Life at the SMU MSc in Management (MiM) unfolds at speed - shaped by demanding coursework, recruitment timelines, networking events, and a constant stream of new learning experiences. Yet for many students, the learning does not stop when class ends. Alongside presentations, assignments, and internship applications, many are building something deeply personal: ventures, creative platforms, cultural initiatives, and technology-driven solutions that reflect their passions and aspirations.
An Environment That Encourages Exploration
While every student's journey is different, many credit the MiM programme for helping transform ideas into action. Through applied coursework, discussions with faculty, collaboration with a diverse cohort, and exposure to industry practitioners, students are constantly encouraged to think beyond theoretical concepts and explore real-world applications. Whether it is validating a startup idea, building an online community, or developing a creative initiative, the programme creates an environment where academic learning and personal ambitions can grow together.
Building Communities Through Purpose
Some students choose to create impact by building communities. Whether it is preserving cultural heritage or helping future students navigate unfamiliar journeys, these initiatives demonstrate that leadership is not always about launching businesses - it can also be about creating opportunities for others.
Sri Varsha Pachava: Preserving Art Through Community
For Varsha, her passion extends far beyond the classroom. A trained Kuchipudi dancer with over 200 performances and two Guinness World Records, her connection to dance is rooted in discipline, identity, and continuity. Over time, this evolved into a larger purpose: building an art collective in her hometown of Visakhapatnam, India to help emerging artists collaborate, experiment, and grow.
Her vision is driven by a gap she has witnessed closely - many talented performers in Visakhapatnam lack access to platforms, mentorship, and creative communities that can sustain their work. For her, this is not just about visibility, but about preserving art forms that risk fading without structured support. The collective aims to bridge this gap by nurturing both classical traditions like folk arts and theatre, while also enabling under-resourced artists to access sponsorships and collaborative opportunities.
Her MiM journey has helped translate this passion into structure. Courses like Strategy and Organisational Behaviour helped her articulate a mission, anchor her ideas, and think about building sustainable, collaborative projects - turning instinct and creativity into actionable plans.
Balancing this initiative with her postgraduate studies is challenging, but she views it as a parallel commitment rather than a competing one. For her, meaningful work is not postponed - it grows alongside everything else. She believes, “Start with the thing that would hurt to abandon, instead of the one that simply looks impressive.”
Kanistha Rajkumar: Turning Experience into Guidance
For Kanistha Rajkumar, what began as a personal journey soon evolved into a platform for impact. Through her Instagram content, she shares an honest, behind-the-scenes look at life at SMU and studying in Singapore - helping prospective students, particularly from India, navigate a process she once found overwhelming.
What inspired her was simple: the lack of guidance she faced while applying abroad. Determined to make the journey easier for others, she began documenting her experience and answering questions from students directly. Over time, her platform grew into a trusted space where students could seek clarity and guidance, eventually leading to professional collaborations with brands in the study abroad space.
Her MiM experience has also shaped this journey. A marketing lecture on influencer marketing inspired her to think more strategically about growing her community and reaching the right audience. More broadly, the programme encouraged her to take something she viewed as a side project and approach it with greater intention and professionalism.
Balancing content creation alongside a demanding MiM programme has strengthened her discipline and time management skills. More importantly, it has reinforced the fulfillment she finds in helping students - from their first question to their first day on campus. Her advice is simple: “You’ll never know if a different path suits you better unless you actually take that first step.”
Although their initiatives take very different forms, both Varsha and Kanistha demonstrate how personal passions can evolve into projects that create meaningful impact while developing leadership, empathy, and purpose.
Building Ventures Through Innovation
For other students, the MiM becomes a testing ground for ideas that solve real-world problems. The programme’s emphasis on strategic thinking, experimentation, and practical application provides an environment where entrepreneurial ideas can evolve beyond the classroom and into tangible solutions.
Karthik Reddy Cherukupally: Building AI-Ready Enterprises Through SortBy
Karthik’s passion project is SortBy, a startup he is building with friends from the Indian School of Business to help enterprises become truly AI-ready. The idea is to transform fragmented and siloed data into structured, usable insights so teams can interact with information more intuitively and make faster, better decisions.
His interest grew from observing how technologies such as ERP systems, CRM platforms, and now AI continue to reshape businesses. He believes organisations that build strong data foundations today will be best positioned to unlock AI’s full potential tomorrow.
The MiM has broadened his perspective beyond technology alone. Courses in Strategy, Marketing, and International Business challenged him to think more deeply about customers, positioning, and business decision-making, helping transform SortBy from a technical solution into a product designed around real user needs.
Working on a startup alongside the programme has made learning feel immediate and interconnected, with classroom concepts often influencing product development and strategic decisions. As he puts it, “Start now - the biggest thing is just getting your idea out of your head and into the real world.”
Tannay Avinash Soni: Finding Clarity in the Chaos of Investing
Tannay’s passion project is an investor dashboard designed to simplify portfolio management for individual investors and small family offices. Frustrated by juggling broker applications, spreadsheets, and scattered notes, he set out to create a single platform that combines performance, risk, and market insights into one clear view.
Inspired by his family’s manufacturing business, where dashboards and KPIs drive operational decisions, he wanted to bring the same discipline and structure to investing. What began as a personal frustration gradually evolved into a product concept grounded in usability and informed decision-making.
His MiM experience has shaped this thinking not only through coursework but through seminars, guest speakers, and discussions with practitioners, encouraging him to treat every product feature as a hypothesis that can be tested and refined.
Working on the dashboard alongside his studies has made learning continuous and highly applied. Rather than striving for perfection, he focuses on steady progress and iterative improvement. His advice reflects this mindset: “Start from the itch you cannot ignore - and let the process test and refine it.”
Although their ventures address different challenges, both Karthik and Tannay illustrate how the MiM encourages students to apply classroom learning to real-world innovation from day one.
Building Personal Brands Through Creativity
Innovation can also take the form of creative expression. As digital platforms continue to shape how people connect, students are increasingly exploring content creation as a way to tell stories, build communities, and develop transferable professional skills.
Thanmai Pathakota: Creating Moments That Connect
For Thanmai, content creation on Instagram began as a simple creative outlet amidst the daily grind, but has grown into something far more meaningful. Through funny, engaging, and dance-based videos, she experiments with storytelling and trends - creating content that resonates with audiences and offers a moment of pause in their daily scroll.
Inspired by music, dance, and everyday observations, she gradually built a community around authentic, relatable content while continuously refining her creative voice. What started as a hobby soon became an avenue for self-expression and connection.
Unexpectedly, her MiM experience has played an important role in this journey. Exposure to a diverse cohort and new perspectives pushed her outside her comfort zone, helping her become more confident, expressive, and willing to share her ideas publicly.
Balancing content creation alongside academics has required discipline and consistency, but it has also provided a valuable creative outlet. Looking ahead, she hopes to grow her platform into a strong personal brand that combines creativity with business insights and meaningful collaborations. As she says, “Just start - don’t wait to be perfect. If you enjoy what you’re building, you’ll stick with it.”
More Than Passion Projects
While each initiative is unique, they share a common thread: they are strengthened - not limited - by the MiM experience. Classroom learning provides strategic frameworks, faculty and peers offer fresh perspectives, and the programme’s collaborative culture encourages students to experiment, adapt, and bring ideas to life.
At the same time, the value of these projects extends beyond the outcomes themselves. Whether students are building startups, creating content, preserving cultural heritage, or developing new tools, they are also developing skills that will serve them throughout their careers. Managing competing priorities, communicating ideas effectively, navigating uncertainty, working across diverse teams, and learning from feedback are all experiences that shape them into more adaptable and resilient professionals.
For prospective students wondering whether an intensive master’s programme leaves room for personal ambitions, these stories offer a reassuring answer.
None of these students came to SMU with identical ambitions. One wanted to preserve art. Another wanted to simplify investing. Another simply wanted to help future students feel less alone. Yet their stories share something in common: the confidence to turn an idea into action. At SMU MiM, learning doesn't stop in the classroom, it becomes the foundation for building something that matters.
