IIM Lucknow’s annual international business conclave ‘Manfest 2010’ kicked off amidst a lot of fanfare on January 22. One of the biggest MBA school festivals in India, Manfest spans over 3 days from 22 to 24 January 2010 at the IIM Lucknow campus.

The inaugural ceremony was held at the campus auditorium Samanjasya. The chief guest of the Ceremony was Mr. Sameer Chandra, Director Treasury, Citi. Also present at the ceremony as guest of honour was Mr. B V Chaubal, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, Lucknow Circle. The Director of IIM Lucknow Dr. Devi Singh and Dean, Student Affairs, Dr. Ajay Garg represented the IIM Lucknow community.

The inauguration marked the beginning of the 3 day conclave. The lighting of the lamp was followed by the launch of Gravitas – IIM Lucknow’s Annual Manfest publication.

Dr. Devi Singh was all praise for the way in which Manfest has evolved over the years. He said, ”The theme of Manfest 2010 – India: Expect, Explore, Experience has struck a chord with students and corporates alike given our nation’s ever increasing importance in the global economic scenario. This theme finds increasing relevance today given the massive hidden potential we as a nation possess and the tremendous possibilities we can create.”

Mr. B V Choubal was optimistic about the future and said “Young India has the confidence to stand in front of the best of the world and that is why India is the beacon of hope.” Sameer Chandra said “Quoting from Victor Hugo - Nothing is as powerful as the idea whose time has come – India’s time has come”. 

Green is the buzzword what with leaders of the world holding emergency talks over global warming. “C Trader” was an event conducted by one of the on campus committees, which was organised to focus on the growing concept of carbon trading. The event concept was to assign an industry to each of the seven finalists and the objective is to maximise the NPV of the company.

The inaugural ceremony was then followed by the BizQuiz eliminations. Testing the grey cells of management students, the eliminations were just a prelude to select the best 3 teams from the campus. 3 outstation teams had already been selected through prior eliminations. With 6 of the top quizzing teams set to battle it out in the finals, it just can’t be “yet another final” can it? Hosting the finals on the main stage was Gautam Bhimani, noted TV presenter and quizmaster at ESPN-STAR. At the time of going to press, the teams were locked in an intense round of quizzing.

Biz Quiz was followed by a stunning performance by Parikrama that returns to IIM Lucknow’s Manfest after a gap of few years. It was a packed audience that greeted their performance. Capping off the day was the rock competition “Hellraiser” which was a showdown between six finalist bands from across India. Some of the names that were performing were Rabbit is Rich and Under Siege from Delhi. Hundreds of head banging enthusiasts were crooning at the fare dished out by these bands.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news from Manfest 2010!