SPJIMR team finishes Runners-up at TBLA

The finals of TBLA ’08, held recently at the Taj Hotel (Mumbai) saw the team from SPJIMR performing exceptionally well. ‘Team Sanchar’, consisting of Ashish Upadhyay, Raghava Attinuru, Sunrita Bhowmik and Swagata Basak from the PGDM programme won the First Runners Up award at this event.

TBLA ’08 witnessed about 230 registrations from the top 7 Business Schools in India, which TAS visits for placements. Fifty-six entries made it to the campus defence round. The SPJIMR round witnessed a record high of 14 entries at this stage. The top team from each campus made it to the final round, where the SPJIMR team eventually finished second.

The judges for TBLA presentations were Mr. Allen Rosling and Mr. Ishat Hossain, Executive Directors of Tata Sons. For finishing runners-up, ‘Team Sanchar’ received a cash award of Rs. 50,000 and a bunch-load of goodies from the Tata Group Chairman, Mr. Ratan Tata.

When asked to comment on their exceptional performance, the team members expressed their unanimous thanks to all their well wishers from the institute for helping them achieve this feat. Special mention was made of Prof. Jiban Mukhopadhyay (Professor, Economics Department) for guiding the team throughout and being a personal witness to their glory. Once again, congratulations to the winning team and wishing them all the best for their future.

Another Feather in our Cap

Deepak Bhaskaran and Shiv Vipin SV emerged as the Second Runners-up at the Grand Master Competition organized by The Economic Times (West Zone). The event included an online game, a case study presentation and a quiz by quizmaster Derek'O'Brian. (20-12-2007)

Kaavya B and Kulpreet Kaur won the 2nd place in a marketing paper writing contest at DRiSHTANT 2007-08 by IIML. Their topic was ‘Management in Indian Retail Arena.’

Congratulations to the winners!

We also acknowledge the commendable achievement of Abhijit Petkar, Jagnoor Singh and Mohit Agarwal in Loreal E-Start. Their team is one of the 1300 teams shortlisted for the second round of this online marketing simulation game from 40000 teams across 110 nations. Wish you all the very best for the next round!

(Data compiled by CultCom)

Leadership Series at SPJIMR

Luminaries from both the corporate and the social sector shared their insights on ‘Business Leadership in the changing Socio-economic context’ at the Leadership Seminar organized at SPJIMR. A panel discussion by Mr. Lalit Kumar (President and CEO, Reliance Pharmaceuticals Ltd), Mr. Sanjay Sachdeva (Country Head, Shensai Bank), Mr. Viren Popli (Senior VP, Star India and an alumnus of SPJIMR), and Mr. Ujjwal Banerjee (‘Lead India’ finalist and Manager, Akanksha Foundation) was moderated by Prof. Jiban Mukhopadhayay, ex-economic advisor of TATA group and currently a senior faculty member at SPJIMR.

A potpourri of issues like the role of the corporate in developing infrastructure, globalization, structuring of organization in a dynamic environment, and the role of the government in bringing about a socio-economic change were addressed by the speakers. The event witnessed active audience participation and a number of issues were discussed and debated.

Prof. Lata Dhir, the convenor for the event shared with the audience the vision of establishing a centre for leadership at the institute. She also touched upon the various initiatives taken in that regard. The event concluded with Dr. Keith D’souza, co-convenor of the seminar, summing up the discussions and delivering a vote of thanks.

Leadership Series - A LeadCom initiative

Spandan '07 - A Trip Down Memory Lane

December 15, 2007

Spandan ’07, the annual alumni reunion of SPJIMR was held at the SPJIMR auditorium in mid-December. It witnessed a huge turnout of 225 alumni along with their families. The event started off with the lighting of the auspicious lamp by Dr. Sesha Iyer (Director, SPJIMR), Prof. Kshirsagar, Mrs Varsha Parab (Registrar, SPJIMR) and an alumnus of the institute. It was followed by an invocation song by Nivedita Ramesh and Jyothsna, first year participants of the PGDM course.

Dr. Sesha Iyer addressed the gathering and stressed on the importance of a strong alumni network for an institution and suggested specific ways of fostering the same. Shreyas from AlCom ’07 (Alumni Committee) then presented the tasks and future plans of the committee towards building a close-knit alumni network. It was followed by the felicitation of the batches of 1992, 1997 and 2002 by Dr. Sesha Iyer and Prof. Kshirsagar. It was a moment filled with nostalgia and brimming with pride when the alumni were called on the dais with their testimonials being read and nick names being called out. Mr. Akhil Chaturvedi (Batch of ‘88) from the Mumbai Alumni Chapter updated the proceedings of the Mumbai Chapter. Mr. Muralidharan and Ms. Purvi Shah spoke about their experiences in SPJIMR and thanked AlCom for organizing the event on such a grand scale. The felicitation ceremony concluded with Prof. Kshirsagar addressing the alumni and Vinay Trivedi from Alcom ‘07 delivering the vote of thanks.

Spandan ’07 also witnessed the launch of ‘Future of the Past’, a book authored by Mr. Alpesh Patel (Batch of 2000). It was launched by Prof. A.B.Kulkarni. The event concluded over dinner with the alumni reminiscing their past and sharing their joys of the present. As Salonee (member, AlCom ’07) aptly put it, 'reunions are aimed for re-establishing old ties' and Spandan ’07 was successful in making that happen.

Boom Shankar Creates Histroy

Boom Shankar, SPJIMR’S first in-house band comprising of 1st and 2nd year PGDM students created history on the 15th of December 2007. With an astounding performance that blew away all competition, Boom Shanker won the first place at SCMHRD’s ‘Launchpad – The battle of bands’. Along with a trophy and gift vouchers worth Rs.10K, the band earned a direct entry into Channel [V]’s Launchpad ’08, one of India’s top competitions for national rock bands.

The members of Boom Shankar include – Aniruddha Kundu (Lead Guitar), Nitin Sharma (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals), Sameer Walzade (Bass Guitar, Vocals) and Yudhishthir SJB Rana (Drums). The performance of the band deserves special mention in light of the fact that it was formed a week prior to the event. When asked to comment on their stunning performance, the band members credited their hard work and the support of fellow PGDM participants for their success. Special mention was also made of Mrs. Varsha Parab, who helped the band members in procuring instruments at short notice and backed them in their efforts.

Wishing Boom Shanker all the very best for days ahead and hoping they make us even prouder by emerging as the country’s top rock band, a few months from now.