SIM’ergence 2011

We came, we saw, we conquered...these were the thoughts that were uppermost in the minds of all the SIM’ergence 2011 attendees. As promised, SIM’ergence 2011, the flagship corporate event of SIMSREE, was a grand show-with eminent panelists, a great lineup of Corporate and Knowledge speakers and not to mention our illustrious Chief Guest. The theme this year was ‘India-New Decade, New Horizon, New Challenges’.

The event kicked off with an inaugural ceremony, which included an address by the Director of SIMSREE, Dr. M.A. Khan. This was followed by speeches by the Corporate Speakers who spoke extensively on rural markets, the future of marketing and consumption and the macroeconomic environment of India. The Knowledge Speaker spoke on Financial Inclusion, which was the theme of the day. Two panel discussions followed on ‘Rural Markets-Unearthing the Latent Potential’ and ‘Financial Inclusion-The Race to the Bottom of the Pyramid’. The discussions were enjoyed by all, largely due to the skill and experience of the speakers and moderators. Both discussions were extremely informative and the audience gained many valuable insights by simply listening to them.

The high point of the day was the address by the Chief Guest, Mr. Niranjan Hiranandani. Mr. Hiranandani spoke on his life and career and enlivened the audience with many personal anecdotes. There was also an interactive Q&A session where Mr. Hiranandani patiently answered the many questions posed to him.

SIM’ergence 2011 saw an audience of 300-strong which included both corporates as well as students from various B-schools across the city. Needless to say, the event was a great success and has definitely raised the bar for future SIMSREE events.

For more details, refer to the March 2011 issue of Simposium.

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SIMSREE Students Win Dandekar Trophy 2011

It is with great pride that we announce that two students of our very own SIMSREE, Michelle Rodrigues and Clitus Fernandes, have won the prestigious Dandekar Trophy 2011 presented by the Bombay Management Association.

The Dandekar Trophy was awarded to the best paper in a paper presentation competition. The topic for the same was ‘Managing Well in Uncertain Times’. Twenty B-schools from across the city participated in the competition and SIMSREE emerged victorious. This is the first time that SIMREE has won this trophy and we are sure it will not be the last.

Our heartiest congratulations to Michelle and Clitus-you have really made us proud. To read the winning paper, please refer to the March 31st, 2011 issue of Simposium.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Dharmendra Rai

We were honoured to have on campus an extremely distinguished guest-Mr. Dharmendra Rai, National Sales Head and Vice President at Benchmark Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd, Assistant Vice President at J M Morgan Stanley and Mumbai’s first and only Licensed Mind Map Trainer.

Mr. Rai conducted a session on Mind Maps- a technique used by many of the world’s most intelligent and successful people for idea generation. Stalwarts such as Walt Disney have found this technique effective for brainstorming and innovation. It is also useful for enhancing lateral thinking which, as we all know, is a necessary skill in today’s competitive world.

A mind map essentially encourages the brain to work in the way it is best suited for-pictorially. The basic principle underlying mind maps is to start with a central concept and work your way outwards. The original concept results in a series of second level concepts which can be further extended to third, fourth....  successive concepts. The depth to which one must go depends on the creator of the mind map. Rather than thinking in a linear manner (which bores the brain and hence blocks further idea generation), one is encouraged to think in all directions. Emphasis is placed on representing each new idea or concept graphically rather than verbally. This further stimulates the brain to become more creative and innovative.

Mr. Rai practically proved this by conducting a small experiment.  He also explained how mind maps have been proven to improve one’s creativity, concentration power and idea generation ability. He also stated that mind maps are a tool which aids the worldwide shift from merely an age of information to an age of knowledge.

It was a very interesting and enjoyable session. This technique will surely help us to fulfil our roles as managers and leaders of tomorrow in a more efficient way and enable us to achieve new levels of excellence.

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Banking Workshop by Mr. Nitesh Gawade, a SIMSREE Alumnus

We at SIMSREE were privileged to host a workshop on Banking conducted by Mr. Nitesh Gawade, a 2008 alumnus of SIMSREE. Mr. Gawade is the founder of Edify Solutions. The workshop was conducted in two sessions of four hours each and was intended to apprise students of the various profiles available in the banking domain and the skill set required for each such profile as well as the expectations of employers. This was applicable to five specializations, namely, Finance, Marketing, Human Resources, Operations and Systems.

Day 1 of the workshop saw two topics being covered-Basic Banking and Banking Systems. Basic Banking started with the fundamental functions of banks and then moved on Retail Banking and Corporate Banking. Job profiles and responsibilities in these domains were clearly mapped out. The career path one might expect to follow here was also traced. Banking Systems covered a wide variety of topics-ATM, ECS, Internet Banking, IT Infrastructure, Core Banking, CRM, Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing. Again, we were made aware of the various roles open to us and the responsibilities associated with the same. The skill set needed in such a position was also touched upon.

Day 2 saw a wider variety of topics which were covered by Mr. Gawade’s colleagues.  The session opened with a briefing on Treasury Process and Systems by Ms. Dhruvi Vora (again a 2008 alumnus of SIMSREE!). Treasury Mid Office i.e. Treasury Operation were covered by Mr. Gaurav Chheda. The session concluded with a summary of various Banking Profiles and skill set requirements by Mr. Gawade.

It was indeed a very interesting and informative session and cleared many misconceptions in the minds of students regarding Banking. We hope to host many more such educational sessions in future.

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Guest Lecture By Mr. Samir Gupte

The junior batch of SIMSREE was privileged to have a guest lecture with Mr. Samir Gupte, President and Country Head at O&M on the 11^th of February. Mr. Gupte took a lecture on Rural Marketing, with a focus on the strategies used by HUL. It was a very informative session as Mr. Gupte started out by explaining what the rural market is like, what the difficulties in communication are etc.

Many innovative ideas were discussed, like the portable TVs and DVD players used to play advertisements to the villagers as part of the Khushiyon ki Doli campaign, the Vodafone search towers used at the local fairs, etc.

Since most of rural India is not exposed to modern technology, there is need for innovative ideas to get the message across. Lifebuoy in particular had one innovative campaign where local gurudwaras were involved. This had to be done subtly so as to not hurt the religious sentiments of people.

Thus it was a highly illuminating session, which contributed to awakening the interest of the entire batch in Rural Marketing. We look forward to having more such sessions with Mr. Gupte.

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SIMSREE wins four Star News National B-school Awards !!!

It gives us immense to pleasure to let everyone know that SIMSREE has received not one, not two but four awards at the Star News B School Awards 2011.

SIMSREE won the awards for:
1. Outstanding B-school (West)
2. Best B-School with Industry Related Curriculum in Marketing
3. Best B-school with Excellent Industry Interface.

Our very own Prof. Ashish Pawaskar, an alumnus of SIMSREE from the batch of 1994 also won the award for the Best Professor teaching Marketing Management.

 

Hence, it was an awards galore at the Star News event.The Chaipersons along with Prof. Pawaskar had gone to collect the award on behalf of all the students of SIMSREE.It was a great feeling holding the awards in the hand because such awards are given to recognise the hardwork and sweat that is put in by an institute. It recognises all the good work that an institute has done in the past one year.

SIMSREE students had worked hard this year too as they do every year and it is their hardwork, determination and grit which is recognised and because of that we have a shower of awards being bestowed upon SIMSREE.

We wish that SIMSREE students keep on performing well in the years to come and receive many more such awards year on year.

Proud to be a SIMSREE student!!!!


Thanks and Regards,
Mukul

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SIMSREE AT THE STANDARD CHARTERED MUMBAI MARATHON 2011

“SIMSREE is here to show, Green is the way to go!!!”  This is one chant that definitely could not be missed at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2011, given the enthusiasm with which we endorsed it. Yes, SIMSREE was a part of the Dream Run this year (and a noticeably vociferous one).

SIMSREE supported the Sanskar Foundation, which is an NGO dedicated to health, environmental, social and civic issues. It aims to empower citizens to make a significant contribution towards protecting and nurturing the environment. SIMSREE also ran for “Eco-Binders”-the project which won the MUNIJAN competition organized by the University of Mumbai in October 2010.

We feel that environmental consciousness is one issue which has not always received the importance it deserves. To do our small bit to remedy this, we decided to endorse the idea of “going green” in an individual’s daily life-each and every one of us, be it a student, working professional or just anyone can and should contribute to preserving the environment-no matter in how small a way. It could be as simple as using the blank pages of half-full notebooks instead of throwing them away (Eco-binders anyone?) or simply doing little things like switching off lights and fans, using public transport or recycling. This is the message we wanted to bring out-you CAN make a difference.

Well, we came, we saw and we walked (and even danced) our way from start to finish. Each and every one of the participants took up the cause enthusiastically and there was no lack of energy at any point. On the contrary, our energy levels seemed to rise with each additional step we took. The icing on the cake was the impromptu dance across the Marine Lines flyover and of course, our triumphant foray across the finish line. And you know what the best part about all this was? It was entirely eco-friendly...

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