US firm puts IIM-L students on biz network!

In a first-of-a-kind development, a US-based software consultancy firm approached the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) to be a nodal centre for introducing to the market its new software product which essentially happens to be an operating system providing networking platform.

US Tech Solutions, the New Jersey-based company, announced the venture officially much to the cheers of management students who look it as an opportunity to be a part of business enterprise much before they graduate from the coveted institute.

Ian Tomlin, sales director of the product, said that the platform was an improved version of various social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut. The system brings together business entities together while at the same time maintaining the much needed security to the date. In the initial stages, the platform would be opened to business houses, institutes and entrepreneurs.

Vice-president (corporate strategy), Dhiraj Adya said that it would be like an operating system by which one can have a webpage where one can post information — from products to suggestions to e-mails to SMS.

Himself an alumnus of IIM-L, Adya claimed that this is for the first time that a global consultancy is officially launching the software product suite at a B-school.

The company also conducted a case study competition exclusively for IIM Lucknow Students, and Team 'SPAM' emerged as winners.

Colloquy: The Leadership series 2009

The Colloquy leadership series organized by IIC invites thought leaders from various spheres to share their valuable knowledge and experiences with the budding managers of tomorrow. Some of the notable industry stalwarts who visited the campus in 2009 were:


Mr. Chetan Bulsari, Head (Finance), Barclays Wealth
This session was aimed at educating students on the real issues that led to the financial crisis in its present shape and what could be the potential strategies that could be employed by companies to better the situation. In a second session he helped the second year students, majoring in Finance, understand the nuances of Risk Management in a Bank & explained in detail the critical role played by the bank’s Treasury.


Mr.Anuratna, Global Marketing Manager, Citi Private Bank
Primarily focused at the first year students, this talk by Mr. Anuratna Chaddha centered around the credit crisis, its origins and the mechanism of its spread to all economies. Further, Mr. Chaddha shared deep insights highlighting the key steps that financial institutions such as Citi were taking to emerge from the crisis and start their progress towards growth. Drawing from his personal experiences, he also shared with the students his perspective on the prime challenges he encountered while working in diverse geographical locations such as South Africa & Sub Saharan Africa, which was a very important take-away for students.

Anirban Malakar, Business Head, Maxus Global
Mr. Malakar held an engaging talk on "Media Strategy and Media Schedules" for students of IIM Lucknow. He highlighted how advertising companies go about promotional strategies for corporates. He also shed light on the importance of 360 degree campaigns by companies involving various technology components to create bigger impact and increase reach to the consumers. Mr. Malakar talked about how one should go about placing advertisements and campaigns in different media like print, TV, magazines etc. The session was a great learning experience for the students who gained useful insights into the media strategy domain.


Mr. Bijoy Daga, Head Invest Banking group
Mr. Bijoy Daga, a CA with over 14 years of experience in Relationship Management, Asset & Structured Finance, Advisory Services and Project Finance and currently heading the Investment Banking group at IL&FS Financial Services Limited, took a session on Project Finance. This highly-engaging session primarily dealt with examples of live deals in tune with the current market trends in the International and Indian arena.