IIMB Convocation 2017: 598 Students Graduate, 8 Bag Gold Medals

Listing the attributes for successful leaders as the 5 Cs: character, conviction, commitment, creativity and capability, Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., said, “Kotak would not be what it is today if we did not think differently.”

Delivering his address as Chief Guest at the 42^nd Annual Convocation at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) on March 20, Kotak said, “As you move out of your cocoon, you will need to find creative solutions – dare to be different, test yourself, be ready to encounter challenges and also for failure, learn from your mistakes, and know that committed execution is the key to capability.

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“You have huge opportunities, but will face tough and challenging times as well. You have to be bold but keep your values intact. You need to be resilient, and stand up for defending what you believe in,” he added. The Industry Captain’s description of IIMB as “IIM Best” was greeted with loud applause by the audience.

IIMB Director Professor G. Raghuram announced that 598 students were graduating this year. Of them, 20 were from the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM), 18 from the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (PGPPM), 75 from the Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM) and 4 from the Post Graduate Programme in Software Enterprise Management (PGSEM). Eight students have won gold medals.

NSRCEL has been selected by NITI Aayog to receive Rs. 10 crore as scale-up support over the next two years, which will enable the centre to upgrade and expand its infrastructure and thereby its services to entrepreneurs.

The one-year full-time Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP) had 70 and the two-year full-time Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) 411 students graduating.

“Two of our faculty have been awarded as distinguished alumnus/alumna from their own schools as well. Our faculty are not just world-class academicians and researchers, they also excel in pursuing their interests and passions. We are delighted by their success. I take this occasion to acknowledge their outstanding contributions,” Prof. Raghuram said.

He highlighted the contributions made by IIMB faculty in publishing in A category journals and said that it was a matter of great pride and visibility for the institution.

Referring to the 20 graduating FPM students, equalling the highest record set last year, he said, “It gives me great pride to report that among the 20 of you, there are 17 peer review publications, including 5 in top tier journals. Out of the known 13 placements, 10 are joining academic institutions of which 6 are in other IIMs, a matter of great satisfaction for us.”

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIMB, in her address, highlighted the Institute’s milestones during the academic year 2016-17, the global rankings it achieved and the important partnerships it entered into.

IIM Bangalore was the convener school of the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016. It was mentoring the new IIM at Visakhapatnam, there was a surge in demand for case studies developed by IIM Bangalore’s faculty which are distributed through Harvard Business Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School, she pointed out.

The Institute had also increased its focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to provide access to a wide range of quality courses through blended learning programs for people who cannot afford regular management programs. It was also involved in initiatives like enabling a ‘start-up culture’ in the country and making ‘entrepreneurship’ an integral part of the school’s academic agenda, etc.

She had a special word of appreciation for IIMB’s incubation centre, the N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), which has consistently played a key role in seeding, nurturing and promoting entrepreneurship with an emphasis on early-stage start-ups.

“As women remain highly under represented within the entrepreneur ecosystem, IIMB’s NSRCEL & Goldman Sachs have joined hands to launch the ‘Women Startup Programme’, the first blended-learning customized programme involving a MOOC and classroom training, as well as business incubation, to support the next generation of women entrepreneurs,” Shaw pointed out.

“The programme, which was offered at no cost, encourages and supports women to start their own businesses through a customized, three-phase model which incorporates online and classroom training as well as business incubation. The coursework is designed to teach both entrepreneurial and managerial skills, provide mentoring and networking opportunities, and access to capital to help empower women navigate their early ventures as well as equip them with tools to strategize and grow their businesses. I am proud to share with you that 15 women with great business ideas are now being incubated at NSRCEL for 12 months,” she added.

She made a special mention of another initiative of IIMB’s NSRCEL. “The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has supported NSRCEL to set up a start-up incubator, with the objective of nurturing early stage non-profit organizations. This non-profit incubator will select and nurture at least five early-stage organizations over the next two years, helping them become world-class non-profits that deliver disproportionate impact and become magnets for talent and funding.

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“This initiative aspires to create a proven template for non-profit incubation in India, developing a play book for nurturing and scaling early-stage organizations. Such an approach can be replicated at other academic institutions and incubation hubs across the country”, she pointed out.

NSRCEL has been selected by NITI Aayog to receive Rs. 10 crore as scale-up support over the next two years, which will enable the centre to upgrade and expand its infrastructure and thereby its services to entrepreneurs.

Welcoming the new IIMB Director, she said that it was a privilege to have a person of Prof. Raghuram’s stature and experience at the helm of this institute. While acknowledging the immense contribution made by Professor Raghavan Srinivasan in his role as Director Incharge, over the past one year, she said he has enabled a seamless transition from the previous Director Prof. Sushil Vachani to Prof. G. Raghuram.

Lauding IIMB’s alumni she said, “IIMB’s alumni continue to do the school proud with their achievements and their connect with the school. I take this occasion to put on record that the alumni from the Batch of 1991 raised over Rs 2 crore for Ganga Trust that works with survivors of spinal cord injuries. The PGP Class of 1996 also made a substantial contribution to the school”, she added.