Download - Imprints June - July 2014 Edition
Volume 4 Issue 1 June-July 2014
Foreword Greetings from the Alumni Relations Office!!!
The monsoons got a bit delayed no doubt but are here to stay! Hope you are
all enjoying the rains and the beautiful weather that comes with it.
We have started the new academic year 2014-15 with many firsts.
The first and foremost innovative and different experience for the new stu-
dents was their exposure to our very own alumni. The feeling that these il-
lustrious alumni have also walked the same corridors, had the same cutting
chai with vada pavs, builds the confidence that they too can achieve it all. We had on board Mr. Arun
Rao, Mr. Saikat Chakraborthy, Mr.Harsh Bhosale and Ms. Gurdip Sial Wadhwa to be a part of the induc-
tion program conducted over 2 days. SIMSR is going places with new affiliations with International Uni-
versities in Europe. Read more about it in the magazine.
We are very proud to feature one of our Alumnus – Sweta Agarwal who is all geared up to join the Indian
Civil services. Another of our Alumni – Rahul Atrishi has released his book titled “The karmic confes-
sions of a hopeless traveler”. Do grab a copy and take a look.
We had the first workshop in our series – “Enlighteneus – series of workshops”. The first one was about
Entrepreneurship. We had 5 alumni talk to us about various aspects of starting and running your own
business over 2 days. The speakers included Mr. Vikram Bhatt, Ms. Gurdip Sial Wadhwa, Mr. Karan
Sharma, Mr. Ashish Kyal and Mr. Naveen Bachwani.
The first student event of this year – “All is Well” is also featured in detail.
Last but not the least; we have introductions of our student Alcom team who put in a lot of work to en-
sure that all our activities and events are executed to perfection.
We also have our calendar put up for the next few months. With many activities being lined up, do let us
know if you would be interested in participating. We also look forward to knowing about any special
achievements, articles that you may like to share with us and your batch mates.
Happy Reading,
Vidhya Sharma
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research
contents 1) Induction Program……………. 01
2) Enlighteneus……………………. 03
3) International Tieups ……………05
4) Yours Truly (Junior Team)…...…06
5) Dubai Chapters Meet…………. 08
6) All is Well ………………………. 09
7) Outreach ……………………….. 10
8) Alumni Committeee 2014...……. 11
9) Success Story…………………… 13
10) Book release Mr.Rahul Atrishi..14
11) Upcoming Events………………15
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
INDUCTION PROGRAM
Alumni Committee at SIMSR took another step
towards building a stronger bond between the
alumni and the incoming batch, with two day
Induction session.
The Alumni who stepped forward to conduct this
lecture for day 1 were Mr. Arun Rao and Mr.
Saikat Chakraborty. Having worked in various
capacities of supply chain domain, textile com-
panies and consultancy services, Mr. Rao holds
more than 20 years’ of experience in the indus-
try and currently heads implementation and op-
erations of 3PL services (India division).
Our second guest for the day, Mr. Saikat
Chakraborty has over 10 years of qualitative ex-
perience in multiple domain such as Analytics,
Supply Chain Management and Project Manage-
ment and holds strong understanding of busi-
ness process systems with extensive experience
in usage of analytical tools like SAS etc.
Both of them shared interesting stories of their
life at SIMSR and after, along with strategies on
how to manage work life balance in periods of
crisis.
The second day witnessed 2 eminent alumni of
SIMSR as speakers- Ms Gurdeep Sial Wadhwa
and Mr. Harsh P Bhosale. Ms. Wadhwa , an
alumna of class of 2000-02, holds over 12 years
of experience in marketing functions with
CitiGroup, Landmark group and TCS and is cur-
rently pursuing her hobby of producing creative
audio content with her venture G-Corp since
2008. Ms. Wadhwa awed the students by her live
voice overs of various famous advertisements
she has done and accredited her current self to
the tutelage received at SIMSR .
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 01
Our next speaker was Mr. Harsh P Bhosale who
is a 1986 batch alumnus and current Sr. Vice
President & Head - Human Resources with Essar
Oil Limited. He holds over 28 years of experience
with organizations like Saint Gobain (India), RPG
Group, Scottish & Newcastle plc, JSW Steel, Cad-
bury India and Crompton Greaves.. Mr. Bhosale
spoke briefly about his journey in the corporate
world so far, how SIMSR has had an effect on it
and shared a few anecdotes which were not only
amusing but also thoughtful and knowledge giv-
ing.
As we asked students about how they found the
2 day session, the responses were ‘superb’,
‘great learning experience’ and so on. Team Im-
prints on behalf of the entire institute expresses
gratitude towards each one of our alumni and
look forward to many more similar future inter-
actions .
As millions of people around the world cel-
ebrate the end of month long fast of
Ramadan with Eid Al Fitr,
we wish you all Eid Mubarak.
This Eid, embrace with open heart, inspire
many and distribute pleasure to all. May
you have a blessed year ahead with
cherishing joys, happiness and peace.
Embrace, Inspire and Distribute - Eid Mubarak
from Alumni Committee, K.J. SIMSR
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 02
‘ ENLIGHTENEUS ’ ‘Enlighteneus’- a 2 day entrepreneurial work-
shop was organized for all budding entrepre-
neurs in K J Somaiya on 26th and 27th of July,
2014 by ALCOM in association with Somiya
Vidyavihar. On the first day of the workshop, we
had with us, two of our esteemed SIMSR alumni
Mr. Vikram Bhatt and Mrs. Gurdip Sial Wadhwa.
The workshop began with Dr. Ailawadi, Director
of K J SIMSR, speaking on how the strengths pos-
sessed by our alumni can always be leveraged to
the benefits of future
students. Then Prof.
Bhushan Dewan, Prov-
ost of Somaiya Vidyavi-
har introduced the stu-
dents to the 6 E's of en-
trepreneurship namely
Employment, Economic
Development, Empow-
erment, Equality, Eco
system and Excellence.
After the introduction and warm welcome, it was
the time for our alumni to share their experienc-
es. Our alumna, Mrs. Gurdip Wadhwa Sial, who
is the founder and owner of G-Corp Media with
over 12 years’ of industry experience, talked
about how she converted her hobby of produc-
ing creative audio content to full-time profession
by starting her own firm -‘G-Corp’ which now
provides content management services in the
area of Telephony (Mobile and Basic) and Media
(Advertising, Radio and Television) .What Ms.
Wadhwa left the class with, was a firm belief
that the only way to do great work is to love
what you do. She also impressed the importance
of the thought "If you haven't found it yet keep
looking. Don't settle. And as with all matters of
the heart you will know when you finally find it."
Our second alumnus speaker for the day was Mr.
Vikram Bhatt.
He has 16 years
of professional
& entrepreneur-
ial experience
having sailed in
two boats for
the large part of
his professional
journey and fi-
nally opting to
focus full time on his entrepreneurial journey
with Enrich Salons in May 2011, which has a cur-
rent spread of 54 outlets across different states
in India. He said because there is a risk there is a
reward and invoked the students to think differ-
ently, to be quick, intuitive and involved and to
not always believe in structure or process.
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 03
On the second day we had three Alumni as
speakers - Mr. Karan Sharma, Mr. Ashish Kyal
and Mr. Naveen Bachwani . The session started
with Mr. Karan Sharma who is the Vice President
in the Digital Media & Technology group at
‘Avendus Capital’, India’s leading mid-market
Investment Bank. He gave an insight into the
Venture Capitalists (VC’s) funding the budding
entrepreneurs. He talked about incubators and
Angel investors in India, the evaluation process
by VC’s for retail companies in India and abroad,
the different stages of investment in India and
abroad.
Our next speaker was Mr. Ashish Kyal who start-
ed the session with sharing his own journey from
professional to entrepreneurial world, speaking
about his experience from his stint with Lehman
brothers and Nomura to finally starting his own
firm – ‘Waves Strategy Advisors Pvt. Ltd.’- an in-
dependent research house providing trading and
investment advice using Elliott wave & technical
analysis. He encouraged budding entrepreneurs
to identify the need and create their own
market, being innovative and providing quality
service to the customers, constantly keeping
oneself updated, believing in self and overcom-
ing fear.
Our final speaker for the day was Mr. Naveen
Bachwani, who is the founder of ‘ThinkShop’ – a
consulting firm offering Technology Solutions
and Business Solutions to the clients. He de-
scribed the ideal launch sequence for entrepre-
neurs, motivating the youth to step out of their
comfort zone and think and act out of the box.
The workshop ended post Q & A session, on a
very enthusiastic note where everyone was
pumped up and ready to go and try to make
something of their ideas and visions. The stu-
dents left while discussing in soft murmurs about
how they wanted to begin and where they
thought they would find themselves 5 years
down the line.
“
”
Entrepreneurship is
not a sprint but
it’s a marathon.
If opportunity doesn’t
knock, build a door.
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 04
As foreign universities are flocking into
the Indian education arena, it is at this
time that SIMSR reached a new horizon in
the process of transforming itself into a
world class B-school. A team led by
Dr.Satish Ailawadi ,Dr.Meenakshi Rajan
and Prof Debraj Ghosal during their visit
to Europe in May 2014 signed MOU's with
three leading universities for faculty ex-
change, student exchange and other aca-
demic cooperation. On this occasion, the
team from SIMSR also met Mr. Sameer
Sharma, an alumnus of MMS Marketing
class of 2013 in Stuttgart, Germany.
The list of partnering universities include 1. University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Steyr, Austria
2. University of Applied Sciences, Krems, Austria and 3. DHBW University, Stuttgart, Germany. Among
these, University of Applied Sciences, Krems, Austria tops the national ranking for its export oriented man-
agement program, while DHBW, Stuttgart offers unique dual study practices to its students across courses
where they study and
work with the corporates
simultaneously!!
This is the second aca-
demic collaboration for
SIMSR in a row, the first being the one started since last year with THI Business School, Ingolstadt, Germa-
ny. It was also announced by Dr. Ailawadi during this year’s inaugural ceremony for PGDM, that the stu-
dent topper among all the courses in Somaiya will get a scholarship to spend a term in University of St
Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland. (this University’s Strategy & International Management program comes 1st
worldwide in the current Financial Times ranking of the Master in Management programs). Team Imprints
looks forward to more of such endeavors in years to come!!
Academic collaborations with
European universities - a new
feather in the cap
Management studies in SIMSR gets International flavors.
”
“
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 05
Abhinav Kausik (PGDM) Calls himself “socially active and fun loving“
Abhinav says “I will pose myself as a bridge between the college and the alumni so as
to strengthen the bond further and help the
institute grow faster.. ”
Anshumala Sinha - (PGDM-Financial Services)
Defines herself as a thoughtful learner and keen observer of life She says “Privileged to be a member of ALCOM. And I hope to enhance this bond between our college, its students and alumni so that it reaps us great dividends in career and life in
general”
Ayona Chowdhury (PGDM-International Business) Believes there are 2 mantras to success. Never tell them everything.
Life is long, life is short But the length is not what life’s about. It’s the quality of life that counts which makes a person lost or found
Some find it easy, some find it hard Living life true, is the greatest art!
Ayushi Juneja (PGDM)
Believes in following her heart and living her dreams. Being in ALCOM, she would strive to reflect your light to light many more candles.
Ayushi Verma (PGDM-Financial Services)
Describes herself as someone who is an eternal optimist and believes in enjoying life and helping others
She aspires to take Alcom to a newer horizon and in the process learn as much as she can from the distinguished alumni who have walked the challenging path of success.
Bivash Krishna Bala (PGDM-Retail Management) ll
Bivash believes, The best and worst the world has seen,The lessons of history and that to come.Light our lamp with your acumen, And enlighten what makes Great Men.
We are now what you were then, Like lions in search of the den. Let us bring this pride together, And strengthen our bond forever.
Lovina Murdia (PGDM-Integrated Marketing Communications)
Connecting all the dots of imagination helps her to stay close to the originality, making simple things outshine.
She says “It’s never too late for networking. Enlighten us with your experiences”
Mayur Agrekar (PGDM-Financial Services) A Follower of, “Imagine with all your mind,
Believe with all your heart, Achieve with all your might.” Mayur wants to work towards keeping the tradition of creating
successful stories for better future of SIMSR
Yours Truly Sleepless nights, late night interviews, midnight fun and days packed up with lectures - a time which taught the newbies of SIMSR class of 2014 the true essence of life in B-school. Well they stood firm and performed
their best ,amongst them we chose the team who aspires to take ALCOM to greater heights. Lets hear it from them what they have to say to you.
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 06
Oswald Parmar (PGDM) Curious, imaginative and an avid music lover
To the alumni: “Think not what you have done for your Alma Mater but imagine what it has done for you”. Join us in making the SIMSR alumni network the
most connected and active one in the country.
Priyal Doshi (PGDM) Believer of ‘you are essentially who you create yourself to be’
Priyal says To Bring Back the Best ,And To Reach out for More,
Is the reason why ALCOM is here for.
Ridhi Gupta(PGDM) Energetic, passionate and creative
She explains ‘I aspire to develop my skills, to work at my highest potential, and thereby contribute in the overall bonding of each Alumnus
to the College, to their teachers and their juniors.’
Rohan Pai, (PGDM International Business)
Describes himself as a Team player with habit of paying attention to detail Rohan’s pledge is to involve at least one alumnus from each batch to mentor our stu-
dents for the smooth transition from Campus to Corporate.
Ruchir Gupta (PGDM International Business) Passionate about teaching underprivileged
kids and substantially contributing to the society To build strong relation and emotional connect with our Alumnus is why he is here.
Sai Ajay Vamaraju (PGDM-Financial Services)
Keen observer and listener who loves to explore life. Co-Founder of 'Help for a Cause', a charitable organisation. “As a member of this distinguished Committee I would love you
teach us the intricacies and insights of the industry. We stand to gain immensely from the rich experience you possess”
Shraddha Rajgarhia (PGDM Financial Services)
A metaphorical lion, bold and bright ,with a keen intent to make the whole world shine. “We follow you for your devotion and hard work.
Be our mentors and enlighten us with your knowledge and experience.”
Swinston D’almeida (PGDM International Business)
Describes himself as a fan of soccer, the sport that has taught him team work He says- it’s our past that lights up the future, ALCOM is here to make it happen.
Yours Truly Sleepless nights, late night interviews, midnight fun and days packed up with lectures - a time which taught the newbies of SIMSR class of 2014 the true essence of life in B-school. Well they stood firm and performed
their best ,amongst them we chose the team who aspires to take ALCOM to greater heights. Lets hear it from them what they have to say to you.
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 07
Dubai had its first SIMSR Alumni meet on Saturday (10th May, 2014) at Kulcha King, Sheikh Zayed Road,
Dubai. With a bit of hesitation, one after the other, people dropped in to reach a number of 12
SIMSRites. Beginning with multiple rounds of introduction, the discussions went on about Professors
and deans (where Prof Narsimham & Prof Ghai stole the show off course!) , current job profiles, job
hunting, placements in SIMSR and so on.
The age old debate of PG versus MMS, deep rooted in the minds of SIMSRites definitely topped the list.
“Even though we passed in different years, I could feel a common thread that bound us together. “-
says Neha Malik, an Alumnus of SIMSR currently working in Dubai. She adds on adding “We all realize
that our college was good for our first placement and it was hard work and perseverance ahead of that
to us to greater heights. However the power of a strong network cannot be ignored. We all spoke about
various institutions that support such alumni meets; it's our turn now to make it happen for us. Let's all
move towards the initiative taken by Ra-
jat Khatri and connect and partner to-
gether wherever we can. I request each
one of you to reach out in this group and
not hesitate to ask for any help. Each one
of us is in a position where we can help
fellow alumni grow professionally and
advance in their career. It may be as small
as talking about the work of your organi-
zation, its culture, your role, introduction
to someone you know etc. Reach out and
pay it forward! ”.
Team Imprints would like to express thanks and best wishes to the entire alumni batch in Dubai -
Sandeep, Damodar, Mukul, Naveen, Avinash, Akhil, Ashish, Nutan, Enayet, Lokesh and Rajat
for making the time and taking the effort to connect with each other.
CHAPTER ONE DUBAI BOOKS
” “
We would give an arm and leg to build a friendly network and I truly believe this an opportunity not to be missed
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 08
ALL IS Just when the 2014-16 batch of PGDM was trying to settle in, June started with a
bang!! An annual event called “All is Well” was organized by the senior batch to
welcome the juniors. It was an interclass competition which resulted in sleepless
nights, endless hours of practice and recognition of some brilliant talents from
the newcomers.
All the PGDM classes participated with zest and zeal and hosted a kaleidoscope
of events ranging from singing and dancing to plays and stand up comedy.
The quote “Well begun is half done” indeed holds good. At midnight 7th June, all
the classes came out of the hostel rooms, assembled in what we call the Hawa
Gali and promoted their classes through innovative silent promotions.
The students made posters, banners, wall hangings etc. to promote their respec-
tive classes. Various other promotional activities involving social media, print
media as well as warm gestures such as serving food items were witnessed.
Some of the acts were executed with impeccable perfection leaving the audi-
ence awestruck. While the competition was neck to neck, the team work and amount of creativity dis-
played by each team was commendable.
The PGDM-B class emerged as the winners of 2014. They displayed a gamut of talents ranging from ar-
dent war cries to rallying with a decorated auto-rickshaw while beautifully executing a carnival theme
with just the perfect costumes and props. The on stage performances were also a delight.
And finally at the end of it, the one thing that came to our mind was the famous saying- “ALL IS WELL
that ends well”. We ended up with memories galore! All the efforts paid off and not only did everyone
have their share of hard work and fame but we also witnessed bonds being established and some real
ice breaking!!!!
WE
LL
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 09
Summer Internships for the Alcom members brought along the opportunity to con-
nect with our beloved alumni at various organizations. We had a wonderful meeting
with our 1998 batch alumnus Mr. Devendra Patil, Senior Director – National Sales
at DHL Express India Pvt. Ltd.
He was more than delighted to re-connect with his alma mater. Details of various initi-
atives taken by Alcom aroused great interest in him. We were highly appreciated and
encouraged to continue the good work. A feedback on the college and committee ac-
tivities was taken for improvements in our endeavor.
Mr. Devendra also gave some insights for the summer project. We parted by gifting
him a small memento as a token of gratitude on behalf of the institute.
We also got the opportunity to meet Mr. Rohan Waghmare (Batch of 2005), Business
Development Manager at DHL Express India Pvt. Ltd. After being out of touch all these
years, he gave a warm welcome to our initiatives to reconnect the bond.
OU
TR
EA
CH
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 10
D I V Y A
P R I T A M
CO-CONVENER CONVENER
SOVILJOT
ROHIT SRABANA
ANUKRITY
GULSHAN
SAYONI
ALUMNI Committee
20 1 4
11
ARNEET
ALUMNI Committee
20 1 4
M INAL
AAYUSH
JAI
SALONY SWARA
N IKHIL
TANVI
ADITYA
12
The mission of SIMSR is to enable students devel-
op into competent, socially responsible and value
driven citizens committed towards sustainable
development. Every day almost 5000 SIMSR grad-
uates strive to make lives better for the rest of
the society!! And what better opportunity could
one have than to join the Indian Civil Services-
one of the most coveted jobs in the world. Well,
this time it is Sweta Aggarwal, an alumnus of
SIMSR class of 2010 who has proved her mettle in
the Civil Services Examination 2013-14 with an All
India Rank of 497.A voracious book reader and
adventure sports enthusiast, she aspires to join
Indian Revenue Services in the process. Sweta
has been an achiever throughout her career. After graduating with B.Sc Hons in Economics from St Xa-
vier’s College, Kolkata, she worked with Deloitte as an Analyst in Mumbai for 13 months.
She explains “I was a part of the State Government
Team (U.S. Government Sector). My work involved
analyzing state budgets, policies, elections, and
governor priorities. This analysis helps Deloitte
partners stay updated about the top priorities of
the top government officials and also reveals the
areas where Deloitte could offer solutions to the
clients. Additionally, we also conducted event spe-
cific research and analysis to identify the impact of
specific events on our client states. This in-turn
provides opportunity to Deloitte to provide rele-
vant services to help the state make the most of
the opportunities”.
Team Imprints extends their heartiest congratulations to Sweta for her
achievements and best wishes for her career ahead!!
”
“ Perseverance is
not a long race, it
is many short
races one after
the other
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 13
”
What do you do when you become tired of being
shoved around as an underdog for your whole life?
What do you do when you cannot find happiness de-
spite having a fair enough job with a T.V production
house .As with Rahul (the character from our story),
he decides to take an abrupt break and run off to
Murud Janjira- a sea side village in Mumbai. “The
Karmic confessions of a hopeless traveler”- a book
written by our own alumnus Mr Rahul Atrishi, por-
trays the story of Rahul, who decides to break away
from his ‘not so pleasant’ present. Riding on almost
every kind of transport in the worst of the condi-
tions, bumping into strangers in absolutely outland-
ish situations, stumbling upon shocking realities of
life and last but not the least, goofing up every now
and then, makes his journey worth remembering .
The book has already been greatly appreciated by
both Indian and US readers. For those who don’t
know of him, Rahul Atrishi is a wordsmith who has
written across diverse media platforms in the capaci-
ty of a screenwriter and poet for national and inter-
national clients. He has conceptualized and written
written Feature Films, Sitcoms, Soaps-operas, Anima-
tion Tele-series etc.. He has also written an animation
feature film Balla Bol for Ted Turner Network. So, in
case you are curious to know what life unfolds for
Rahul in the due course of time, don’t forget to order
your copy the next time you visit Flipkart or Amazon!!
“ In the comfort of grand ma’s lullabies,
In the innocence of childhood lies, In the gaze of a lover’s eyes,
In the trust of a matrimony tie, In the deceit of the rolling dice,
In the hope of an alibi, In the nostalgia of gone byes,
In the last word of a dying man’s sighs,
I exist in ‘non-existence’ as a storyteller
who touches lives!
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 14
Event Name Date
Alumniscence 09/08/2014
Introduction of Mentors and Students for Pilot Mentorship
Program 09/08/2014
MCA Induction Program 09/08/2014
Alumniscence 23/08/2014
Anveshan 06/09/2014
Confluence 11/10/2014
Nostalgia 08/11/2014
All the above mentioned dates are tentative dates and are subject to change.
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research 15
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
Srabana Chaudhuri PGDM-Marketing
2013-15 Contact : +91-9769079620
Gulshan Deepchandani MCA
2013-16 Contact : +91-9860699431
Tanvi Bhutani PGDM-Communications
2013-15 Contact : +91-9833905774
Aayush Chadha MMS
2013-15 Contact : +91-9665759865
I M P R I N TS T E A M
EDITOR Content Manager and Designer
DESIGNER DESIGNER
CONTRIBUTORS
SWARA
MEHTA ARNEET
SINGH M INAL NAIR
AAYUSHI
JUNEJA R IDHI GUPTA
For any feedback or queries you can write to us at [email protected]
We will be glad to have your valuable contribution.
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CHOWDHURY
Imprints | Volume 4 Issue 1
K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research