Maneuvering with aim and positivity: that is the story of my life! In a nutshell, I graduated as an engineer from Jadavpur University, India, before moving to Bradford and Manchester, England, to do an MBA.
After graduating in 2010, I joined Naval Group in Nantes-Indret as an intern for equipment sourcing, a rare move for a young Indian graduate. But I did found my way and have now spent almost a decade in different positions within the company.
After internship, in 2011, I joined the procurement department of Naval Group India, where I progressively broadened my scope. While working on the P75 program (Indian Kalvari class submarines), I was hungry for more responsibilities. That’s when my manager challenged me with a program with some recurring issues and I became the Project Manager on a program designed to deliver gearboxes for India’s P28 anti-submarine warfare corvettes. It was extraordinarily complex, but in the end, we caught up with most of the delay, won some associated contracts and solved major financial issues.
Mid-2013, I started working on business development and partnerships, and four years later, I was appointed as Director, Services and Development of the subsidiary. In due course, I moved to Paris in 2019 as Country Sales Director.
My job here, is at the very heart of the group’s international development. I cover sales activities for India, New Zealand and Australia (outside Australian Future Submarines). But the most active market right now for me remains India, and I’m naturally involved in the future submarine project alongside other subjects of maintenance and underwater weapons.
I have two priorities: first to build trust to allow long term business relationships with all our customers and industrial partners. To achieve this, we must anticipate future needs and make relevant proposals in a sustainable, efficient and risk-mitigated approach. Other one is equally as important, that my team and I foster positive relationships with different sites, divisions and the subsidiaries of the group. Because in the end, how we work as a team, how we believe in a common goal and joint success is of the essence. Together, we can always ensure to provide the right balance of expertise, wisdom and cautiousness. Based on this, we can make technically smart proposals truly beautiful in the eyes of our international customers.
Soumyajyoti Basu, Naval Group