TATA First Dot - B Plan Workshop

 

 

 

 

Consulting and Entrepreneurship Club of IIM Raipur acted as the host partner for ‘TATA First Dot Powered by NEN’ held on 24 November 2012. The one-day workshop focused on the successful progression of idea into a business model which can evolve into a fruitful venture. It was open to student entrepreneurs and was targeted to be beneficial to those who have already developed an idea. This workshop also served as a precursor to the participants for entry into the Pan-India Competition held by TATA First Dot. The top 30 entrepreneurs from the competition would be mentored by NEN.

The workshop was held by Dr. Radhika Meenakshi Shankar, Founder, Wise Owl Consultancy and Kalpana Sinha, Senior Consultant, NEN. Dr. Shankar guided the participants regarding how to develop their ideas by using different frameworks, business models and writing an effective business plan for successful pitching to the various stakeholders in the project.

Dr. Sanjeev Prashar, Professor, IIM Raipur, said “IIM Raipur with NEN will continuously work towards guiding students in preparing the B-Plans for their start-ups and providing them the necessary mentoring.”

Students from IIM Raipur, IIT BHU, NIT Raipur, Disha College of Management, Future Institute of Engineering Technology, CAHCET, Centre for Modelling and Simulation and DIMAT participated in this event.

Ethical Leadership of Mahatma Gandhi

 

Smt. Shobhana Radhakrishna and Mr. Ravi Chopra from the Centre for Gandhian Vision and Values visited IIM Raipur campus on 20th Nov 2012.

Smt. Shobhana Radhakrishna enlightened the students about Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology in the area of ethical leadership. She emphasized on the fact that the Gandhian era has not ended and the Gandhian principles and values are still relevant. As potential future leaders she advised the students not to have pay-cheques as their only objective in life but to attach themselves to higher ideals and work towards solving the problems of the society. Gandhiji had immense expectations from the educated youth of the society. She highlighted the fact that Gandhiji was a ‘practical idealist’ who practiced what he preached. He personified the modern idea of ‘leadership by example’. Mistakes committed by the leaders cost too high as they stand as a role model for the masses.

 We should do our work wholeheartedly to the minutest detail as each and every work is given by god. Objectives should be small but measurable but goals should be certain. The resources we use are not a gift from our forefathers but a loan from our future generations. It is therefore our obligation to give it back 100 times of what we use. She urged us to focus on increasing our efficiency. One should always spend one’s time for useful purposes because time is the most valuable resource in one’s life. She further mentioned the three principles that governed Gandhi’s time management techniques: Be Quick, Be Brief and Be Gone. Efficiency includes adherence to truth and avoidance of negligence. We must be able to take charge when the need arises, Gandhi was reluctant in public speaking and shy until he realized the purpose of his life. Similarly we should always live upto the expectations of the situation when the time demands for it and realize one’s purpose in life. Delegating tasks to the right people, dealing every situation with wisdom, being punctual, sincere and prompt in every step will help one achieve success. We all should identify the unique virtue in ourselves which would be our inner strength to guide us through life. Smt. Radhakrishna demonstrated how to spin thread with a ‘charkha’ and ‘takli’. The students travelled back in time to the 1950’s and witnessed the state of our country back then, compared to the present and it dawned upon them how Gandhian principles acted as a transformational tool in the development of the country. The session made the students realize how the efforts of a single individual can cause gargantuan influence on the society.

Frisbee Sessions at Indian Institute of Management, Raipur by Frisbee Wizard Mr Brodie Smith

Students at Indian Institute of Management, Raipur witnessed a spectacle from Mr. Brodie Smith, the Frisbee legend who visited the campus on invitation from Prof. Vinita Sahay, Chairperson, Student Affairs. He was also accompanied by Mr.Praveen Prakash, Senior manager,HR,Usha international which is an active partner of Ultimate Frisbee matches.

Mr Smith is well renowned world over for being a 2-Time National Champion in Ultimate Frisbee. The students got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Smith, and Mr.Praveen Prakash, Senior manager,HR,Usha international and know more about the game.

The event started with an address by Mr. Prakash, followed by a screening of some famous Frisbee shots by Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith then shared with students on how he developed a passion for Frisbee and decided to follow his passion. He gave valuable insights, on how playing a sport dedicatedly has many benefits, like being disciplined and committed to one’s task. He also said that once in leadership position, the best way to make people follow you is by setting an example. Mr. Smith also emphasized on the importance of setting goals, be it business, be it sports or be it relationships. He then shared his experiences of being at India.

During questionnaire round while answering to one question, Mr Smith, appreciated that majority of Indians love playing sports; however most of them are devoted to cricket. Their ability towards playing sports makes Frisbee not so challenging game for Indians. In fact the country has the potential to become the world leader in the game.  

In one of the other questions asked Mr. Smith suggested students to have an open mind and take everything that comes to one as an opportunity.

The students then had a Frisbee practice session on the ground with Mr.Smith. He taught the basics of forehand, backhand and the Gator Clamp to the students. He further divided the students into various groups and made them play with the Frisbee to learn the basics. Post that, Mr Smith conducted a practice match of the Frisbee Ultimate among the students.

The event was organised by the Cultural and Sports club of IIM Raipur and commendable efforts were put by Coordinator Prashant Meshram, Tarang Singhal, Abhishek Sharma, Mahesh Nath Sahu, Avishek Mondal, Shauvik, Vivek, Sourav and Aditi Bajpai.

India Brazil Economic Cooperation - Mr Deepak Bhojwani

 

 

 

Mr Deepak Bhojwani , a career diplomat who has been the Ambassador to several countries in the Latin America in the last 12 years prominent being Venezuela, Columbia, Cuba among others and Consul General at Sao Polo, Brazil addressed the students about the opportunities in Latin America. The theme of his lecture was “India Brazil Economic Cooperation”. He urged the students to shun the myths around Latin America, which appears remote to most Indians. Mr Bhojwani described it as a land of 600 million people with per capita income as high as $15,000 which has great opportunities for business.

Mr Bhojwani began with an introduction about the region explaining about the rich history the continent has. He began with how the continent was discovered, explaining along the way why Brazil was Portuguese and the rest of the continent predominantly Spanish. He explained the difference in colonization of Asia , Africa and South America. He also pointed out the difference between the inhabitants of Caribbean and parts of  This in turn has had a great influence in the way Latin America behaves and thinks. The influence United States has had on the region and the rise and fall of left leaning dictators.

Mr Bhojwani elucidated the numerous reasons why Latin America needs to be looked in a new light and highlighted the absence of credible sources on the region. Some of the key opportunities according to him were:

A)     The continent is endowed with Mineral wealth for eg: Petroleum ( Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela), Natural Gas ( In Bolivia, Uruguay) etc , Iron Ore, Copper, Lithium, Gold etc.

B)      The presence of unified markets being created in form of Mercusor, Pacific Alliance and an Alliance of Latin American Countries (CELAC )creates new business opportunities.

C)      The relatively peaceful neighbors ( last time a major war that was fought between neighbors was over 150 years back).

D)     The prosperity of the people, the population being 6/10 of India and spread over an area that is over 5 times the size of India with high per capita income ( over 10 times the Indian per capita income) cannot be ignored for long

E)      The favorable image India has in the minds of Latin Americans

He discussed in detail about how the engagement with Latin Countries and particularly Brazil have grown in the past one decade ( during which he held prominent positions in Indian Embassies across the region) but he pointed that a lot is required to be done to promote bilateral trade. The trade has been limited to seeking resources from the region in the form of crude, which formed the bulk of trade, along with other natural reserves.  The overall investment by Indians in the region according to one estimate was over $15 billion but India on the other hand has not seen the same. Mr Bhojwani expressed his hope that in the coming years the visa policies for the region will be made more conducive to allow businessmen to explore the region before investing and at the same time stressed on the need to sign preferential trade agreements with the countries to make the most out of the opportunities that exist.

The students asked about the safety of business in the region and the instability of the business regimes and also tried to understand the cultural nuances in terms of doing business in Latin America. The students tried to understand the various policies India has to promote Indian Business in the region and also were intrigued how the region especially Brazil, despite the similarities with India, has larger companies on Fortune 500 than India and is now also facing a slowdown.

The session gave students a comprehensive overview on doing business in Latin America and Mr Bhojwani complimented the students on their keenness to learn about the region. He expressed his desire to come back to the campus and talk more about the same.

Global Leadership

 

 

 

Indian Institute of Management Raipur conducted guest lectures on ‘Managing across Culture’ by Mrs Josiane O’Brien and ‘Global Leadership’ Mr John O’Brien of ESCP Europe, one of the leading International B-Schools. The lectures focused on the cultural diversity in organizations and business, Leadership that is global in scope. The students had the opportunity to glean a unique insight into the evolution of management and business in Europe, and the growing importance of cultural aspects in the corporate.

                Mr John O’Brien discussed the various aspects of Global Leadership, which he had researched upon, and interacted with the students on the same subject. Mrs Josiane O’Brien discussed the European business and the cultural aspects involved therein. In further interaction with the students on how the theories and practices that are universal and differ, the Indian business leadership and cultural implications were discussed.

Mr Amitabh Pandey discusses about future of e-commerce in India at IIM Raipur

IIM Raipur students were today graced by the presence of the man behind implementation of online railway reservation system in India, Mr Amitabh Pandey. Mr Amitabh was here to deliver a guest lecture about the future of e-commerce in India. Mr Amitabh, who has also been the President and Head of E-Business for Thomas Cook India, concentrated on the learning from his real life projects. The students were fortunate enough to know about the implementation of one of the earliest internet based commerce project in India and the lessons learnt from it.

Mr Amitabh was adamant on instilling the entrepreneur spirit among the students. He showed through numerous examples that if opportunities are grasped at the right time, one can achieve the success. In 2001 it was a tedious process for common people to book the rail tickets standing in queues and when online reservation system was introduced, people welcomed it and today almost 400,000 tickets are booked on IRCTC daily. He emphasized that even today lot of such opportunities exist and it is just a matter of time when various entrepreneurs will come up with innovative solutions. Even today more than fifty percent of the e-commerce business in India is related with online travel booking which leaves a huge scope in the retail segment.

While discussing various practical experiences from his past projects, Mr Amitabh told about the importance of limiting costs in initial phase and dealing with customers honestly. He said we all learn great lessons in our classes but after joining corporate, we sometimes limit our vision just to next quarter results and the year’s bonus. He also discussed about the various risks related with the e-commerce business and management of those risks. He mentioned about various problems faced by him throughout his career of conceptualizing e-commerce business and solutions he adapted at various places. All in all, the session was an enriching experience for the students some of whom were seriously contemplating about grasping any such opportunity existing today. 

IIM Raipur signs MoU with IESEG School of Management, France

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Raipur, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the IESEG School of Management seeking student and faculty exchange programs, collaborative research projects and organization of joint academic and scientific activities. The MoU was signed by Prof. B S. Sahay, Director, IIM, Raipur and Prof. Jean-Philippe AMMEUX, Director General & Dean, IESEG School of Management, Lille & Paris.

IESEG School of Management is one of the main business schools in France. The school has a total of 3,000 students (of which over 700 are international students – mainly exchange students) scattered on both the Lille and Paris campuses. The business school is a member of the Université Catholique de Lille, the largest private university in France in terms of student population and endowment. 

The co-operation program aims to foster advancement in teaching, research, cultural understanding, as well as international reputations of both institutions through: the exchange of postgraduate students, faculty members, and academic information and materials; the organisation of joint corporate training programs, joint research programs, joint conferences and other academic exchanges that both institutions agree to. 

Each institution will accept Post-Graduate students from the other institution starting from the academic year 2013-14. They have agreed to exchange up to five students for one semester/term of study per academic year. No tuition fee will be charged by the partner or host institution. 

IESEG and IIM Raipur will also exchange faculty members, which will create a strong basis for the development of joint training programs, formulating joint research projects, exchange of teaching materials, and so on. Under this agreement IESEG and IIM Raipur may invite faculty members from the partner School to teach part of a course or a full course. 

Under this agreement both institutions will explore possibilities of collaboration in conducting middle and senior management training programs in business management topics with a view towards promoting the image of both Schools as disseminators of state-of-the-art knowledge in this field. The program will be of two weeks duration. One week of the program will be conducted at IIM Raipur and one week will be conducted by IESEG at their facilities. 

Both institutions shall explore the feasibility of organising joint international and local academic and business conferences to improve visibility and enhance the image of both institutions as quality service providers to business and industry. 

IESEG has been accredited by EQUIS and has collaborations with IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, and IIM Kozhikode.