Udaipur Leap Day Lit Fest 2017 concludes

Posted on by Guest Contributor

The Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur hosted the fifth edition of the Udaipur Leap Day Lit Fest at their Balicha Campus. The annual literary festival, flagship event of the literary society of the institution, comprised of several events celebrating the cultural vibrancy and intellectual fervour of  a medley of art forms, over the span of two days – the 25th and 26th of February.

Udaipur Leap Day Lit Fest, so named after the rare occurrence at the end of the month once in every four years, is held on the last week of February barring those on which it is held on the leap day itself. The previous editions of the extravaganza had been graced by luminaries from all walks of the art and cultural sphere – from best-selling authors like Ashwin Sanghi, popularly  sobriquet-ed as ‘India’s answer to Dan Brown’; to film-makers of the likes of Bejoy Nambiar, one of the most promising young directors of the country and the brain behind critically-acclaimed celluloid pieces like “Shaitan” and “Wazir”; lyricist-composers of the calibre of Piyush Mishra, whose notable works span the last two decades of the Bollywood industry and renowned classical dancer and social activist Mallika Sarabhai among others.

IIMU was the first Indian Institute of Management to boast of a dedicated Literary Festival when they played host to the inaugural edition back in 2012. While the first day served as a learning experience for the ones in attendance, the second day provided the audience a golden chance at interaction with some of the most notable names in the cultural sphere of the country at this moment.

On 25th, a workshop has been organized, in collaboration with Terribly Tiny Tales. Terribly Tiny Tales needs no introduction to the social-media savvy Indian. Their micro-fictions, with their unexpected endings, pinches of sarcasm aplenty and the tongue-in-cheek style, have garnered wide-scale appreciation from all quarters and are a rage on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The workshop provided the attendees an extensive insight on the art of concocting stories but also a hands-on experience of weaving them as the experts reviewed each and every one of their works. Owing to the limited number of seats available in the auditorium, the organizers have been forced to put a cap on the number of attendees.

The second day of the fest served as a medium of interaction between the audience and certain esteem guests from the world of Film and Literature. The panellists shared the story of their journey and the plethora of experiences that they underwent, certainly a great source of motivation for the ones still not ready to take the plunge. In addition they also provided their insights and opinions about the craft that they have mastered and the scenario in India at large.

The first speaker for the day was a man whose career is as amazing as the books that he writes. Mr. Apurv Nagpal is not only an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, but also a visiting faculty at that institute. He had earlier held several important corporate positions including that of the CEO of Saregama. However, he finally gave in to his passion and turned author with his book, “Eighteen Plus”. The erotica, with its lucid language and adult humour, is a definite page turner. The audience got the brilliant opportunity of meeting and interacting with a vibrant human being, a man of many parts. He revealed the journey from being a Marketing Stalwart to authoring “Eighteen Plus Duets”. He spoke of the way brave women authors came forward to help him with his project, and how the trends have been changing nowadays. He also mentioned that erotica is not his genre. “These stories have drama and life, so I prefer them not to be called erotica.” Addressing the writers in the audience Mr. Nagpal said, “Your personality is reflected through your writings.” His speech was an encouragement to the budding authors of the institute.

The event also played host to one of India’s most popular writers at present, Mr. Ravi Subramanian. A banker by profession, Mr.Subramanian has written popular thrillers about the banking industry and bankers, including the award winning trilogy of The Incredible Banker, The Bankster and Bankerupt. Popularly christened with the moniker of “The Indian John Grisham” as a nod to the legendary American author of corporate thrillers, Mr. Subramanian is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore. His speech served as an encouragement and motivation for all the budding writers in the B-School. He shared his experiences on how he overcame the initial obstacles to become a bestselling author with his ‘Thick Skin’ philosophy. ‘Success makes you greedy’ and ‘An author is the CEO of his book’ are the concepts he explained. Mr. Subramanian also explained why he took up writing as a career. During this he said, “One of the major reasons I started writing was due to my desire to be remembered to posterity.” His speech majorly focussed on why an author should not look at writing as a means of making money. He said that once an author comes out with a story he might feel it is the best piece ever written, but the reality may pull him down. Thus every author needs to continue writing for passion, even though the previous works weren’t a commercial success.

The event also witnessed another National Award winning writer-director, Hansal Mehta. Having started his career at the helm of non-fiction shows like Khana Khazana, Mr. Mehta soon found his true calling in Bollywood and have since then directed critically-acclaimed movies such as “Dus Kahaniyaa”, “Shahid’, “Aligarh” and “City Lights”. His perspective on Bollywood and the art of film-making enthralled one and all. His masterpiece, “Shahid” earned him the National Award in 2013. He went down the memory lane by speaking about his absolute delightful journey of running a small company and selling his stories with a burning desire to make films. He spoke on how a director saw his vision and encouraged him to make his first film, and how Mr. Anurag Kashyap, then a naive writer, introduced himself to Mr. Mehta with a script written within 24 hours. He also spoke of how the review by Mr. Anupam Kher at the Woodstock Villa preview changed his line of thought. He felt he lost his passion for movies and quit. Later he made a comeback with the movie Shahid, where again he faced obstacles of selecting an actor to please the directors. He was again in search of a new writer, who gave him the first draft of the screenplay in a week’s time. When all this wasn’t going well, he decided to make the film low on budget. It was then that he realised that money does not matter to convey yourself to the audience, it is passion that mattered. He also shared with the students the fact that Shahid was shot mostly using a Canon DSLR. Saying this, Mr. Mehta spoke of the technological advancement impacts on the film industry. He said that “Every device has a camera. The easiest way is to record things. But the challenge arises on deciding what to record.” He also enlightened the crowd with his learning from failures. He ended his speech with a pinch of advice – “Set your mind free! Don’t limit yourself. Education is supposed to make you very good thinkers and not executors. All I want to say is open your minds!”

With the advent of the internet and with a generation that is always ‘online’, the television is slowly but surely being replaced by online shows and Web Series. The Viral Fever, popularly known as TVF, one of the path-breakers of that industry, is in a league of its own with its relevant content, seething humour and stereo-type breaking shows. Sumeet Vyas, actor-writer for TVF, is perhaps the most popular face in the Indian web-content genre since his turn as the bumbling, affable lover-boy Mikesh in the “Permanent Roommates”. He graced the stage at ULLF’17 and spoke about the changing trends in the entertainment industry of the country. Mr. Vyas shared with the audience his life story – the initial academic failure, the entry into the industry, the making of the web-series, and the present. He said when he quit school in 12th standard, he started doing theatre, with the help of his father who was a TV writer. Later his father took him to work at an editing studio where he edited short films. The shows he edited included Rishtey, a short story series. He said he developed a fervour for theatre when he saw his father perform. He added that “We are always acting in life. We are different people in front of our parents, and completely different with friends. This made my passion stronger.” Mr. Vyas said he always preferred to be uncomfortable. “The best times are always unplanned”, he quoted. He added saying, “The nice guy image had become a cliché and thus I moved to making Permanent Roommates just to let go off a stereotype built on me”. Speaking of life Mr. Vyas commented, “We are blessed. Success, failure, romance, and despair – whatever happens in life is a story waiting to be told.” Ending his speech he mentioned “I do not want to be the owner of two houses at Bombay. I rather prefer being a part of the story I love.”

The audience were also delighted to have witnessed the launch of the book ‘HopeVsHype’ written by the in-house author, Ankit Jaiswal. As management students, the students learn to optimize limited resources, to interact with community, partner and collaborate with industry, build societal support and build relationships that transcend beyond transactions and exchanges, that same knowledge was applied to this gala of art and literature. The students were able to use their skills to connect with the Udaipur community at large and get Royal Retreat, My FM, Mic and Munch, The Yellow Chilli and UdaipurBlog to support them in their endeavours in various ways.

Solaris'16

Solaris’16 Concluded at IIM Udaipur

Posted on by Gaurav Choudhary

In keeping with its aspirations of igniting, inspiring, and illuminating the young and brilliant minds of the country, Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur in association with Secure Meters flagged off the second edition of its annual management fest, Solaris’16, on the 12th of November, from its new campus at Balicha, Udaipur. The event started off with an inaugural talk by the Director of the Institute, Prof. Janat Shah, who spoke about the challenges that the young, yet rising institute has had to face over the last five years, and how, despite these hurdles, it has managed to create an impact in the elite B-School scene, with its emphasis on the three pillars of academics, research, and entrepreneurship.

Solaris'16

The Leadership Summit

The event, which comprises of four summits spread over various domains of management, started off on Saturday with its flagship event, the Leadership Summit. With a view to widen the minds of the audience beyond just the business world, the theme of the event was- “Rise- Traverse, Transform, and Transcend”. The summit aimed to bring together leaders from different backgrounds ranging from pharmaceuticals and insurance to entrepreneurship and social inclusion to give their insights and share their experiences on how they managed to rise above and beyond the challenges they faced to come out successful.

The first talk was given by Mr. Ashok Banerjee, former Senior Executive Director of GlaxoSmithKline. Mr. Banerjee spoke on his experience in the pharmaceutical industry and how he overcame challenges on both technical and interpersonal level to increase growth rate of the company.This was followed by a discussion on brand differentiation by Mr. Sanjay Tripathy, Head- Analytics and marketing at HDFC Life. Mr. Tripathy enlightened the students on the nuances of the evolution of marketing of life insurance over the years keeping in mind the needs and wants of the customers. The next speaker in line for the event was Mr. Satyabrata Dey, the owner of Sreeleathers Ltd, a leading East Indian shoemaking company, for the last 30 years. He spoke about how the concepts of management needn’t be required to manage a business, and explained how he created a 300 crore company from scratch on the back of three important things- Affordability, Quality, and Availability.Mr. Jithin Nedumala, the co-founder of Make a Difference, a non-profit organisation that aims to educate young underprivileged kids, talked around how we as a society need to take up responsibility for the education of those who lack even the most basic of the sources. He further talked about how NGOs can be supported through crowdfunding.The event culminated with a speech by Mr. Ashish Gupta, who spoke about how FED leaders over the years have given insights about the market and taken decisions that affect economy at large. The session ended with an intriguing Q&A session by both the audience and the guests.

Solaris'16

Antardrishti

The afternoon of the first day of Solaris commenced with the Economics Summit – Antardrishti. The first leg of the summit included speeches and a panel discussion on “Shifting of the economic centre of the world to east and the role of India in this shift”.

The business conclave, organized by ConsultU, the consulting club and PiE, the economic club of IIM Udaipur, opened with an address from Mr. G Mahalingam, RBI’s Executive Director. Mr. Mahalingam enlightened the audiences on the theme iterating that even though the popular opinion is that the shift to east is a possibility, there are still a large number of steps to be taken to improve the overall situation in east before it happens. Mr. Sriram Krishnan, Director, Head of Investor Services, Deutsche Bank, talked about how corporate sector, and government initiatives such as ‘Make In India’ can aid this shift resulting in the rise of the Asian economies. He said that it is projected that by 2050, India will be among the top 10 economies of the world. The final speaker on this theme, Mr. Frederico Gil Sander, World Bank’s senior country economist for India, gave a different perspective to the idea, emphasizing how the east can actually become the economic centre of the world, but to achieve that goal, the hurdle of standard of living needs to be overcome. He talked about how improving the standard of life and betterment of facilities like education and healthcare can accelerate the economic growth of the Asian countries. The three addresses were followed by an insightful panel discussion by the three speakers on the given theme, finally reaching a consensus on the fact that the schemes undertaken by the government would definitely help in leading companies towards the desired direction but would require them to innovate new processes and not just copy global players.

The second half of the summit with the theme “Emerging trends in payment systems” began with the address of Mr. Kumar Karpe, CEO, TechProcess Payment Services who spoke on the significance of emerging markets like India in furthering advancements in the field of payment services. Mr. Nipun Kapur, Head, Strategy and Planning, Hero FinCorp Limited was the next speaker. He talked about how technology is making payments simpler and the merchant acceptance network with its low investment solutions and proprietary payment systems is making the economy more attractive. Mr. Rajesh Prasad, Vice-President and Head, RuPay Acceptance spoke about the importance of availability of both digital and physical touch points for payments and empowering consumers such that “one person should be in a position to pay another person without any barriers.” Mr. Abhishant Pant, Founder, Cashless Journey, enlightened the participants with a different line of thought on how the wallets are not going to be affected by the rise of online payments as they are the traditional way of payment, an incentive of human greed. He added that the online payments need to be more adaptive to the needs of the Indian consumer and remove the language barrier that many of them face. The second panel discussion culminated the event with all the four speakers, provided the audience with a great opportunity to listen to some of the greatest minds of the industry brainstorm and present their views on the theme topic.

Solaris'16

Solaris'16

The Inaugural Address – Dr. Hasit Joshipura

The second day of Solaris, the annual management fest of IIM Udaipur – began with the inaugural note by Dr. Hasit B Joshipura. Dr. Joshipura, who is the Member of Executive Management Committee and Head of Corporate Centre, Larsen & Toubro, spoke on this year’s theme – The Quantum Leap. He addressed the audience about how the theme indicates radical as opposed to incremental change and how that is the true symbol of the current times and the times to come. Stressing on how important this radical change will be in the existence of the economy, he spoke about the underlying trends which are going to have a bearing on the global economy and business. The need to deal with the increasingly disenfranchised segments of the population, the need for knowledge creation rather than just information and need for ideas to use the ever increasing capital, according to him were three of the most important trends that needed addressing by the great economies of the world. He ended his speech by emphasizing how it is the students; the future of this economy who are will need to find the new answers to deal with these trends, and it is their wise actions only that will create great wealth for this economy.

Arth Samvaad – The Finance Summit

The inaugural address was followed by the highly awaited Arth Samvaad – the Finance Summit. The two phase summit involved stalwarts from the finance industry speaking and holding. The first segment of the summit was initiated by Mr. Nirmal Jain, Founder and Chairman, India Infoline Holdings (IIFL) Limited. Mr. Jain talked about the structural issues of the Indian Economy like infrastructure, inadequate policies, judiciary and democracy being in lack in the country and how we as one of the youngest and the fastest growing economies have the strength to overcome all these barriers by focusing not just on the economic but the social and general happiness factors of the people of the country as well. The second speaker for the finance summit was Mr. Sarbvir Singh, Regional Adviser, JP Morgan PEG in New Delhi who talked about why a corporate debt market is needed in the Indian economy and what are the challenges faced by such a market. He culminated his note by stating how inception of the credit derivates came into being with the ideation of a single person, emphasizing on the students that “even an individual an make a lot of changes, one just have to keep their eyes and ears open”.

The latter half of the finance summit was kick started by Mr. Kapil Bali, CEO, Yes Securities Limited who  stressed on how valuing markets is all about keeping yourself happy with justifications. He went on to say that forward valuations are the future and the most important key to enable long term movements in the market. The final speaker Mr. Harsha Upadhyaya, Chief Investment Officer, Equity, Kotak MF, spoke about the dependence of the valuation of the market on three pillars – fundamentals, liquidity and sentiments and the three Ds that are the general concerns for economies – Deflation, Demography, and Disinflation. Mr. Upadhyaya ended his speech on a high note for the Indian economy accentuating that on the macro level the country has no issues for the next few years.The addresses of both the segments were followed by a panel discussion by the leaders on the topic “Is the time ripe for corporate debt market to flourish in India?” and “Is the Indian Market correctly valued in current times?” where they answered questions from the audience and gave a deeper insight into the financial market of the country.

Samvaah – The Marketing Conclave

The former half of the final day of Solaris saw eminent speakers from the field of marketing, coming together to enlighten the students, through Samvaah – the annual marketing conclave, organized by MarClan – the marketing club of IIM Udaipur. The event started with the launch of the quarterly magazine of the club – “Zeitgeist”.

The first speaker for Samvaah was Ms. Manmeet Vohra, Director – Marketing and Category, Starbucks, who guided the audience on how Starbucks built “Brand Loyalty through Social and Digital Platform” and how they used technology to stand out as the leading chain customers turn to and see as the third place after home and work.Next speaker for the event was Mr. Vikas Mehta, President, Group Marketing Services, MullenLowe Lintas Group. Mr. Mehta talked about “Marketing in the Age of Disruption”. He elaborated on the two new P’s of marketing – “Pace” and “Purpose” and how brands all over India have to keep with the changing times to stay in existence in current times. Ms. Suparna Mitra, CMO – Watches and Accessories, Titan Company Limited, talked to the audience about how “Titan JUXT” came into existence. She also spoke about how the marketing concepts taught in classrooms are actually relevant outside in the real world.

The second half of the summit saw Mr. Subhranshu Singh, Executive Vice President, Head Marketing – Sports, Star India take the stage and share his experience of facing an extremely uphill task – of making a sport that had been relegated to the verge of oblivion – and transforming it into a million dollar brand- ‘Pro Kabaddi’- by marketing the three salient factors of the game – the gripping physical action, the “Indian-ness” and the basic rules extremely simple to understand. Mr. Subhamoy Das, Former Director, International Association of Business Communications (IABC) enlightened the audience on the “Power of Stories in Brand Building”. He spoke about how stories are the new differentiator that makes or breaks a brand. The final speaker of the day and Solaris was Mr. Suraja Kishore, National Head – Planning, McCann Erickson. Mr. Kishore talked about how India has undergone a sea change in the last couple of years in terms of ideas about life, lifestyle, value systems and consciousness and in order to stay relevant brands need to reinvent them, change them by understanding what the audience wants

Competitions and Events

The fest also encompassed some interesting competitions which saw the participation from students from various B-Schools in the country. These competitions tested the students in the domains of Marketing, Economics and Entrepreneurship where the students were enthusiastic to learn as well as to win.

Head Rush – The business quiz organized by the quizzing society of the college, Potpourri, witnessed the participation of students from external institutes like MICA and IIM Rohtak alongside the students of IIMU. The finalists were selected after a gruelling online round. The eventual champions of the quiz was the team from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad.

Auteur’s Labyrinth – A short-film making competition which witnessed entries from all over India including a couple from FTII, Pune. Renowned Film Critic and critically- acclaimed director Mr. Sudhish Kamath was the judge for the event. He also delivered a captivating speech on the “Changing Dynamics of Indian Cinema”. The eventual winners of the event were the team from FTII, Pune with their stunning short-film ‘Setu’.

Juxtapose, the branding event, organized by MarClan, the marketing club of IIM Udaipur had teams presenting the brand extension of various brands such as Samsung, Cadbury, Volkswagen, Google where they included the concepts such as product portfolio, value proposition, target customers, TV commercials and the logo of the brand.  Team “The Sappy” and Team “Illusion”, both of them from MICA, Ahmedabad won the first and second prizes respectively.

Brand Charades, a twist on brands and dumb charades, organized, again by MarClan, was a fun event where one member of the participating teams had to prompt a famous brand and the other members had to recognize it. Amongst all the excitement, Team Mediocres from IIM Udaipur were the winners and Team Illusion from MICA, Ahmedabad took away the runners-up title.

A verbal battle of knowledge, wit and humour concerning some of the most relevant topics on economics, VaadVivaad, the annual national economics debate organized by PiE – the Economics Club of IIMU, witnessed the participation of the top six teams who qualified through to the finals after the first two qualifying rounds. The event was adjudged by faculty members Miss Rezina Sultana and Mr. Amish Dugar and the winning spot was taken by a home team.

Evolution D’ Entrepreneur,a startup quiz & simulation game organized by Saksham, the E-Cell of IIM Udaipur in collaboration with TOPSIM (by TATA Interactive Systems) tested the entrepreneurial concepts from strategy, resource optimization, marketing, organizational behavior and financial management of the participants. Team AIB, from MICA, Ahmedabad and Team Idea Bargains from IIM Udaipur, emerged as the winners and runners-up respectively.

Exhibitions

Kalakriti, an art exhibition was also organized by Team CreArt, with a vision to promote art. The exhibition showcased the best of the artwork by the artists of Udaipur as well as the in-house artists from IIM Udaipur.

Closing Note

Mr. Shashank Singh Jadaun, Convener, Solaris’16 delivered the closing note of the management extravaganza. He talked about how even with the technical and logistical challenges because of the shift to the new BalichaCampus; the successful completion of the event is a testament of the hard-work, determination and spirit of IIM Udaipur and its student community. He thanked the sponsors for their support, the faculty and the administrative staff for their guidance, the students for their passion, enthusiasm and participation and the luminaries from the industry for taking time off from their busy schedules and gracing the occasion. With that the second edition of Solaris – the annual management of IIM Udaipur, after 2 days of grandeur came to a successful conclusion.

4th Annual Convocation of IIM Udaipur

Posted on by Gaurav Choudhary

IIM Udaipur, 21 March 2016 – The Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU) held its 4th annual convocation on Monday, 21 March, 2016 at the MLSU auditorium, Sukhadia University Campus, Udaipur.

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Dr. Pankaj R Patel, Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Institute, and Chairman of  Zydus Cadila delivered the welcome address. He stated that this batch of students have made the institute proud through their various activities and initiatives in the international arena. He mentioned that this is indeed a special occasion as this is the last convocation ceremony being held at MLSU campus which is a temporary campus and that the next events will be at the new 300 acre campus.

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Mr. Rajan Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises, was the Chief Guest and delivered the convocation address. He congratulated the students on this joyous occasion and urged the passing batch to be sensitive to the society at large. He spoke about the challenges that he had to face during the license raj era and how liberalization has eased up many of those challenges. But he also mentioned that current generation faces a different set of challenges all together. The current fast paced environment requires managers to think differently and cited examples of a few global startups which did things that were unimaginable a couple of decades ago. He appreciated the college for its unique vision and encouraged the students to be quite involved with the society at large.

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Prof. Janat Shah, Director of the Institute, delivered the concluding address. He congratulated everyone on the convocation of yet another batch and mentioned that the transformation in students over the last couple of years is very encouraging.Prof. Shah told how being a manager can give an opportunity to impact many lives and in turn the nation as well and urged the passing batch of students to be on the forefront of this journey.

The occasion was graced by the members of the Board of Governors of the Institute and other dignitaries from Udaipur. A total of 120 graduating students of IIMU’s Post Graduate Programme and 10 students of IIMU’s Post Graduate Programme for Executives received diploma at this year’s convocation.

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The students who received the Gold Medals are as follows –

IIMU Award for Scholastic Performance

PGPX – GautamShirishHardikar

PGP  – Hitarth Bhadresh Mehta

Hitarth Gold medalist
Hitarth Gold medalist

IIMU Award for Best PGP All-Rounder

ViditMongia

Solaris by IIM Udaipur

Posted on by Sanjit Chohan

Solaris 2015

A college which sets the benchmark for its contemporaries to follow has come up with a new benchmark for others. IIM Udaipur and Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society in association with Vedanta Resources is ready to host its maiden management fest- Solaris which will be held on the 7th and 8th of November in the MLSU campus in Udaipur.

‘Solaris’, a name coined in sync with the famously sunny disposition of Rajasthan skies is set to touch a cherished milestone envisioned ever since the inception of IIM Udaipur. A two-day long extravaganza full of events to keep some of India’s most brilliant minds engaged, Solaris is entirely conceptualized and managed by students of the institute with help from generous sponsors who supported them throughout the process. Solaris has associated with giants of their respective fields with Ramada Udaipur Resort and Spa as hospitality partner, The Times of India as media partner, LIC and TOPSIM-Tata Interactive Systems as event partners and NS publicity as advertising partner.

Keynote Address- Dr. Subir Gokarn

The event is planned to present an enthralling keynote address from distinguished luminaries like Dr. Subir Gokarn– the current Director-Research, Brookings India and also the youngest ever Deputy Governor of RBI . He shall be flagging off the management fest with tales of his work and impart wisdom in the young minds present in the audience and also to some of the other revered personalities present there.

Leadership Summit

The first keynote address is followed by an address from another behemoth of the business world, Mr. M.S. Unnikrishnan, managing director and CEO of Thermax Limited. A recipient of the ‘Asia Innovator Award’ and a passionate advocate of a sustaining ecosystem of innovation and technology for national resurgence, is also involved in making initiatives in improving the system of technical education. Also as a member of prestigious organizations including the National Committee for Capital Goods of FICCI will share his valuable knowledge which will resonate through the ears of the aspiring leaders of tomorrow.

The address commences the flagship event of ‘Solaris’- The Leadership Summit. The event is one of four summits taking place in this business extravaganza which has been brought to life by the Media and Industry Interaction Cell (MiiC) of IIM Udaipur. The summit will be adorned by luminaries from all walks of life speaking primarily on the topic “Evolve- Innovate.Reflect.Reinvent”. With Evolve being the central theme, the Leadership Summit wishes to elucidate how companies need to constantly break through existing norms, show resilience in the face of adversity and create synergies to merge the best of both work cultures. The stage will be graced by business dignitaries such as Mr. Sandeep Budhiraja (Country Head, MMR Research Worldwide), Mr. Ajay Gupta (Director – Chief Operations Officer at Decimal Point Analytics) and Mr. Manish Rastogi (Head – Strategy at Metro Cash & Carry India Private Limited). They will all be delivering speeches on their respective fields educating the eager audience with their valuable wisdom along with an interactive session with the students.

 

Samvaah- The Annual Marketing Conclave of IIM Udaipur

The Leadership Summit will be followed by the marketing conclave -Samvaah organized completely by the marketing club- Marclan. The club which tries to instill a zeal for marketing in the college as well as beyond believes that the world of marketing is changing from the tried and tested concepts of the old. Marclan put in untiring effort and diligence into finding the perfect industry experts to interact with the students on the topic of “The future of marketing”. The experts include: Mr. Abhishek Joshi (Director – Digital Marketing & Customer Acquisition at Redbus.in), Mr. Ram Moorthi (Managing Partner at Oglivy & Mather), Mr. Atindriya Bose (Country Head of Sony entertainment) and Ms. Gayatri Ojha (Brand Communications & Insights Head – M-Pesa at Vodafone India). The industry leaders will share their perception of consumer behavior and viral marketing through an interactive session with the attendees. The interactive session will be followed by workshops organized to provide budding leaders with a unique opportunity to learn from the rich experience and expertise of industry stalwarts.

The fest continues with a stimulating line up of events and competitions conducted by the marketing club- Marclan, a business quiz conducted by the Literary and Quizzing society- Potpourri along with individual events by the entrepreneurship cell- Saksham and the finance club- Finomina. A workshop in analytics will be conducted by Mr. Kunal Jain, Founder and CEO of Analytics Vidhya organized by the IT cell of the college connect-IT.

Arth-Samvaad- The Finance Summit

The day commences with the finance summit- Arth-Samvaad, the flagship event of the finance club- Finomina. The summit provides a platform for future financial managers to interact with industry stalwarts and discuss the changing trends in the world of finance and economics. The panel discussion will be on the topic “Currency Chaos: Where will it lead to?” where the industry experts will help decipher the intricacies and position of the Indian Rupee along with the market swings brought in by the Chinese Renminbi. The speakers to grace the stage at this event include The Chief Economist at YES BANK– Dr. Shubhada Rao, Associate Director at NVS Brokerage- Mr. Kamlesh Mehta and Executive Director of IDBI Bank Ltd.– Mr. N.S. Venkatesh. The panel discussion is followed by a “Face-off” which is an hour long event which will witness the Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India, Mr. Deepak Mohanty, providing an insightful discourse on a topic addressing the current macro-economic environment of our country and the various challenges and risks that ensue.

Technovate- Summit for Tech-Entrepreneurs

The final summit will bring the era of tech-startups to light. The world of IT has spread across all domains and infiltrated every walk of life. With 800+ startups popping up annually and venture capitalists investing by the millions, the startup world environment is as radioactive as ever. The summit going by the name of ‘Technovate’ is a joint venture put forward by the entrepreneurship cell (Saksham) and the IT club (Connect-IT) who have invited industry giants like Mr. Manoj Sharma the Chief Technical Officer of Quikr, Mr. Vishal Verma the Operations and Logistics Manager of Uber, Mr. Anil Joshi of Unicorn India Ventures , Ms. Aditee Rele the Lead in Technical Evangelism at Microsoft, Mr. Piyush Poddar the Director of Professional Services at Axelerant and Ms. Lalitha Yanamandra the General Manager of  Enterprise Services & Delivery at MartJack to speak on the topic “Evolution of entrepreneurs in IT”.

Competitions and Workshops

The day is bejeweled with competitions from all fields in business including marketing, finance, economics, operations and quizzes. A staggering amount of prize money is on offer through the course of 23 events scattered across 2 days. The competitions boast of total prize money of upwards of Rs 4 lakhs, a staggering amount for competitions primarily testing the students’ proficiency in their managerial studies.

The event will also see participation from various colleges on a pan-India basis with teams registering from every nook and cranny of the country in the online rounds. The Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SolarisIIMU/?fref=ts ) is decked with dubsmash videos from colleges far and wide expressing their enthusiasm and interest in the fests competitions. Some of them who will reach the final round have been invited to the campus for a chance to win the grand prizes of those events.

As the day draws to a close a master of operations makes his entry. Skein- The operations club has been able to entice Dr. Pawan Agrawal a man with a PHD. on the Mumbai Dabbawallas to speak about the efficient and practically zero error workings of such a complex organization.

Final Word

The maiden fest of IIM Udaipur is destined to be a great success and put the event as amongst the top ranking business extravaganzas of the country. As the torchbearers light the proverbial inaugural lamp IIM Udaipur opens its doors for the world to see the rising sun that is ‘Solaris’. Ignite. Illuminate. Inspire.

 

For more information about the event visit:

Website: http://solaris.iimu.ac.in/

The Udaipur LeapDay LitFest 2015

Posted on by Yash Sharma

Potpourri – The literary and debating club of IIM Udaipur successfully hosted The Udaipur LeapDay Litfest 2015(ULLF), IIMU’s annual literature festival at the institute. This is the third such edition of the event, and was held on 28th of February, 2015.

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ULLF is a celebration of Indian writing and aims at promoting love for reading and writing amongst IIMU students and the Udaipur Community. Started in 2013, ULLF is an annual event that aims to bring together connoisseurs of literature and arts to share their views, and provides an opportunity to students and residents of Udaipur to interact with eminent personalities. This annual event is organized on every February 28, with a special two-day festival during leap years.

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The theme for this year’s fest – ‘Beauty in Chaos’ was aimed at celebrating the charming order that takes shape in the turbulent journey of an artist. Apart from prominent authors, this year’s festival featured artists, screen writers, poets, dancers, comedians and photographers who shared their perspectives on the beauty that is the artist’s struggle to recognition.

The event began with the lamp lighting ceremony by the guests, which was followed by a brief introduction to the event by Prof. Vishwanathan from IIM Udaipur who discussed the importance of creativity and how being creative is encouraged at IIM Udaipur through activities conducted by different student-driven clubs and committees.

The first talk was by Mr. Piyush Mishra- musician, poet, actor and famously known as the lyricist for the movie Gangs of Wasseypur. Mr. Mishra started off with a beautiful performance on the harmonium, which was followed by a candid discussion on his life, his struggle to make it big in Mumbai, Anurag Kashyap and amusing moments in the making of Gulaal and his preference of theatre over cinema. His talk ended with a beautiful rendition of Husna followed by a satiric poem on Hamlet that had the crowd in splits.

This was followed by a talk by Padma Bhushan awardee Dr. Mallika Sarabhai- classical dancer, activist and a theatre artist. Dr. Sarabhai began with a highly amusing story of a whistling princess, then moved on to a more serious story about her version of Gautami’s story from ancient Hindu religious texts. What transpired next had the entire audience’s rapt attention as Dr. Sarabhai went on to describe in vivid detail the veiled truth behind the story of every woman in India- the sexual harassment and violence she faces and how both men and women are responsible for it. Dr. Sarabhai’s session was an eye opener for everyone present.

The second session of the fest focussed on story-telling as an art form. The session had two expert story-tellers Ms. Anu Singh Chaudary, author of e-retail record-breaking collection of short stories ‘Neela Scarf’ and Ms. Giti Chandra, author of the ‘Book of Guardians’ trilogy. Both authors regaled the audience with stories of their life and also shared some snippets from their books.

The final session for the day had Mr. Sandeep Jha– founder of Emotional Fulls an online entertainment channel ‘EmotionalFulls’ and Mr. Rahul Raushan, founder of online satire-news portal ‘Faking News’. Both speakers first shared stories about their life and work.

Udaipur’s LeapDay LitFest was a grand success and was applauded by the speakers and audience alike with everyone in attendance eagerly looking forward to the next edition.

This year’s event was sponsored by Sahitya Akademi and the education partner was Aryas Publication. The other partners of the event were Niranjan Associates, Ashoka Cinemas and Pirates Publications, book partner – National Book Trust and food partner Jaisingh Garh, Raaj Bagh and Kaju’s.