The event was arranged in order to facilitate better interaction between students and the industry and was aimed at giving the students an introduction to the corporate life.
Four prominent speakers had been invited for the event; Mr. Rajive Kaul – Chairman, Nicco Group of Companies, Mr. G. N. S. Reddy – Vice-President, BAIF, Mr. B. J. Panda – MP, Rajya Sabha, and Mr. Anand Rengachary, MD – Frost and Sullivan. Each speaker was joined by a panel of four students, from various B-schools in the region. Mr. S. K. Swamy – CMD, AIMA moderated the discussions.
Mr. Rajive Kaul was the first speaker. He described his life in brief, and spoke about how he eventually came to hold his current position. He told the audience about the learnings that he had gathered from the various experiences in his life. He also narrated small anecdotes about various incidents in his life that went on to make him the person that he is today. He advised the students to avoid making a tough decision based on just one opinion.
The next speaker was Mr. G. N. S. Reddy. Mr. Reddy spoke about his organisation, BAIF, which aims to create gainful self-employment for the underprivileged. He said that due to neglect of the country's bio-resources, India is facing problems today. He suggested that the only way out of this was to concentrate on agriculture, as this would eventually lead to food security. He also stressed the need to educate the country's youth about the ill-effects of deforestation.
Mr. Reddy was followed by Mr. B. J. Panda. Mr. Panda explained the process of bringing about a change and making a difference in the context of Indian politics. He said that in a system like ours, it is natural that there are a hundred different conflicting opinions. It is our job to keep on chipping at it slowly, without getting frustrated. Mr. Panda observed that young educated professionals make up only a small fraction of today's parliamentarians. He said that this figure needs to increase in the coming years, as it is these young representatives who actually know what the current generation actually wants.
The final speaker was Mr. Rengachary. He spoke about success and how one must aim really high in order to achieve it. He said that success is simply a condition where one enjoys what one is doing. He also advised the students to divide their big and ambitious goals into smaller ones so that they could be surmounted slowly but surely. He said that in order to be really successful, one needs to transcend success and not just achieve it.
After all four sessions were completed, the vote of thanks was proposed by Prof. Gopal K. Nayak – Exec. VP, BMMA. A Q&A session was held after every speaker had finished. All the four student panelists and a few members of the audience were given the opportunity to gather information from the speaker through their questions.
