Coffee with Alumni Mr. Manish Daswani

On 26^th October, 2015, we were privileged to have an interaction with Manish Daswani, an alumnus of the 2003 batch, for an engaging session over a cup of coffee. The venue for the session was the swanky Bank of America office at Nariman Point in Mumbai. Manish, a payments & cash management professional is currently working as Director, Commercial Cards in the Asia Pacific cards team at Bank of America.

‘Work hard, stay humble and be honest; not just to your work but also to yourself’, was the advice that Manish gave the students before the students asked him about the topics of their interest. Manish explained about his transition from a Marketing graduate at SIMSREE to working as a Banking professional. He emphasized on the fact that every job role does not require one to be an expert in theoretical knowledge. It is equally, if not more important to demonstrate the ability to take ownership and lead by example. He asked the students to focus on developing these softer skills during their tenure at SIMSREE.

Manish then explained the various career options in banking and spoke in detail about corporate banking roles in particular. A healthy discussion followed about thecash management business and the opportunities and threats in the same. Students’ doubts on Mobile Wallets, disruption of banking through fintech, growth of SMEs in India, and the focus of Banks in these areas were cleared by him. Manish also helped the students understand the methods of revenue generation of banks, difference between cash management and treasury, difference between and the importance of Mobile Wallets and Payment Banks and how the introduction of these may affect the Retail Banking sector in the longer term. This was then followed by Manish’s views on digital money, fintech, bitcoin, and contactless cards.

Towards the end, Manish discussed various career options available in the banking sector for students specializing in marketing. He encouraged the students to introspect and to think about their areas of interest and expertise, and to try and establish their careers in an area that they are passionate about. ‘You will probably spend one third of your adult life working– might as well make sure it’s fun’, he concluded.

The Alumni Committee thanks Mr. Manish Daswani for the enriching session and hopes to continue this association. 

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Coffee with Alumni Mr.Vernon Fernandes

On the 26^th of September, the Alumni Committee welcomed Mr. Vernon Fernandes, an alumnus of the 2014 batch, for a Coffee with Alumni session to address a few students of the junior batch. Mr. Fernandes is an Assistant Manager in the Corporate and Investment Banking Team at Citicorp Services India Ltd. He has experience in the Equity Research markets, Portfolio Management, and Investment Banking sectors and has also been associated with the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, NVS Brokerage Pvt. Ltd. and CRISIL.

The session started with the students introducing themselves and sharing their memorable moments at SIMSREE. Mr. Fernandes then introduced himself as an avid investor and spoke about the prestigious Dewang Mehta National Award that he had won during his college days. He gave a thorough description of the opportunities in the financial sector which include Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Investment Banking, Corporate Banking, etc. Mr. Fernandes then shared a detailed account of a career in different segments like Insurance, where one could opt for Sales or Actuarial Sciences; Asset Management, where people are spoilt for choices between Equity Research and Mutual Fund; Alternative Asset Management, where portfolios like Real Estate Investment or Private Equity are the best choices. The students were also briefed about the types of trading. While sharing the experience of his transition from back end to front end office in investment banking, he stated that the passion to work is of paramount significance in a profile like investment banking which involves strenuous working hours. Students were also given tips to crack their interviews by engaging in crisp replies as expected by any interviewer. A simple lesson of ‘Make an offer that the interviewer cannot refuse’ was what Mr. Fernandes insisted upon, as an interviewee is always judged relatively with the other competitors. The students were encouraged to participate in various competitions which would eventually help them in developing their personality to pave their way to the top. Students were advised to avoid looking at the materialistic aspects of the job during selection as job satisfaction and happiness matters in the long run. Inspiring the students with real life examples, he encouraged them to never feel dejected or give up as hard work is the key to success.

We thank Mr. Vernon Fernandes for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit the campus and sharing his valuable insights.

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Coffee With Alumni - Mr. Sameer Kanwar

On 25^th July, the budding management aspirants of SIMSREE were pleased to have the opportunity of interacting with Mr Sameer Kanwar, an alumnus of the 1995 MMS Batch. Mr. Kanwar is currently the General Partner at Basil Growth Corporation. Previously, he was the Director at Powerdesk. In the ‘Coffee With Alumni’ session organised by the Alumni Committee in the college campus, the students had a very friendly and meaningful conversation with Mr Sameer over coffee and snacks.

With about 20 years of expertise in the information & technology and services and a great deal of experience in the private equity sector, Mr. Kanwar shared with the students an overview of his entire corporate journey. He spoke to the students about the immense learning he gained in his career including his one year stint in the core IT sector at Essar Information Technology Ltd, where he realised the need to bring about a change and thus decided to plan for MBA. He also spoke about how it was to be a part of Parametric Technology Corporation as the Regional Manager and head things there. He shared his experience about being a part of the merger which took place between APAR Tech and NESS Technologies, during his stint at NESS Technologies.

Mr Kanwar gave a brief overview about how things work in a private equity firm and how the entire process of selecting, accepting and rejecting the decision of investing in a particular start up or a firm goes about. He explained the risks involved in making such decisions and also the future scope in it. Replying to a volley of questions and clearing the doubts of the students, the session came to an end.

With the industry insights gained through this interactive session, the students enjoyed the session and benefitted thoroughly. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Mr Sameer Kanwar for agreeing to spend time with the students.

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