Ravi is a simple man who has made his career in the field of social development. He believes that experience plays an important role in his life and in achieving success.

Ravi Singh Baghel is the Chief Executive Officer at Shrushti Seva Samiti in Udaipur.

Ravi belongs to Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, but he has been working in Rajasthan for almost ten years. He says that presently, all the operational and administrative issues, along with the statistical decisions of Shrushti Seva Samiti, are taken care of by him, besides leading the whole team.

Ravi says that although he was living in Gwalior, his native place is Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh. He says that his father was in the army, so he lived with him only. He did his schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya.

Recalling his childhood, Ravi shares that, being the youngest child of the family, he used to be a naughty kid in school and an average student. He says that till the tenth grade he studied in Bhind, and after that he went to Gwalior. There he completed his twelfth from the commerce stream. He did his BBA at a college in Gwalior itself, and then he went to the Institute of Rural Management, Jaipur, to do his MBA.

Talking about his journey, Ravi says that when he opted for commerce, he had thought of becoming a CA, but then he came across several other courses and hence opted for management as his career. Gradually, he came into the development sector.

Furthermore, he says that during his internship program, he decided to move forward in this sector and wanted to work in tribal areas. He left his on-campus placement and joined an NGO in Banswara off-campus. After working there for a year, he got an offer for a state position from BSN Educational Group, and then he worked at the Bharti Foundation by Airtel for three years. Then he felt that he should leave the corporate world to go to NGOs, as his work in the company was only in program development or program execution. Also, there was a shortage of personnel in NGOs in the last four to five years because professionals were going either into CSR or big organizations. And eventually, he ended up working at Shrushti Seva Samiti as a C.E.O.

Sharing his COVID experiences, Ravi says that people were scared and stayed at home. He says that even in villages, people didn’t move much and stayed indoors. He laments that his team could not go to villages, but they distributed rations in cities and to migrants. They organized several awareness programs regarding safety protocols and COVID guidelines. They also organized an online campaign called Be United to engage people in creativity. On a personal front, he was worried for his family as he was staying away from them, but he maintained social distance and kept everyone safe.

While comparing education and experience, Ravi opines that having knowledge of something is necessary, but having experience in every field is more important than just having theoretical knowledge.

Talking about leadership, Ravi says that he has learned that leadership without authority is like leadership without power, but there should not be abuse of power; otherwise, you won’t be accepted as a leader. So he says that to be a good leader, you should trust your people, and they will ultimately deliver what you expect from them.

If given a time machine, Ravi wants to go back to his school days to regain his interest in mathematics and fulfill his dream of becoming a CA.

Ravi’s role model is Mamta Saikia, C.O.O. at Bharti Foundation, as her way of analyzing and reviewing people inspired him a lot. He says Mamta’s way of talking, understanding the program, handling people, and clear vision motivated him to work hard.

In his spare time, Ravi likes to sleep, watch movies, enjoy photography, and spend time with his family.