SAMRIDDHI 2011

The annual national conference hosted by the Goa Institute of Management began on a bigger platform this year at the college’s new campus in Sanquelim. The event showcased several eminent speakers from varied spheres of Industry sharing their knowledge and views on this year’s theme of ‘Business in our Rural Markets’. Sesa Goa were the main sponsors for the event ably supported by The CMM Group of Companies, Kushi Advertising, Automobile Corporation of Goa (ACGL), Dare2Compete, Tulip Pharmaceuticals, Zuari Industries Ltd., Freerecharge.in, Cleartrip.com & Print Bindaas.

The three day event was kick-started on 19th August by GIM’s own Prof. Hemant Padhiary followed by an inaugural speech by the chief guest, Mr. Nasser Munjee (Non-Executive Chairman Development Credit Bank Ltd) in which he reinstated the fact that India was still lagging behind in certain spheres due to the inherent ‘sovietism’ leading to governance issues, despite liberalization and privatization providing a great impetus to growth in the country. Mr Munjee further illustrated how the biggest factor of India’s burgeoning growth has been the growth of the rural sector, and also discussed various ways to effectively enhance the same.

A talk by Prof. Mithileshwar Jha; faculty member of IIM Bangalore followed. Prof. Jha, among other achievements has co-authored the Marketing Bible ‘Marketing Management’ along with Philip Kotler. During his interaction, he stressed the need for marketers to approach the rural markets as an opportunity to create wealth and share it rather admiring it like a pot of gold. The marketers of tomorrow, he emphasized, must focus on generating insights into issues like poverty, consumption, welfare, autonomy and sustainability while looking at rural markets. He went further to coin a new term ‘Rurban’ describing the large number of masses residing in smaller towns.

The next speaker, Mr. Dileep Ranjekar (CEO,Azim Premji Foundation) began his presentation rather emphatically, stating that the government is a very large organization and like any large organization it has lost touch with its people. The intent of his talk was to use the current education system and its existing architecture especially in rural areas as an example to project the inherent but dynamic nature of the rural business environment as well the challenges this arena puts forth towards policy makers and corporates.

Also present for the talk was Mr. Ravi Venkatraman (CFO, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd.) who gave the audience interesting insights into the history of financial services in rural India. He highlighted the reasons why M&M Financial Services chose to take the middle path between that of the money lenders and the public sector banks, and illustrated its proximity to its consumers through ‘emotional banking’ and hand-held technology which has made Mahindra Finance the largest rural Non-Banking Financial Company.

Mr. Murali Vullaganti, CEO Rural Shores, spoke next about the new concept of shoring or outsourcing jobs to the rural heartlands. He highlighted how technology acted as an enabler in rural shoring of the metro jobs resulting in emergence of small towns as outsourcing hubs. Mr. Stephen Remedios, Head, Customer Marketing & Modern Trade at Hindustan Unilever Limited followed with an interactive session with a primary focus on “rural driven innovation”. Stating his own personal experiences, he emphasized that for one to know rural India, one must see rural India. He further delved into the role of women in our rural markets today, and how change is actually driven by women. He also touched upon Shakti, the initiative taken by HUL, and how it has helped in empowering women and helping them in becoming independent.

The session by Mr Raj Amonkar SCM, Syngenta, was based on “Food Security and Food Value Chain” He shared many success stories of enhancing the sustainability and value of food value chain. Mr. Amonkar pointed out that the current population is increasing at a stupendous rate and in order to serve the needs of this massive population, corresponding growth in food production was required. Current food production needs to be increased by 70% by 2050 to sustain the balance between demand and supply of agricultural produce.

The last speaker for the day was Prof. Jeevan Arakal (Asst., Professor XIMB), who deciphered how consumption is rooted in production, and how none of these two could function individually. He also mentioned the farming community and the massive number of suicides amongst farmers that took place a few years ago due to land issues and their inability to pay back loans. Prof. Arakal spoke at length about the farmer market and the various players affecting the farmer ecosystem, about organisations like Navajyothi and initiatives like Grass Routes which provide a platform to youth and others to work towards social change, successfully syncing rural India with development.

As Samriddhi 2011 moved into its second phase, it was witness to teams from some of the most prestigious Business Schools in the country vying for the top spot in various contests. Besides a Business Plan Workshop, the event included a Business Plan & Case Study Competition, and an Online Quiz which will examine the entrepreneurial instinct, business know-how and wits of participants. The Photography contest, Advertisement Fest & a host of Simulation Games will test student ability to think on their feet and unleash their creativity.

Students from top Business schools around the country converged to Goa Institute of Management on the weekend. The meet had a host of competitions that witnessed a total of 800 teams participating in 9 events. The competitions kick-started with ‘Udbhav’, the B-plan event, in which five teams that were shortlisted for the final round out of numerous teams that had applied presented their B- focusing on empowering Rural India. The team from NITIE spoke about Project ‘Ujjala’; how using the husk from the rice mills could be used to generate electricity and thus satisfy the local needs of the villagers. GIM’s team’s business idea was an iron supplement health drink for adolescent girls and pregnant women. This plan, which went on to win honours, was rightly tagged ‘A ray of hope’ as it envisioned eradicating  one of rural India’s worst nightmares, Anemia, a condition of deficiency of iron in blood stream. The jury signed off the event by encouraging the young entrepreneurs to run on full steam to realize their dreams and to take an oath to give back to the society from which they have gained so much.

Graamshala, the B-Plan was conducted by Mr. Nigel Cabral, who is the Chairman of the GCCI’s Young Entrepreneurs Forum (YEF) and the Managing Partner and head of strategy and business development at the Cabral Group of Companies. An MBA from London Business School, Mr. Cabral gave precious insight about the typical questions that an entrepreneur needs to answer to make a venture successful. Mr. Cabral taught the various ways an entrepreneur becomes successful, from writing a B-Plan to identifying opportunities to searching and controlling resources to building an efficient team.

Vibhakti, the case study competition, made the GIM boardroom look like a proverbial corporate war field. The seven competing teams had to analyse an investment venture in Goa on retirement homes and bring out solutions to enhance its marketability and profitability. Besides promotion through experiential marketing, teams also came up with one liners for the brand, some of them being- ‘Say Good Evening to your Life’ and the catchy- ‘pachpan ka bachpan!’

Students were tested on their creativity and analytical skills in ‘PRachhar’- The Ad Fest of Samriddhi’11. There were no limits set for the participants to chalk out the perfect advertising plan for the given product, a TV for Rural Markets, and they did exactly that. From “Dabangg” to “Abhiman” to “Kalakar” – the names covered it all! As said by one of the participants, “the process of participating in such events makes you put a lot of things in perspective – both personally and professionally”.

The 3rd and final day of Samriddhi ’11 kicked off with Aalekh: a Paper Presentation Event. Five teams reached the final phase of the event that had started with 86 entries from various B-schools across the country. The papers presented at Aalekh covered a vivid range of topics related to rural markets. Great Lakes Institute of Management focused on ‘Influences on rural consumer’, while Goa Institute of Management, the first place winners, presented paper on ‘Supply chain management and risk assessment in rural markets’ .‘Financial inclusion through innovative business models’ was the theme of the team from IIM, whereas the team from School of Inspired Leadership, and the team from IIFT, presented their papers on ‘Human resource practices in rural markets’ and ‘Rural tourism – a study’, respectively.

Strategy was the test of Ranneeti where teams were required to take quick decisions and find out solutions to problems based on unpredictable scenarios within short period of time. It was a war of strategies. The teams were given cases to discuss and were asked to present solutions to those problems which the team from TAPMI eventually triumphed. In this Chakravyuh, not only the teams but even the judges were at their wit's ends!

The last and one of the most sought after event of Samriddhi 2011 was Karmabhoomi, and what made this financial simulation game different was that it had been indigenously developed by GIM faculty and students. It was an initiative to let students put their thinking caps to finance in rural markets. Six teams from all across the country were called for the final round and were involved in making decisions for their Micro finance institutions depending on the internal and external factors guided by logic and intuition. Also, the audience had a chance to participate in the game and hence Karmabhoomi became a very interactive and thought provoking process, enriching both the participants as well as the audience.

Samriddhi also saw a few other competitions that were initiated much before these three days. One such event was Chitravali-the Photography Contest which invited students to explore their creative side and send photographs related to ‘Rural Expressions’, ‘Rural Biz’ and ‘Rural Tech’. The final twenty-four pictures were shortlisted by one of the leading photographers of the country, Mr. Daboo Ratnani, and were showcased in Goa Institute of Management in the ‘Chitravali Photo Gallery’. Another such event was ‘Nirvaan- The Quiz’, which was a series of two online quizzes to test the teams on not just facts, but application of logic to questions and saw more than 800 participants in the two stages of the event. Samriddhi was brought to an end with the chief guest for the closing ceremony Mr. Pratapsingh Rane, Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly & Director of GIM, Mr. P. F. X. D’Lima along with Mr. Pasricha, faculty at GIM addressing the students.

The Director congratulated the students of GIM for the successful organisation of Samriddhi, which was entirely a student-based initiative, and commented on how the conference has always picked up themes relevant to the present world, whether ‘Sustainable Infrastructure’, ‘Social Entrepreneurship’, ‘Social Media and Business or ‘Business in our Rural markets’, the topic for this year. Mr. Rane also graced the occasion with a few words, wherein he reminded those present that the ‘real’ India resides not in the developed towns, but in the villages. India has a population of 1.5 billion o ut of which 70% is rural. It is the rural sector that generates 50% of India’s total income. He believed that in itiatives like Samriddhi were needed, for giving a platform to young minds to come up with innovative solutions to make India a better economic as well as a social power.

The night ended with a cultural program featuring the talented musicians and dancers of Goa Institute of Management. From vocals to instruments of all types, from a bit of Punjabi to an Indo – Western dance the audience feasted on great music and talent after a gruelling yet fun filled B-School meet. Celebrations on the success of the conference continued well into the night with a lot a cheers for the organizers who put their heart and soul into Samriddhi in the last few months.   This year’s theme brought to the forefront that the prudent way of business is to see it through the sphere of social development. Samriddhi made each participant aware of new horizons of knowledge, and made them stretch their minds to areas not treaded in before. Instead of viewing rural markets as a ‘pot of gold’ to be exploited, we hope that Samriddhi 2011 gave everyone who was a part of it a new perspective to their perception of ‘Rural India’.

Samriddhi 2009