News & Events

Alumni meet was held on 3rd Dec, 2011 at the institute premises of ITM Bangalore. More than 100 alumni from all ITM B Schools namely Bangalore, Chennai, Warangal & Navi Mumbai graced the occasion.  Among the invited dignitaries were Dr. G K Sharma, Director, ITM Chennai, Dr. T Dayakar Rao, Director, ITM Warangal, Mr. Rajesh Pillai, National Director, Executive MBA, and Mr. Shelar, Director Operations, ITM Group.
During the event “ITM AAA (Alumni Achiever’s Award)” for the year 2010-11” were also presented to the alumni. The selection was based on their performance & achievement in the industry.
Mr. Shelar presented the memento to. Mr. Alex Mendes- ITM Navi Mumbai(1991-1993), Dr.T Dayakar Rao presented the memento to Mr.Prakash Mahapatra- ITM Warangal(, Dr G K.Sharma presented the memento to Mr, Saurabh Dafria – ITM Bangalore and Mr. Hemant Shah- ITM Bangalore, & Dr. B.S. Patil presented the memento to Ms. Pankaja  Acharya- ITM Bangalore and Mr. Prabhakar Lotulekar- ITM Bangalore.
Award ceremony was followed by a gala dinner. The evening came to an end at around 10:30 pm and ITM Bangalore family bid adieu a warm farewell to all the distinguished guest and alumni.

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

The vision of bringing the best of the lot from the international business on a single platform was accomplished when International Business wing of Institute for Technology and Management started their annual event IB JAAGRAN 2.0 on 10th November, 2011. The three days annual event saw participants from all over the world and the corporate houses. Mr. Nitin Putcha, Vice President of the institute, Dr. Ganesh Raja, Director of the institute, Dr. C.S. Adhikari, Dean of the institute and Prof. B.V.R. Murty, Deputy Director, GLC Department of the college graced the function as the chief guest and enlightened the students about the changing world orders.

Be it the wondrous competitions that incite sparks of passion, or the thought provoking addresses that set you thinking, or, quite simply, a personal Eureka moment amidst the deluge of ideas all around - the Jagran has all the events ranging from online to offline.

 Day 1 saw entries from colleges like Symbiosis, corporate houses like IBM, where they show their intelligence in the I-quest, the international biz quiz show. Other events like Ad-Mad and Taste Buds qualifiers took place with plenty of participation.

Day 2 started with the much awaited Mock UN Summit where Mr. Manohar Pandit and Ms. Manisha judged the students on the basis of their knowledge about the global scenario. Computer Games like Counter Strike and NFS were also the part of this IB extravaganza and saw huge amount of participation. Mock IPL was also organized by the students and it was an instant hit among the students and they cherish and enjoyed every moment of it.

Day 3 started with the most sought after event "CEO Conference" where CEO's from variety of fields graced the function and enlightened the students about "Doing Business in Uncertain Future". Educates from various colleges attended the conference and got plenty of encouragement from the esteemed guests.

The Day ended with the finals of Taste Buds where IB students brought cuisines of various countries. Carrying on with the legacy passed on to it, IB 2011-13 with their cumulative efforts made the Jaagran 2.0 an amazing show with perfect blend of learning and fun and promised to make the Jaagran 3.0 an spectacular event with more zeal and enthusiasm

Regards,
Joy Banerjee

Mr.Kapil Sibal, India’s Minister for Human Resource Development laid out a five point agenda for private sector involvement at a discussion, focusing on innovative models and delivery mechanisms for U.S.-India higher education cooperation, jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and USIBC on 14 October 2011 in Washington D.C.

The session also featured notable people like Mr. P Rajendran, Chairman, CII National Committee on Higher Education and Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, NIIT Ltd; Dr. P.V. Ramana, Chairman, ITM Group, Dr. Robert Brown, President, Boston University; Mr. Avinash Vashishtha, Chairman and Managing Director, Accenture; Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Mr.Ron Somers, President, US-India Business Council.

The discussion session was organized on the sidelines of the first ever U.S.-India Higher Education Summit which took place on October 13 in Washington D.C. and drew academics, private sector participants and government officials to discuss existing and future opportunities for collaboration.

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"International Accreditation Seminar has been held at Delhi on 7th & 8th November 2011. The leading accreditation agencies like AACSB, BAC along with NBA from India have attended. Dr.M.P.Rao along with other delegates, discussing the value addition and purpose of the international accreditation."

"International Accreditation Seminar has been held at Delhi on 7th & 8th November 2011. The leading accreditation agencies like AACSB, BAC along with NBA from India have attended. Dr.M.P.Rao along with other delegates, discussing the value addition and purpose of the international accreditation."

On 25th November 2011, ITM Chennai organised " One Day Entrepreneurship " in which 1st year students were given an opportunity to come up with ideas to prove themselves as an Entrepreneur. Different stalls were put by those students. II year students, faculties and staff members brought items and experienced the service provided by these 1st year students , which there by encouraged these students and also gave them a feeling of real entrepreneur market environment.

Invited by Govt.of.Maharashtra (Department of Rural Development) to observe the Public Private Participation proposal submitted by one of the private firm (Select Direct Marketing Communications Pvt.Ltd.,) for rural development and model village. The following were attended Dr.M.P.Rao, Dr.Nitin Desai, Secretary, Dy.Secretary of RDD and Mr. Ramesh Iyengara, CMD of the said company with his team.

Dr.Shariq Nisar (Director), TASIS, Dr.M.P.Rao, post award ceremony of FINANCIAL INCLUSION - Role of Intermediary (Digital Financial Inclusion)

Positioning HR to Create Value

The Skill & Will required for making a differenceDate : 3rd December,2011.Venue - Convention center,TISS,Deonar, Chembur, Mumbai.

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Date: 17th October 2011, Venue: Big Auditorium (ITM- CSI)

The ITM Centre for Social Initiatives, Kharghar in collaboration with RCNM Sun Rise and Rotary Club of Millenium City Vashi organized a blood donation and thalassaemia minor screening camp on 17th Oct 2011. The objective of the camp was to propagate the significance of blood donation in saving lives, and to generate awareness about the need to prevent thalassaemia major. Since last six years, ITM-CSI has been organizing the blood camp annually in partnership with Think foundation. The resource pool of over 1000 students (junior and seniors) and faculty members offer a strong count for blood donation. The blood bank partners for this year were the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation blood bank and Samarpan Blood bank (Ghatkopar). The donors were scrutinized before the blood donation so as to ensure that the blood was collected from healthy donors. All the samples collected were tested for Thalassemia Minor as well. Certificates were issues to the donors by the blood bank medical officer at the camp site itself. The facility of thalassaemia minor screening was also offered to those who could not donate blood. The camp was organized with monetary support from Rotary Club of Millenium City, Vashi and Rotary Club of Navi Mumbai, Sunrise.

Thalassaemia Major is a genetic blood disorder which necessitates lifelong blood transfusions for survival. The child is born with Thalassaemia Major only if both parents are Thalassaemia Minor. The ignorance of the parents of being Thalassaemia Minor is responsible for the tragedy of Thalassaemia Major. The subject of Thalassaemia Major is therefore very important for all youngsters. By organizing the Camp, the Centre for Social Initiatives has ensured availability of blood to thalassaemic children, and at

the same time prevented the tragedy from happening in the lives of those tested. Overall during the day long camp 160 units of blood was collected.

Our experience shows that there is enough number of volunteers to who are willing to donate blood during these camps. Hence we are interested in organizing yet another one in the month of Jan-Feb 2012.

The 20th Foundation day of ITM was celebrated with grand fervour on the October 8, 2011 in the Kharghar Campus premises. The day began with a Shanti Havan in 2 parts, the Ganesh Homam and the Navagraha Puja presided over by Dr Ramana and Mrs. Lalitha Ramana. This was followed by the felicitation of Dr Ramana and Mrs Ramana after which the couple took great joy in honoring those who had served the ITM group from its inception and also some who have about 15 years of service. Dr Ramana relived lively annecdotes from the time of its inception and the trials that the group went through before it gained recognition and the name that it holds today. Prof. R.S.S.Mani and Mr.Shelar regaled the audience with vivid stories from the past. This was followed by a short and entertaining cultural show by the students of ITM . The afternoon ended with lunch in the amphitheatre for all present on this occasion.

The National HR Conference organised by ITM Business School is the flagship event in the academic calendar of ITM. Every year in the middle of the month of December , the HR conference gives a common platform for the interaction of academicians and parctising HR managers and keeps each other updated about the recent developments in this field.

The conference offers a good blend of plenary sessions, papaer presentation and panel discussions.

The conference aims to strategically augment the skills and competencies of HR professionals through sharing knowledge and experiences, thus helping organizations to carve out the competitive edge that will help them respond to the current highly dynamic business environment.

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ITM Center for Social Initiatives in association with the Higher Education Forum and Rotary Club of Navi Mumbai, Sunrise organized International Elder's Day to felicitate and recognize the contribution of the elderly and senior citizens.

The session was chaired by Dr. C.S. Adhikari (Dean, ITM Navi Mumbai) and the eminent chief guests were Dr. Kinju Wadekar, Dr. D.N. Chapke and Dr. A.K.Sengupta. The Celebration began by lighting of lamp by the chairpersons and students to mark the convergence of Elderly and the Youth in the exercise of nation building.

The welcome note was delivered by Dr. C.S.Adhikari (Dean, ITM Navi Mumbai) in which he reflected on the contribution of senior citizens to the society. He briefed the house on the events of the evening and passionately highlighted the need to recognize the importance of senior citizens towards the development of our society at large.

Following the welcome note, all the senior citizens present in the house were felicitated with vermillion on their temples and a token of appreciation by the students of ITM Navi Mumbai.

The Honble Chief Guest, Dr. Kinju Wadekar thanked ITM for providing a platform for interaction between the Elders of the society and the youth. He cited shocking statistical numbers with respect to the abject condition of the senior citizens in India, especially rural India to highlight the problems faced by them. He also emphasized on the growing awareness regarding the World Senior Citizens' Day.

He suggested that the young citizens of India could help the Elderly by ensuring that they are able to receive help allocated by the government through various schemes.

Dr Chapke outlined the need and importance of family in care-giving and facing challenges like Elder Abuse, Maintenance, Healthcare and Loneliness etc. He discussed the adverse effects of urbanization on the Elderly and the role of neighborhood, community and government in the caring for its senior citizens. Mr. Chapke also spoke of initiatives undertaken by Higher Education Forum like physiotherapy center, library, healthcare and a study room for underprivileged children and for the elderly.

The final speaker, Dr. A.K.Sengupta analyzed the divergent approaches, attitudes, priorities and perspectives on life that the youth and senior citizens have. He also elaborated on the positive role played by the younger generations in addressing the problems faced by the elderly. By quoting P.B.Shelley, Dr. Sengupta reminded the house about the inevitability of ageing and how this truth should offer a point of convergence to the senior citizens and young India.

With this, we began “Face 2 Face: A Dialogue” in which the senior citizens and the young students of ITM discussed the expectations which the elders and the young have with each other along with ways of contributive co-existence. The interaction was very passionate and constructive in terms of understanding and appreciating different perspectives and offering a channel of communication where the younger generations can learn from the experience of the elderly and the elders can better adjust to changing times with help from the younger generations.

To lighten the mood of the house we had an electric musical performance and a moving drama titled “Dadaji” by the students of Cultural Committee, ITM Navi Mumbai. The students sang good old hindi melodies in which they were enthusiastically joined by the senior citizens. The play “Dadaji” written, directed and performed by the members of the Cultural Society moved the audience through sheer dramatic brilliance.

Finally, the day drew to an end with the vote of thanks being delivered by Prof. Suryanarayan in which he thanked one and all. He once again reminded on youth of their responsibility in ensuring the happiness and well being of the elderly citizens to promote holistic growth of the society.

13th September 2011 Hotel Westin Goregaon

MMR is an annual event organized by The Retailers' Association of India [rai]. This year the theme for the summit was 'Retail Skill Development- Bridging the Demand Supply Gap.' Some of the prominent speakers present were: Mr Kumar Rajagopalan- CEO rai,Mr B.S. Nagesh- Chairman- rai,Mr Jamshed Daboo- CEO, Trent, Ms Seema Arora Nambiar- Director, People Resources, McDonald's India.

The key inputs from the speakers and panel discussion members revolved around an urgent attention towards training and skill development. Mr. Nagesh stressed on the current gap in adequately trained manpower in the industry. He then spoke at length about his initiative called TRRAIN [ Trust for Retailers & Retail Associates of India]. He mooted the idea to celebrate 24th December as the National Retail Associates' Day.

Thereafter Mr Jamshed Daboo talked about the importance of including retaiing as a vocational course right from class 10. Ms Nambiar also emphasized the importance of trainig for retail associates and gave a brief presentation on her organization's current endeavours in the area.

Prof. Nitin Putcha, VP, ITM Group addressed the delegates and informed them about the Group as a whole – its present and future plans. He also spoke at length about industry academia tieups.

Prof. P V Ramanna, Chairman, ITM Group was part of a panel discussion on innovations on industry focussed training programmes. All the speakers and the audience, at the end of the summit, were in common agreement that organized retail in India should be given an industry status & that additional efforts must be taken to expose budding associates to the concepts of retailing and soft skills right from an early age by means of dedicated vocational courses.

“Fill thy mind with Me, be My devotee, sacrifice unto Me, bow down to Me; thus having made thy heart steadfast in Me, taking Me as the Supreme Goal, thou shalt come to Me.” (Bhagwad Geeta 9.34)

ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai organized a One-day Seminar on August 28th 2011, conceptualized by Dr. P V Ramana, Chairman ITM group of institutions. The topic of the seminar was“Concept of Bhakti” and was dedicated to Senior Citizens. Various exponents hailing from different professions but working towards spreading thoughts of awareness of Bhakti in India assembled on a common platform to present their views and insights on “Bhakti. They offered references from rich Indian ancient literature and philosophy related to Jnyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and its relevance in contemporary times and their applicability in our fast paced modern lives. The event was attended by senior citizens, BARC scientists with their families and students, staff and faculty of ITM Navi Mumbai.

The event started with lamp lighting ceremony, followed by a keynote address by Shri S. Surendranath, who explained the Concept is Bhakti? From the Indian scriptures, he narrated stories of Sudama and Krishna, of Shabari and Rama and that of Vidura and Krishna; and explained that how Lord goes to the level of the servant in order to please bhakta. He said that despite our rich traditions we Indians have achieved material abundance and intellectual bankruptcy!

Shri Surendranath was succeeded by Dr. P.V. Ramana, Chairman ITM group of Institutions, with a speech on “Bhakti concept from Scriptures”. By citing examples from the oldest of Upnishads he said that bhakti is not a part time job but it is the practice to be followed 24/7. Shri N.K.Gupta, who is the director at BARC, presented “Life-Philosophy from Geeta”and quoted Swami Vivekanada’s description of Bhakti as "the path of systematized devotion for the attainment of union with the Absolute" and Mr. Gupta's speech focused on how Karma aligns with Bhakti and he emphasised through various sholkas from the Gita to reach out to the audience. He lucidly elaborated on Gita's perspective on “Bhakti” with disarming simplicity. Later Dr. S V G Ravindranath, also a scientist , enriched the event with his address on “Message from Geeta for the youth”.

Post lunch speaker Dr J.C. Vyas of BARC. carried forward the momentum set by Dr. Gupta by elaborating on the “Jnyan Yog and and Bhakti Yog”. He made the audience laugh at various points while explaining in his humorous style how the modern man has shifted from the core ideas of bhakti and how marketing of bhakti has slowly taken the centrestage.

The speakers highlighted the multifaceted plains that encompass Bhakti and the ways in which they continue to influence the spiritual bildungsroman. The seemingly paradoxical condition of human existence was discussed and how Bhakti can offer a starting point to seek answers. Questions that have haunted humankind since posterity like “Why must Evil exist?”

Living in a world that is undergoing massive churning where boundaries are being redefined across the globe and value systems are rapidly changing, spiritual enlightenment becomes more important than ever before to maintain rationality and sanity. This seminar made the audience ponder on their hyper dynamic existence and offered perspectives from the rich philosophy found in Upanishads, Geeta, Srimad Bhagvat and other Indian scriptures. It was a highly enriching and learning experience which persuaded us to think beyond ourselves and contemplate on abstract and relevant metaphysical realities of our existence.

To lighten the air loaded with heavy philosophical thoughts , the event was concluded with an Odissi Dance and Theaterical performance by Ms. Shubhada, one of the fine disciples of Padmavibhushan Shri Kelucharan Mohpatra, a great exponent of Odissi. The classical dance performance “Kanupriya”, written by Dr. Dharmaveer Bharati,depicted the dynamics of Radha – Krishna relationship which exemplifies the most enduring and inspiring image of love. Ms. Shubhada exhibited the various 'rasas' and excelled in Bhakti rasa. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all and held the audience in trance. Events like these offer thought provoking respite from our regular lives and engage us spiritually and mentally.

ITM is likely to host many such events in the coming months.

The business climate of today has undergone a myriad of changes some more rapid than others and this has caused it to become increasingly competitive in nature. Businesses now not only need to operate at a lower cost to compete, they must also develop their own core competencies to distinguish themselves from competitors and stand out in the market. In creating the competitive edge, companies need to divert their resources to focus on what they do best and outsource the process and task that is not important to the overall objective of the company. Supply Chain Management has allowed company's to rethink their entire operations and restructure them, so that they can focus on their core competencies and outsource processes that are not within the core ambit of influence for the company's manufacturing or service level processes. On this note, ITM Business School located in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai planned its 6th Supply Chain Colloquium 2011. The briefs by the various speakers included sessions on Port Reform, Marketing of animal health foods, Pharma technology, Cold Chain Logistics, Cement - time scheduling of various commercial products as well as the approaches towards hitherto unknown management practices in the field of Supply Chain

The colloquium was held on the 19th of February 2011, a Saturday which enabled numerous corporate participants to come and grace the occasion. Chief among them were the Managing Director of Bertling Logistics India & South Asia Region Mr. Shankar Chatterjee (also the Guest of Honor for the event) and Capt. Dinesh Gautama who was the key note speaker and is also the Vice Chairman of the Shipping Container Lines Association of India. Amongst the ITM dignitaries, those present included Director of ITM Kharghar Dr. Ganesh Raja, Deputy Director Academics and Program Chair Dr V.V. Sople and other eminent personalities who graced the occasion. As Dr Sople inaugurated the event, he emphasized the importance of Supply Chain management and its growth in various sectors and discussed futuristic trends in SCM and on completion he called upon Mr. Shankar Chatterjee (Managing Director Bertling Logistics India & South Asia) to address the audience.

Mr. Chatterjee's speech was electrifying and absorbing in its content and delivery. He began by stating that SCM is not a very organized vocation.. He then went on to give the audience the 10C's of Supply Chain Management, which included among others: Corporate Governance, Consortium, Competence and Comprehensiveness, Competitiveness and Cost, Commitment, Captains, Credentials, Coordination and the Casting couch.

After Mr. Chatterjee's speech, it was time to introduce Capt. Dinesh Gautama the Vice Chairman of the Container Shipping Lines Association of India. He, talked to the audience about changes in Shipping and Supply Chain & mentioned how there was a lot of resistance and apathy towards any form of change in the Acts that governed various shipping laws. Capt. Gautama then spoke of his adventures at sea and quoted his famous quotation for the day "Shipping is an adventure and you are part of the adventure".

We then had a tea break and began with technical session one, where Mr. B.R. Jayaraman, Director General Indian Institute of Materials Management, who spoke about 'Outsourcing in the Supply Chain', its key drivers. he emphasized, on Communication, Persuasion, and Listening skills.

The second speaker was Mr. Shankar Jadhav, the CEO of Tara Health Foods. He began by saying that there is enormous potential in the rural areas, since they contribute 60% of the Gross Domestic product & spoke of the trends in Rural Marketing. Mr. Jadhav said that Supply Chain Management and effective utilization of a company's core assets, are the key feature that distinguish an organization beyond the realm of price and quality competition.

Post lunch the first speaker was Professor Hendrik Lohse, Professor of Logistics at E.M.Normandy Business School, France. Professor Lohse spoke to the audience about Port reform as a key factor of Maritime Supply Chain efficiency. Prof. Lohse began by giving definitions of types of Ports, various Ports in the European Union and then zeroed in on the Port of Le Harve. He spoke of geographical, economical, institutional factors affecting the functioning of European Ports.

The next speaker was Mr. Arloph Vieira from the Pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Vieira spoke of the emerging trends in Supply Chain management, comparing the supply chains of India and China. He went on to say that the Chinese market was highly regulated for its own internal consumption, however hardly any or no regulations applied for the export products from China. In India however, it was just the reverse, with regulations galore and FDA approvals sought for export drugs, but no regulation for the Indian market.

The last technical session began with Mr. Pradeep Dubey, the GM of Snowman Frozen Foods, A Gateway and Mitsubishi Venture. He spoke about Cold Chain Logistics in India, its importance and future challenges. He spoke of challenges and drivers of the cold chain and also Snowman's contribution towards the Cold Chain & said with increasing cold chain distribution centers around the country the quality of life would improve, time consumption, increased shelf life and food consumption would occur, there would be fresher foods available and the cold chains would be drivers for GDP growth.

The last speaker for the day was Mr. Sanjay Gupta, the Jt. President of Ambuja Cement Ltd. Mr. He spoke of Price leadership and cost effective strategies in the cement industry, where in he mentioned that system firms should have a sustainable and robust supply chain, as it was not the cement that was competing against the quality of another companies cement, but rather the supply chains of each organization that were competing amongst themselves. Some questions were asked, on satisfactory answers of which the session came to its natural conclusion. The compeers thereafter asked Dr. Ankush Sharma to propose the vote of thanks.

He went on to thank Prof. Ankush Guha for organizing the colloquium, & thanked the ITM Chairman Dr. P.V. Ramana for giving the department the opportunity to host the event, subsequently thanks were rendered to the Chief Guest Mr. Shankar Chatterjee, as also Capt. Dinesh Gautama for his candor and sense of humor. Dr. Sharma thanked each of the volunteers involved with the program by naming each of them individually. At the end all rose to the National anthem. It was a 'wonderful day' of learning from industry practitioners and academics alike.

1.IB team of Arshish Dumasia,Pragati Gupta & Grashma Patel for securing 3rd Position in the event " TABOO" at " CHRYSALLIS'11" conducted by Loyola College on 26th February.

2. Mr. Sumit Kumar & Mr.Ekansh Jain for securing 1st position in "System Game" at "GIMFEST'11" conducted by GIM,Coimbatore on 4th March.

3. Team members Suraj Prakash Sharma, Satish Patra, Shreyansh Gohil and Sidhartha Iyer for securing 3rd position in " Best Management Team" at "GIMFEST'11" conducted by GIM,Coimbatore on 4th March.

Our heartiest congratulations to Ms. Priya Garg and Mr. Suman Saha for securing 1st position as a team in the event "Texas Hold'EM Poker(Marketing Game)" at "CHRYSALIS ' 11" conducted by Loyola College on 26th & 27th February.

Heartiest congratulations to Mr.Suman Saha for coming 4th in the event "The Emperor(Best Manager)" at "CHRYSALIS ' 11" conducted by Loyola College.

Heartiest congratulations to both of them.

MANAQUEST is one of the much-awaited events conducted by ITM every year. It serves as an excellent interface for different B-Schools and brings out the Managerial Excellence in full form.

MANAQUEST was held on 18th and 19th February 2011. It was a major happening and turned out to be a great success. Thanks to the dedicated and committed efforts of the faculty and students of the Institute.

There were participants from 22 B schools all over Tamil Nadu.

MANAQUEST comprised several events on various functions such as HR, Finance and Marketing. Events like Stock Wars, Adwars, B Quiz, Budgeting, Multiple personality, Shipwreck, Spin a yarn, Best Manager, Market Attack, Innova, Product Launch and Elevator Pitching were innovatively conceptualized to challenge and bring out the best talents that could match the high expectations in Managers.

It was not just managerial excellence and talent scouting. There was the food corner to suit every palate – A Bonanza which relaxed the participants and gave them a boost!

The Event wind-up featured the DJ Encore where the faculty members and students mingled together and shared the success of the event.

E Vision, the Entrepreneurship Cell of ITM Business School, Kharghar, celebrated the E-Week from the 5th to the 12th of February, 2011. The E-Week is a National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) initiative, an all-India event with all colleges associated with the NEN organizing their own E-Week's on campus. At ITM, the event was christened "L'avenir", a French word meaning "The Future", emphasizing the fact that young and upcoming entrepreneurs are the future of the country.

The week-long extravaganza witnessed an enigmatic mix of challenging and innovative events like Marketing India (participants had to design strategies for rural India), Plannovation (Business Plan), Conquistador (commodity trading), Streetside Shakespeare (street-play) Investomania (the 100R challenge) and Catechize (Biz-Quiz). In particular, Investomania was totally different as the event had been organized for school children between 7 to 12 years of age, in their school campus. The participants were given R100 each and asked to invest in a product and then sell it to their own friends and make a profit. These budding entrepreneurs had such brilliant and innovative ideas that even adults were bowled over. Just shows, creativity knows no bounds and that India's Gen-Y is all geared up to face the future, whenever, wherever!

The week long roller-coaster started on the 5th with the inauguration ceremony. The guest of honor for the day was Ms. Madhuri Ruia, an entrepreneur who has seen both the ups and downs of life. The experiences that she shared with the audience mapped her journey – from setting up a gym which was unable to attract a healthy footfall to getting a staggering customer base with the help of NEN. The programme was concluded with all taking the Entrepreneurship Oath and looking towards a vibrant future for all entrepreneurs.

The second day saw the first event, Marketing India, being organized. The event was comprised of five rounds – Documentary, Debate, Presentation, Sell a Product and Case Study. Through these, the participants had to devise a strategy for the evolution of Rural India.

Plannovation, the B-Plan event was held on the 3rd day of the E-Week, i.e. on the 7th of Feb. The event witnessed young minds coming up with revolutionary ideas all set to change the way we do things today. It was a glorious combination of marketing and finance as the teams had to concentrate on both in order to make their product a success and they did so with great élan.

Commodity Trading brings out the best in market mavericks and Conquistador saw the same being repeated. It was filled with as much fun and frolic as brains and planning. It can be easily stated that at this event, everyone was a winner and everyone went back having the time of their life!

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. A video then? A documentary? A street play? The power of the audio-visual medium was unleashed at Streetside Shakespeare, the street play event. With power packed performances, the participants enamored the audience and forced them to think beyond skin deep reality. They showed a face of India that needs care and help, a part of us that have to be made a part of the development in order to progress as a nation and as a people!

The Investomania event was different in a sense that it was the only event that was conducted off campus. It was a pleasure to watch and learn from kids. The event showed that kids were the best entrepreneurs as they had neither fear nor care and a determination and self-belief that is worth emulating.

Catechize, the B-Quiz was the last event of L'avenir, 2011. It was a battle of knowledge memory and some sharp guess work as teams clashed for bragging rights and the crown of Biz-whiz!

12th Feb, the culminating day of the E-Week, saw alumni coming back to the college and sharing their experiences from the corporate world. For students, it was a knowledge feast as they got a rare opportunity to gain some first-hand insight into the workings of a business organization and the entrepreneur's journey and how to make it big. Mr. Kartik Raja, an entrepreneur himself, was also present as guest of honour to interact with the students and enrich them in the ways of the corporate world. E Week ended with Prize distribution

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