XLRI Director, Fr. P. Christie, gave the welcome address and appreciated the topic chosen for the conclave. “Promoting entrepreneurship is one of XLRI’s goals, which finds its way in the curriculum in the form of certain courses and case studies” he added. He reminisced his conversation with former Indian President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who emphasized the importance of business students becoming job creators over job seekers.
The Director stressed the importance of start-ups and B-schools forging a meaningful collaboration and talked about XLRI’s start-up incubator XCEED – an initiative to promote and nurture entrepreneurship. The Director also urged the batch to identify new opportunities and contribute to building a progressive and responsible society.
The Keynote speaker, Rajesh Srivastava, a Corporate Trainer and Coach to Start-ups and former CEO of JK Helene Curtis, shared his perspective on the changing business rules. To stay relevant in the 21st century, where competition is invisible, indirect, and cross-industry, he advised start-ups to become their own competitors, disrupt and remake themselves and continuously seek new “Avatars”.
The keynote address was followed by a panel discussion session on the topic “Digital innovation and future of digital marketing”, which brought together Amit Chaudhary – the Co-Founder of Lenskart.com, Ranjeet Kumar � the CEO of Team Pumpkin who is also an XLRI PGDM(GM) alumni, Shobhit Saxena � the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of ONN Bikes, and Professor Rajeev Roy from XLRI, who moderated the session, into an engaging conversation on digital marketing. The free-wheeling discussion delved deep into several topics, including – the reducing attention spans of consumers, the experience-seeking consumer, the increasing speed of execution, and the growing efficiency driven by digital technology. The panellists emphasized on “the direct-to-customer” channel of marketing, which has become the norm among start-ups and is increasingly driving big corporates’ marketing efforts. The “start-up energy” in the discussion was enriching and fuelled the entrepreneurial ambitions in the business-students.
Naveen Khandelwal, the Chief Investment and strategy officer of Hero Future Energies and founder of Green Infra, and Tripti Shinghal Somani, Founder Womennovator, talked about the opportunities in the renewable sector available in India. They stressed on the required abilities and approach to work even in the unstructured environment during start-up stages.
The session was followed by an address from Dr. Arokiaswamy Velumani – the founder, chairman, and managing director of Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. He awed the audience with his unique take on life and business. He strongly urged the students to have a clutter-free brain and a fear-free heart. He motivated the students to increase the efforts, and appetite to become an entrepreneur. His rags to riches story inspired the students towards entrepreneurship, driving home the idea that life and business are a marathon race in which, according to him, we require to build stamina, patience, and perseverance.
The engaging talk was followed by another propelling session on the topic �Hurdle the Rates� by Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder of Cashkaro and Earnkaro, in which she shared her entrepreneurial journey through idea inception, funding, operations, hiring, and the continued innovation in business. She enthused and encouraged students to seek opportunities and develop as budding entrepreneurs in delivering value to society.
Prof A. Kanagaraj, the Placement Chairperson for XLRI�s flagship General Management program, summed-up the meeting by asking the students to take more risks, develop a can-do attitude, build the courage to face fear and failure, and continue life with energy. He invited start-ups and corporates to associate with the diverse and experienced talent offering of the batch through placements and live-project opportunities.
The placement committee General Secretary Twinkle Nebhani and Deputy General Secretary Soumen Das Roy thanked the speakers, students, faculty, the organisers Prateek Khanna and Ritika Ratna along with the whole organizing team for the event�s success. They urged companies to collaborate with the XLRI PGDM(GM) batch for placements and projects.