibility as an academic representative and devoted a lot of her time to fundraising. She was nominated by the University and shortlisted as a finalist for the AMBA Student of the Year Award for her excellent academic record, commitment, dedication and hard work.
She was also awarded the Women in Business Scholarship by the University.
Director of Studies of the Bath MBA, Deborah Lewis, said: “It is rare that one comes across a student like Ritika. Her unceasing commitment to the programme and in particular to her personal development are impressive.
“Ritika’s willingness to step forward to take on additional responsibilities and to do it with charm and diplomacy enhanced the experience of her cohort and helped the Faculty to ensure the programme was better for all.
“Her social media skills are legendary and her investment in relationship building is truly unique. I look forward to a continuing long-term relationship with this amazing young lady.”
Having achieved her MBA, Ritika now plans to head the business development and global expansion of Ocean Petro Gulf DMCC, a new subsidiary company of her family business Israni Telecom, which will expand their energy resource trading operations in the Middle East.
In addition, she is in the final stages of partnering with a Blockchain start-up company based in Netherlands.
She is also setting up a small NGO targeted towards women’s empowerment in India. Ritika said: “This cause has always been very close to my heart and I will feel extremely fulfilled even if I am able to make a small difference.”
When asked what she will miss most at Bath, Ritika said: “I will miss my post-lecture evenings by the lake. There would be days where there was so much to absorb, and I would go straight from the lecture theatre to the centre of the campus.
“I would just lay on the grass by the fountain and reflect. These few minutes of reflective thinking or even hours at times used to bring me a lot of clarity and peace. There is so much to miss about this course, university and city that we would run out of words if I tried to list it all.”