ACTIVITIES BY RM ALUMNI STUDENT COMMITTEE
Industry connect series:
Mr. Amit Tuteja Co-Founder, Connecting Dreams Foundation on “Community engagement for social impact”, 12th May, 2024
Mr. Salman Quraishi Head of Sales, Zerodha on “Personal Finance, Investing & recognizing investment risks”, 26th May, 2024
Mr. Vishal Sharma Global head (HR), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on “Human-centric design in technology integration”, 29th May, 2024
Mr. Yashveer Singh Co-Founder, Ashoka Young Changemakers on “Social Entrepreneurship:, 2nd June, 2024
Mr. Dheeraj Verma Head HSE & Sustainability Operating System,Hitachi Energy on ” ESG in Action: History, Frameworks & Implementation in India”, 16th July, 2024
Mr. Nitesh Raj Vice President, Hindware on ” Sales & Marketing scenarios in real life”, 24th August, 2024
Mr. Binny Dawson Global Head – People Development, Export Trading Group (ETG) on ” Real life challenges in setting up functions across geographies”, 19th October, 2024
Mr. Suketu Kumar Head- Environment & Conservation, ICICI Foundation on “Transitioning into the development sector”, 20th October, 2024
Mr. Murali Sivaraman Board Director, Private Equity Advisor on “Evolving Business Landscape”, 2nd November, 2024
Mr. Karan Sharma Director- Government ,New Business and Development, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP on ” Strategic Project Management – from concept to execution”, 10th November, 2024
Mr. Jeyandran Venugopal Chief Product and Technology Officer, Flipkart on ” Overview of the Indian E-Commerce market”, 15th November, 2024
XpectRM
The RM Alumni Committee had the privilege of hosting esteemed alumni at XpectRM’24, the 7th Annual Leadership Summit, held on 23rd November, 2024. This year’s distinguished speakers included Mr. Pankaj Narain, Director at Standard Chartered Bank (Batch 2004-06); Mr. Pravash Dash, Founder of Arthan Finance (Batch 2003-05); Mr. Surya Narayan Panda, Zonal Head at Wester Capital Advisors (Batch 2005-07); Mr. Mudit Sood, Regional Sales Development Manager at Maruti Suzuki (Batch 2011-13); and Mr. Ajit Kumar Sabat, Senior VP at Muthoot Micro Finance (Batch 2004-06).
Centered around the theme “Strategic Innovation: Bridging Creativity and Competitive Advantage,” the summit provided an engaging platform to explore the intersection of innovation and strategic thinking in today’s dynamic business environment.
The discussions illuminated how organizations can harness creativity to build resilience and sustain competitive growth in an evolving socio-economic landscape.
The panelists shared invaluable insights on rethinking livelihood strategies, capacity-building techniques, and innovative development policies, offering students a deeper understanding of sustainable business approaches. They emphasized the growing need for adaptability, data-driven decision-making, and socially responsible leadership in shaping the future of industries.
Through thought-provoking discussions and real-world experiences, the speakers underscored the power of entrepreneurial vision, financial inclusion, and strategic foresight in driving impactful change. XpectRM 7.0 reinforced the RM community’s commitment to fostering a new generation of leaders who can blend innovation with strategy to create meaningful and sustainable impact.
Annual Alumni Get-Together (Mumbai)
On 28th September 2024, the RM Alumni Committee, in collaboration with the XIMB Alumni Association (Mumbai Chapter), hosted the Annual Alumni Get-Together at The Club, Andheri West, Mumbai. The event, themed “Reconnect and Rise,” provided a platform for alumni to reunite, strengthen old ties, and forge new connections. Alumni from various batches shared experiences, fostering a vibrant community spirit.
Alumni Connect Talk
On 17th August 2024, the RM Alumni Committee hosted an enlightening talk with Mr Soumya Sankha Maiti, an alumnus from the 2009-2011 batch and Principal Consultant at Cognizant. His session focused on three pillars for corporate success: unlearning, learning, and earning. He discussed the importance of adaptability and continuous learning to remain relevant in the fast-evolving corporate world. Mr Maiti also shared his professional journey across diverse regions in India, underscoring the value of both hard and soft skills in shaping a successful career.
Alumni Talk
On 8th September 2024, the RM Alumni Committee hosted Mr. Dhananjay Singh, a 2014 graduate of the School of Rural Management and an IRS Officer. He discussed how an MBA provides individuals with the tools to identify, analyse, and solve real-world challenges. Mr. Singh emphasised the importance of strong business fundamentals, illustrating with examples from his professional experience in the IRS. The session was insightful and concluded with an engaging Q&A session.
ACTIVITIES BY RMAX STUDENT COMMITTEE
Arijit Ghosh Memorial Quiz
In memory of alumnus Arijit Ghosh, the MBA Batch of 2009-2011 and former Coordinator of Team RMAX, Team RMAX, in collaboration with XQUIZZITE XIM University, organised the Arijit Ghosh Memorial Quiz on 21st September 2024. The quiz saw participation from 236 students in the first round, and the top 10 advanced to subsequent rounds.
Abhivyakti
Held on 27th and 28th September 2024, Abhivyakti continues to be a premier platform for discussions on rural management trends, challenges, and innovations. This year’s theme, “Empowering Rural Futures: Innovation and Growth Beyond Boundaries,” saw sessions from industry experts, fostering rich discussions and knowledge sharing.
Two significant initiatives were launched:
- Abhigyaan: A knowledge-sharing platform bridging academic insights and industry practices.
- Case Alchemy: A comprehensive casebook encouraging participants to solve real-world scenarios analytically.
Spardha
Spardha, an Inter-College Social Business Plan Competition organized by team RMAX during Xamboree, the Annual Cultural Management Fest, organized by XIM University. RMAX has been organizing Spardha since 2008. This competition encourages students with innovative business ideas, plans, and methods to be implemented in the Rural Sector. It tests the social entrepreneurship quotient of participants through various stages in encompassing sectors that influence the rural scenario of India. Many teams from various colleges participate in the event and present their ideas to a panel of experts.
Vaktavya
Vaktavya” is a national level debate competition conducted by RMAX of Rural Management every year; Students across from various B-schools at the national level participate and put forth their valuable thoughts and opinions on a given topic. In the last edition of Vaktavya students from reputed institutes including Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Mumbai, Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB), International Management Institute (IMI) New Delhi, School of Rural Management, School of Human Resource Management, and various other B- School participated.
The speakers were:
- Mr. Pratyaya Jagannath, RM Batch of 2002-04, Managing Director, Kabil Professional Services.
- Mr. Ved Prakash, RM batch of 2001-03, Sr. Business Development Manager – Banking (India/ SAARC) at Gemalto.
- Ms. Neelima Burra, RM batch of 1999-01, Country Marketing Director, Hewlett-Packard.
- Mr. Sudhanshu Shekhar, RM batch of 2005-07, Founder and CEO, Aurbery Consulting Firm.
- Mr. Prakash Panda, RM batch of 1997-98, Associate Consultant, NABARD Consultancy Services.
- Mr. Surya Panda, RM batch of 2005-07, Head – Credit, Samasta Microfinance Limited.
- Mr. Pushpendra Singh Rathore, RM batch of 2008-10 , Operations Manager, ITC Limited.
- Ms. Itishree Kanungo, RM batch of 1998-00, State Co-ordinator, Climate Parliament.
- Mr. Pravash Dash, RM batch of 2003-05, Founder, MD and CEO of Arthan Finance.
Gramotsava
Gramotsava, a Rural Marketing Fair organized by RMAX (Rural Managers’ Association of School of Rural Management), is a flagship event of School of Rural Management. It aims to bridge the gap between rural and urban communities. It tries to identify the institutional voids in a village and strives to bring in relevant products and services from urban markets to bridge that gap, empower the villages, and make their everyday lives more comfortable. Last year, the theme was “Kaushal Gram” or “Skilled Village”. For the year 2019, it was held for three days from 20th to 22nd September 2019 at Adaspur village, Cuttack.
Gramotsava attempted to raise awareness of the importance of self-employment and skill development. To cater to this theme, awareness programs like the Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Programs, private financial service institutions like Ujjivan and Vistaar had their stalls set up on the field. Advanced agricultural tools like KAMCO Power Tillers were introduced this year. In addition to this, the rural communities were given a taste of some people-friendly brands such as Yamaha, Storia, TVS Scooters, and Hyundai.
A significant part of Gramotsava is creating a sense of connectivity between the rural management students with the village communities, in the form of field promotions, one-on one interactions, and marketing campaigns. Being a part of this two-day rural marketing fair gives the students insights into rural marketing and consumer psychology behind the purchase of products or services in villages.
Gramotsava and its preparatory phase bring all the students together, unleashing their creativity through art, music, dance, and street-plays.
ThotBox
ThotBox, the motion picture club of the Rural Managers’ Association of School of RM(RMAX), creens quirky movies followed by discussion, that are thought-provoking majorly. These movies appeal to the moral sense and human values of the students. The prime objective of the club is to bring awareness among the audience over socially sensitive subjects, which we are hesitant to debate and discuss in public. It emphasizes to learn through contentions, deliberations, and dialogue. The movies are concerning Leadership, Religious beliefs, Feminism, Social, etc. which enables the students to learn and realize the grass-root level issues and realities. Post the movie screening, students are stimulated to put in their stand on and understandings from the movie, the importance of different characters in the film, the related impacts on the society, and the context of the movie. The whole activity is aimed at shedding light on the importance of thinking out of the box and developing the skill set to tackle the issues.
Live Projects
Live Projects are one of the best opportunities provided to MBA RM students from RMAX. Students get to know about real field experience before going for final placement. A live project is one kind of internship which provides students first-hand experience with real-time work experience, which they can relate with their classroom curriculum. On the other hand, a student can get the opportunity to study the different markets and different marketing strategies required to connect with the dealer, wholesaler, as well as consumers and the marketing strategies required to attract customers. To help students to get this kind of exposure, RMAX connects students with various start-up companies, organizations, and business firms to get live projects. Students work for this live project on a part-time basis by visiting different places and conducting one to one survey and then submitting all the deliverables required by the organizations in terms of reports after completing the work assigned to them at the end of the project.
List of Live projects undertaken for the year 2019-20:
- This year RMAX has provided many live projects to the batch of 2019-21. They are: Market study and data collection of leads from various traders in Bhubaneswar and Jatani area for MO Truck.
- Preparation of marketing strategy for Descom Infotech’s product and services.
- Collection of data from various MSMEs regarding CSR activities for NuSocia.
- Sales and public awareness for the DISH-NGO product in Gramotsava’19
- Marketing and lead generation from the Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Vistara Financial services in Gramotsava’19
- Sales and branding of Ruchi gold, Storia juice, Home fill like FMCG products.
- Lead generation of KAMKO power tiller and power ripper in Gramotsava’19
- Marketing and lead generation for Utkal Hyundai, TVS, Yamaha vehicle dealers.
This conclave witnessed personality like
- Ms. Jayashree Rao (Chief Marketing Officer, Micro Energy Credits)
- Mr. Jagannath Khuntia (General Manager - Human Resources, Paradeep Phosphates Ltd.)
- Mr. Murli Manohar (National Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank)
- Mr. Sanjit Kumar Behera, Director (CSR Council, Practical Action Foundation India)
- Mr. Abhishek Kher (Assistant Vice President, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd)
- Mr. Mendu Srinivasulu (Vice President, eFresh Agribusiness Solutions Pvt. Ltd.)
- Ms. Aparna Singh (Senior Manager - CSR & Projects, Projects & Skill Development Dept., AISECT)
- Ms. Vibha Bansal (Associate Director, International Tax and Regulatory, KPMG)
- Mr. Vishal Wadhwa (Executive Vice President, Fullerton India Credit Company Ltd.)
- Mr. Priyaranjan, Deputy (General Manager, Financial Inclusion and Development, Reserve Bank of India).