JBIMS organizes talks on entrepreneurship, branding and finance

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
September 11, 2007
Continuing with the tradition of encouraging interactions between students and industry luminaries, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai, recently organized talks on entrepreneurship, branding and finance.

The institute invited eminent speakers like Mr Mahesh Murthy, founder of Pinstorm and Passion Fund; Mr. Kedar Apte, brand manager, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL); and Mr. Anup Maheshwari, senior fund manager, DSP Merrill Lynch.

On September 1, Entrepreneur and Venture capitalist Mr. Murthy shared lessons from his real-life experiences and enthralled budding entrepreneurs by emphasizing on facts that contradicted conventional thinking. Revealing the greatest gratification at being an entrepreneur, he said, “Life is all about maximizing assets. It’s not the money but the experience that matters and enriches your life. Every step of an entrepreneur’s journey is self-discovery and self-actualization.” In his talk he highlighted the importance of ‘idea’. He said, “An Idea which can generate extraordinary word of mouth by offering enormous customer delight is the one that sells the best.”

Mr. Apte, an alumnus of the institute from the 2001 batch, has been handling prime brands at HUL like Hamam, Breeze and Rexona. During his talk on September 5, he introduced students to the nuances of a marketing job and the various roles that a fresh MBA graduate can play in the industry. Quoting examples from his own profession and that of his colleagues working within and outside HUL, Mr Apte threw light on each aspect of marketing, including brand building, brand development, international marketing and market research. Stressing the importance of expanding one’s horizons, he encouraged students to explore various cultures and marketing practices entrenched in various cities of India. Emphasizing on understanding the employees he said, “Sensitivity towards the needs of your employees as well as the customers, aids in breaking the cultural barrier.”

According to JBIMS, “The batch was introduced to various strategies of marketing as such monitoring competition, significance of gaining consumer insights, motivating your staff by providing regular feedback etc.”

Mr. Maheshwari, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, spoke on the fund management and mutual funds industry. He talk was held on September 6. He explained the importance of the various roles in the mutual fund industry such as investments, sales and marketing, risk, compliance, operations and finance.  

According to JBIMS, the Mutual Funds Industry has witnessed remarkable growth over the last few years and is currently worth Rs. 4,00,000 crore in terms of Assets Under Management (AUM).

Emphasizing on the importance of a strong distribution system, Mr. Maheshwari said, “We need a strong distribution system that includes national and regional level distributors and individual financial advisors for high net worth individuals.”

Describing the process in which investment decisions are made, he explained how around 500-600 companies are first identified as being worthy of institutional investment. “The next step involves identifying companies that are scalable and can generate large market capitalization. An important factor that has a bearing on the investment decision is the level of management comfort that is developed by meeting the senior managers of the company to assess management quality,” said Mr Maheshwari.