Business Sustainability is all about catalyzing resources and opportunities to develop local solutions to local challenges, and bringing a positive impact across the entire spectrum of the organization.

Urvashi Banerjea, our next pathbreaker, Global Entrepreneurship Manager (Sustainability) at AB InBev, leads strategy and programming on a global level for all stakeholders across the value chain – including retailers, smallholder farmers, waste collectors, suppliers and recyclers.

Urvashi talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about being fortunate to be able to travel all across the world to meet entrepreneurs as well as visit smallholder farmers , and cherishing moments that are invaluable personally and professionally !

For students, sustainability is not just a strategy but a responsibility that everyone of us must take onto ourselves, to make supply chains more inclusive and equitable.   

Urvashi, tell us what were your growing up years like?

I was born in Kolkata, India and moved to the United States at the age of 5 with my elder sister and our parents. Growing up, we were a tight-knit family, very close to each other and our Indian culture. We would go back to Kolkata every summer during our school breaks, and my childhood was shaped by this cross-cultural experience. 

In many ways, my father has had the most influence on me growing up. An avid reader and follower of Hindu philosophy, my father and I would discuss topics ranging from spirituality and religion to the importance of independence and the value of hard work. Along with my mother, he instilled in me a moral compass that helped lay the groundwork for the highly empathetic nature I have today along with an innate understanding of what it means to be a global citizen. My passion today for social impact and desire to affect change on a larger level while leading with empathy have all been nurtured from a young age. I would return to India almost every summer growing up and see the entire rest of my family who still lives there today. One of my core values is being hyper aware of the privilege of my circumstance and upbringing and channeling this awareness into impact-driven roles. 

As a high school student, I was very eager to be involved, would say “yes” to all opportunities to grow and be a leader, and definitely had an inclination for leadership. I would keep myself busy across extracurricular activities and look for new ways to create change. One specific organization that comes to mind, the Future Business Leaders of America, was particularly impactful in my adolescent development, in teaching me leadership skills, public speaking skills and general knowledge of organizational event planning and programming for large groups of people. I was also on the Junior Varsity tennis team, marching band, jazz band, Italian Club, Student Government and National Honor Society officer. 

These early leadership experiences were formative and helped me find my confidence to be open, curious and pursue my passions. 

What did you do for graduation/post graduation?

Deciding where to attend University is one of the biggest decisions of your life, or at least it felt that way to me at the time! We toured countless colleges and I had already had a head start from accompanying my sister in her search 5 years ago. I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking for – after touring many universities, I distinctly remember thinking, “I can see myself here” when I first arrived at The College of New Jersey. I was interested in Political Science programs and TCNJ had a distinctively beautiful Humanities and Social Sciences building that I automatically felt at ease in. TCNJ also provided a healthy scholarship which also influenced my decision. 

I spent 4 wonderful years on this campus and in addition to the energizing relationships with peers and professors, classes and extracurriculars on-campus, some of my most formative experiences were actually off-campus. I spent 2 semesters studying off-campus in Washington, D.C. and Bologna, Italy. My confidence throughout college grew drastically as a result of how much I pushed myself out of my comfort zone across both of these experiences : DC where I interned on Capitol Hill in the House of Representatives for my local district Representative and Bologna where I spent a semester taking classes and completing a research project on the growth of Bangladeshi immigrant enclaves in Bologna.

I firmly believe that these experiences, coupled with the desire to seek out connections between unlikely industries led to my first job at Bloomberg, L.P. as a Global Data Analyst.  

What were some of the key influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional and uncommon career? 

Some of my key influences that gave me the confidence to pursue an unconventional career path center around a holistic growth in my understanding of my own sense of self – my confidence throughout college grew drastically as a result of how much I pushed myself out of my comfort zone across all of my experiences. These experiences gave me the ability to think out of the box and make unexpected connections; throughout my career I was able to connect the dots across my role, my industry and my ever present passion for social impact. I was agile and confident in my own abilities to make these connections and not be afraid to design a future for myself, even one that was not entirely clear.

For example, I  entered college thinking I would go into Law and instead graduated with a job in Finance, the belief in my own abilities to learn and pick up new skills greatly increased in those 4 years. 

My external internship experiences throughout college also grounded me and altered my initial, very idealistic “rose colored glasses” view of the world. Although I definitely became more pragmatic and understanding of a wide variety of social issues in my 4 years, my general sense of optimism about the world around me did not dim and instead was channeled into understanding capital markets and financial systems. I took this knowledge and thought of ways to connect it to what I really wanted to do.

Tell us about your career path

I’ve had many fulfilling professional experiences throughout my career across the 3 companies I have worked for and they were satisfying to me at the time for different reasons. When I was first starting out at Bloomberg, understanding a key financial concept or being able to proactively solve a problem by myself was very exciting as I had no formal education in Finance. My role as a Foreign Exchange and Derivatives analyst was centered around understanding the mechanics of the FX markets, communicating real-time analysis to clients and internal business groups and thinking strategically on how to best set up Interest Rate Derivatives data on the Bloomberg Terminal. 

Thinking back to this first role out of college 10+ years ago now as a Sustainability professional, the skills I learned at Bloomberg were critical to my future successes. Bloomberg is one of the largest financial data services (amongst other services!) providers in the world – learning how to navigate the corporate ecosystem and build relationships across divisions was extremely valuable. I learned how to understand my role in the context of the larger business and how it helps to set up other team’s for success. When I started at BEES as a product manager, I maintained this mindset which eventually led me to my role in Sustainability. 

As I got further into my financial career at the Intercontinental Exchange, a satisfying experience was driven by feelings of efficiency and productivity – being able to complete tasks on time and as effectively as possible for myself and the client. As I transitioned into Product Management at ICE, achieving a sense of satisfaction shifted into big picture-thinking. Ideating and strategizing on how I can make products better resulting in even one small UI change provided satisfaction.

I stayed in Product Management for 2 years and transitioned into a role at AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, to continue expanding my career. I became the Algorithmic Selling Product Manager for BEES – AB InBev’s e-commerce platform. 

BEES is one of the largest B2B e-commerce platforms in the world with 1.5M active users per month across 16 countries. As its global product manager, what makes me proudest is that it has become a powerful tool for ushering millions of small business owners into a new wave of digital transformation that is multiplying their potential for success. At its heart, BEES is an app where small retailers can browse products, place orders, arrange deliveries, manage invoices, and access business insights all from one place.

BEES is a B2B e-commerce app that connects retailers in our supply chain to AB InBev. BEES allows them to place orders, manage deliveries and access insights about their business. If a retailer is looking to replenish their inventory of beer to sell in their store, they can place the order through the BEES app. 

We strive to make this app as user-friendly and intelligent as possible. As the Algorithmic Selling manager, I managed the recommendation modules within BEES. Think of a “Based on your past purchases, we recommend…” section in your favorite e-commerce website or app. The BEES app has 3 different recommendation modules and my role as the Product Manager was to implement key front-end experiences for these modules. Users of these modules and of the BEES app are retailers within our supply chain all across the world. To date, BEES is live in 20 countries with over 3.1 million monthly active users.  

How did you get your first break?

My first break into Corporate Sustainability was an organic transition from my role as a Product Manager and came about as a result of a passion project after observing ways to make the e-commerce app I was managing more inclusive. 

After a certification program in Social Impact Strategy at Penn, I approached leadership with ideas for making our technology division more inclusive; I suggested ways to integrate social impact with the e-commerce application by keeping the characteristics of the end-user in mind throughout our small retailer ecosystem. I advocated for the inclusion of learning and education as a key piece of the customer care puzzle, and BEES Together now provides educational training and content to small business owners. The program represents the intersection of my experience in finance and e-commerce – understanding how marketplaces are created, formalized, and connected to a larger central ecosystem – and my visceral understanding of the vulnerability and challenges of small business owners in the informal economy from my youth in India. It allows ABInBev to bring digital transformation to new markets in a responsible and inclusive way that gives every man or woman an opportunity for success.

After a year or so in my product management and BEES Together role, I was tapped to lead Entrepreneurship on a Global level on the Corporate Sustainability team at AB InBev, my current role. 

What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?

My current role as Global head of Entrepreneurship has healthy challenges that require creative problem solving and cross-collaboration. My team oversees a variety of corporate functions and provides high level strategy and guidance on key sustainability challenges – it’s important to have high emotional intelligence and empathy to understand the priorities and problems your peers are facing in order to best come to a conclusion. As with any role with competing priorities, the challenges are the greatest when there is a lack of context and understanding. We address these problems by having open lines of communication, frequent touchpoints in order to understand context at a deeper level and approach all conversations with the intention to collaboratively problem-solve. 

Where do you work now? 

In my current role as Entrepreneurship Manager, I lead strategy and programming on a global level for entrepreneurs across the value chain – including retailers, smallholder farmers, waste collectors, suppliers and recyclers. A typical day consists of coordinating sustainability programs for entrepreneurs across multiple markets with my global colleagues, managing strategy and alignment with cross-functional colleagues for entrepreneurship-related programs and initiatives and driving external partnerships with industry groups to further AB InBev’s commitment to meeting Entrepreneurs’ localized needs and providing resources to improve their businesses. 

I love the global nature of this role; I’m passionate about extending the reach and impact of my work to developing markets and entrepreneurs across the supply chain. Entrepreneurship can be a formidable engine of economic growth and I believe it is the responsibility of corporations with vast global supply chains to leverage their reach to bring resources and support to their value chain. 

Sustainability at AB InBev is focused on 5 key pillars: Water Stewardship, Smart Agriculture, Climate, Circular Packaging and Entrepreneurship. My role as the global entrepreneurship manager is to drive and shape the Sustainability strategy across the value chain as it relates to entrepreneurs in our supply chain. The entrepreneurs in our supply chain include retailers, smallholder farmers, recyclers, waste collectors and suppliers. I manage and align sustainability goals within the larger AB InBev commercial organization and oversee program design and implementation of these programs across 6 global zones and 3 corporate functions. A key piece of my work includes working with external partners to fortify our own sustainability strategy as well as create key market linkages and partnerships that will benefit entrepreneurs. 

How does your work benefit society? 

AB InBev is the largest brewer in the world. With over 500 brands across 50 countries, ABI has a strong presence and footprint all across the world. The work of the Sustainability team is to ensure resilience and positive impact across the value chain – I take that responsibility very seriously. Through my role, I’m able to meet incredible people who are making a difference in their community, both inside and outside the organization. Our work across the globe catalyzes resources and opportunities to develop local solutions to local challenges, enabling us to capacitate them to support their families and grow their local economies. 

Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!

Due to the global nature of this role, I am fortunate to be able to travel all across the world to meet entrepreneurs within our value chain! I have traveled to Bogota, Colombia to speak with retailers and understand their pain points as well visit smallholder farmers in Africa on their barley farms. These moments are invaluable and I cherish any opportunity to be on the frontlines with our incredibly hard working entrepreneurs. 

My most satisfying professional experience was last year when I was the Algorithmic Selling Product Manager at ABInBev and I conducted a digital user test for users in the Dominican Republic. In pre-COVID times, travel was a big part of the Product Organization’s discovery process in understanding our user base and their pain points when “activating” the BEES application in a new country. In lieu of being able to travel, I wanted to find another way to obtain user insights and to answer key questions I had about usability of my product area. I worked with the Design team to create an interactive user test using a third party platform called Maze that ultimately resulted in successfully identifying areas of improvement. This user test also laid the groundwork for a subsequent A/B test that we created to optimize the design of a key revenue-generating module on the application. 

With this user test, I realized our untapped potential to use our e-commerce application for social impact. We could leverage our existing global retailer ecosystem to include financial literacy and education as a key piece of the customer care puzzle and put the power to lift individuals out of poverty into their own hands – quite literally, with technology they can hold. 

Your advice to students based on your experience?

My advice to the future generation of changemakers and thought leaders is to continue to challenge yourself to align with what you really want to do, even if the path to get there is not entirely clear. It is not an easy task to stay true to your convictions and ambitions but if your self-confidence enables you to follow your passions, your professional and personal missions will find a way to align. Stay focused, keep learning and building skills, and continue surrounding yourself with people that inspire you. I’m so excited to see what you will achieve! 

Future Plans?

In the short term, I plan on remaining in the Sustainability field, driving impact across value chains and catalyzing resources to make supply chains more inclusive and equitable.