Nilesh Chitre

Nilesh Chitre

In 2001 Nilesh Chitre began his professional career in the Finance department at ThyssenKrupp Uhde India, ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH’s Indian subsidiary. As a trained Accountant he was initially responsible for key financial reporting to the parent company. He was also involved in launching the SAP-CO application within ThyssenKrupp Uhde India.  During the course of this project Nilesh Chitre visited ThyssenKrupp Uhde in Germany twice, returning for a third time in 2004 during the adoption of the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).

“I was fascinated by the very ordered and disciplined  daily life in Germany” recounts Nilesh Chitre.  “My greatest wish was to be able to stay in Germany for a longer period so that I could get to know the country and the people better.”

After working with numbers for more than three years, Nilesh Chitre moved to the Commercial department where he was able to gain a much deeper insight into the business world.  This new role brought Nilesh into direct contact with customers and suppliers allowing him to hone his people skills.

Nilesh Chitre’s dream of staying in Germany for an extended period came to fruition when ThyssenKrupp selected him to complete a one-year, full-time MBA at the ESMT in Berlin.  The course started in January 2008 with 31 students from 14 different countries, including Rumania, China, India, France and Canada. “Working closely with the other students helped me learn a great deal about different cultures, something I found extremely interesting “, Chitre said.

The MBA programme also forced Nilesh Chitre to face a number of personal challenges; he had to live apart from his family for a whole year and had to take care of a lot of things himself whilst facing up to the demanding requirements of the course.  During this time he found that the case studies at the ESMT allowed him a deeper understanding of the business world in Europe and America.  But he found the lessons learnt from experienced leaders to be have the greatest impact.  In the master classes CEOs from large companies revealed their business secrets and their ideas on leadership.  Leadership skills were also learnt through observation and feedback sessions.

Since returning to India Nilesh Chitre has assumed responsibility for the commercial execution of several large-scale projects at ThyssenKrupp Uhde India, and for the commercial assessment and negotiation of new bids.  “My MBA experience has helped me to better understand the needs of the customer and, consequently, to find common ground between ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s requirements and customer expectations.”