Summer Interns and Summer Meets

The Summer Interns have landed in most metros and the Annual Alumni highlight - the Summer Meets are in the planning stages.

The Hyderabad and Mumbai teams have already had a meet with alumni who help organise the meet.

Here are some tentative dates for the meets, in case you need to plan your travel schedules around them.

Dubai: Had a meet on April 16th in honor of Mad Shuks being in town and a send off for Sanjay.

Bombay: sometime in May
Calcutta: May 31st - tentative
Delhi: May 17th - tentative
Hyderabad: 10th May
Madras: 23rd-24th May

XLRI to help Patent Grass-Root Innovations

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, April 27: An espresso coffee machine which functions without electricity, a special bamboo which lasts longer and is more durable or medicine for asthma made out of traditional herbs may soon be a reality.

Innovations like these and many more would soon be patented in the innovators’ name if XLRI has its way.

Taking a step ahead in its endeavour to bring grassroots innovation to the mainstream, XLRI has recently selected about 25-odd grassroots-level innovations across eastern India to get a patent and be marketed as business ideas.

The move, to be implemented in association with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), comes in the wake of NIF setting up a research advisory council at the B-school recently.

Set up in association with the department of science and technology, NIF was established to provide institutional support to innovations across the rural pockets of India and grassroots-level workers in transforming their ideas into a profit venture.

“According to the agreement with NIF and XLRI, the regional research advisory council would assess the innovations made at the grassroots in Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. The body would later provide marketing strategies for the launch of these innovative ideas in the market,” said T. Raghuram, the assistant professor in strategic management, XLRI.

The council would comprise B-school professors, NIF members and also senior authorities from institutes like IIT (Kharagpur) and IIT (Guwahati).

“We have so far received about 25 such interesting innovations from absolutely grassroots-level workers — farmers, mechanics and electricians. Right now we are in the process of studying their technical possibilities and validation,” said Raghuram.

Once finalised, the selected innovations would be funded by NIF and also be protected under intellectual property rights.

“We are not revealing the innovations for we are in the process of patenting these innovations in the founders’ name so they can be saved from being copied,” added Raghuram.

NIF would also provide capital for establishing the entity. The final decision in this regard would be taken as soon as the students working on the project return to the campus after their summer internship programmes.

Jaspal Bindra (84BMD) in Olympic Torch Relay

From http://xlalumni.blogspot.com/2008/04/jaspal-bindra-84bmd-in-olympic-torch.html

Jaspal Singh Bindra (84BMD, CEO - Asia, Standard Chartered Bank) was one of the torchbearers in the Olympic Torch Run in Delhi on Friday, April 18, '08.


According to Indian Olympic Association, a total of 70 torchbearers, including 47 sportsmen, took part in the Olympic torch relay in New Delhi.

Gautam Ghosh (IR 99) Among the world's top four HR Bloggers

Gautam Ghosh (99PMIR) who blogs at http://gauteg.blogspot.com/ was featured in the Hindustan Times (April 20, 2008). His blog is amongst the top four HR blogs in the world:



Read the entire article at Hindustan Times

XLRI - supports home grown entrepreneurs

Excerpt from Business Standard

........ XLRI-Jamshedpur has introduced a deferred placement policy this year, applicable to the 2008 batch of students and onwards.

Uday Damodaran, placements chairman of XLRI, notes: “From this year, we will allow students interested in starting entrepreneurial ventures to take the plunge and push back their participation in campus placements for a maximum period of two years. Our aim is to extend as much support as possible to students who wish to become entrepreneurs. A policy like this will provide students the emotional security needed while taking a risk during the initial years of a career.”

XLRI Jamshedpur has also decided to support a group of six first-year students with Rs 3 lakh for their entrepreneurial venture. These six have decided to start Parichay.co.in, a portal to link tribal artisans with the mainstream market and provide them a platform to reach out to connoisseurs of art across the world.

“As the six students put together the portal and decided on the revenue earning model, we at XLRI thought of supporting them with the initial funds required to put the project in place,” reasoned Madhukar Shukla, faculty at XLRI......

Read the entire article at Business Standard

This is an amazingly supportive set of steps taken by XLRI to support Entrepreneurs who are ready to bring their ideas to life, straight out of campus.

While a lot of Xlers have gone on to become entrepreneurs later in life. - case in point PandiaRajan of IR 84 who was recently in the news - the guys behind http://www.parichay.co.in : Chintan, Darshan, Kaushal, Siddharth, Vikas & Vivek are fortunate to have this kind of support straight out of XL.

Dreams are always bigger and risks are most often lower, when one is straight out of campus. Having the security of being able to come back for regular placements within 2 years and some financial backing from the institute can obviously spur an individual much much higher.

This could be a major step akin to the research grants awarded to students of technical/technological sciences in the US.

XLRI values entrepreneurship and social responsibility. http://www.parichay.co.in is an endeavour that combines both and I wish these xlers all the very best.
Kim

Design hub for tribal artisans on XLRI radar

From The Telegraph
For further information, click on http://www.parichay.co.in/

Design hub for tribal artisans on XLRI radar - Group behind portal promoting handicraft now wants to link produce with market demand

NILANJANA GHOSH CHOUDHURY

XLRI: Eye on tribal betterment Jamshedpur, April 16: If thinking out-of-the-box is the motto of all times, XLRI is making sure it stays ahead in the race — it is now directing attention on tribal artisans helping them develop better products in tune with the demand of the complex market place. A group of students at the XLRI School of Business and Human Resources — working under the aegis of the Entrepreneurship Development Centre — is coming up with a state-of-the-art design centre here to train tribal artisans in making saleable products. The group, comprising Chintan Agarwal, Kaushal Chandok, Darshan Rathod, Siddharth Shah, Vikas Sharma and Vivek Jain — all first year business management students — was the one behind last month’s launch of www.parichay.co.in, a portal for buying and selling tribal products. “While developing the portal, we realised there was a huge disconnect between what the market wants and what tribal handicraft artists were making,” said Chandok, an IIT, Bombay, alumni. “Therefore, we decided to come up with this design centre where trained hands can teach artisans to make products that can compete in the market,” he added. Started as an independent students’ venture, Parichay is funded by XLRI as a part of its initiatives on promoting entrepreneurship among students. Elaborating on the design centre, Chandok said they wanted to provide technical and advanced training to a couple of artisans from a particular village. “These villagers could, in turn, go back and train others.” Some of the ideas being worked on were the manufacture of fusion products using new technology. For this, the students were in talks with leading organisations and designers for help in setting up the centre and training artisans. “We are talking to some big names, but we can’t reveal details now,” said Sharma, another team member. The students are also negotiating with architects and interior designers who would offer tips on making quality home decor. “As of now, we have National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad on board. Others are yet to be finalised,” added Sharma. As work continued to ensure the design hub was ready by June, the Parichay team received some good news from unexpected quarters. A group of students from Lanchester University, UK, has contacted them to use the portal to sell iron smelting products created by Asura tribals of Netarhat. “Two of the students, who are now in Ranchi, got in touch with us advocating a tie-up through which they could sell the iron products to a wider market,” added Chandok. However, final plans were yet to be worked out.

UAE Alumni Chapter- Get-together - 16/04/08

Hi,
thanks to all who had attended the evening.

The Kempinski-venue was grand, the drinks classy, and the food delicious.

Madhukar, it was great to have you with us.

Sanjay, we will miss you from the UAE.

Gopi, thanks for coming all the way from Abu Dhabi.

Saji, was good to see after a few years.

Romeo, thanks for your administrative assistance.

Above all, cheers to Leya and A&E for making the evening possible.

Johnson.

Edited on 19 April to add: Madhukar has blogged about the event with pictures at http://xlers.blogspot.com/2008/04/alumni-get-together-dubai-april-16-08.html

'Mafoi' Pandia Rajan (IR84) - From Rs 60,000 to Rs 435 crore!

Rediff's special article on Amazing story of Pandia Rajan and Mafoi.
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/apr/16inspire1.htm

An amazing story: From Rs 60,000 to Rs 435 crore!
April 16, 2008

Today Ma Foi Management Consultants is the largest HR services provider and staffing company in India, with a turnover of Rs 435 crore (Rs 4.35 billion).

Ma Foi has so far helped generate career opportunities for more than 169,000 people in 35 countries.

K Pandia Rajan started it in 1992 with a capital of just Rs 60,000. Ably assisting him in his long journey has been his wife, Hemalatha Rajan, who is also the director of the company.



Childhood in Sivakasi
Pandia Rajan was born in Vilampatti village in Sivakasi district. His father who was a worker at a match factory died when Pandia Rajan was just three months old. He was brought up by his grandparents in a joint family of about 40 to 50 people.

Later his grandparents started their own match factory.

After studying in the village school, the hard-working boy went to Coimbatore to study engineering at the PSG College of Technology.

Having stood first in the university, he joined XLRI, Jamshedpur for his MBA. That, he says, was where the seeds of entrepreneurship in the HR arena were sown in his mind.

"At that time, HR guys never became entrepreneurs, but I wanted to study HR and then be an entrepreneur. In my village too almost everybody is an entrepreneur. Unless you are on your own, you are a nobody there. So, you can say the entrepreneurial spirit is deeply ingrained in all of us."

But he had to wait for some time. After working for six years, and getting married to a chartered accountant (Hemalatha) in 1989, he and his wife decided to put all their dreams together in their own enterprise."

Starting Ma Foi
On August 15, 1992, the couple decided to launch Ma Foi Management Consultants to market expertise as a product.'

But why a French name? "We were targetting the international market. So, Ma Foi -- or My Word -- is a name that meant something to all European countries. It gave us an occasion to speak about our value to the clients. Ma Foi' symbolized what we wanted to say and do."

With an investment of Rs 60,000, they started Ma Foi in "a small shack of a place." But by the end of the year, four of their friends put in Rs 10,000 each and upped the investment to Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000).

They started primarily by placing engineers overseas. The Chennai office, which opened at 6 a.m., remained open till midnight so that candidates could walk in and register any time. "Although it was a struggle initially, we wanted to position ourselves as a candidate-centric organisation. About 30 to 40 people visited us every day. It was 1992-93 and the Gulf region was booming. We sent dozens of middle-level and managerial people at that time to countries like Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Brunei, etc. . ."

Even as visa processing began, the Babri Masjid was felled. All Gulf nations put a ban on issuing visas to Indians. And Ma Foi's losses ran into lakh (hundreds of thousands). "It was a tough phase and we had to pledge even our jewellery. But when we came out of the struggle, we expanded into all kinds of things."

By 1994, a lot of multinational companies made their entry into India. By the end of 1994, Ma Foi got a huge offer from Apple Computers to recruit all their heads of departments. "That was also the time the salaries in the Gulf region started falling. Till then we had not done any such huge recruitment in India. Whatever we had done was only on the secretarial side. With that one assignment from Apple Computers, we moved ahead in India."

Ma Foi also set up offices in all the big cities in India and seriously started looking at domestic recruitment and sectors like IT, finance and banking.

By then, Ma Foi became a closely held public limited company. "We gave equities to our friends, relatives with the promise that we would return at least 20% dividend every year."

During the dot-com boom in 2000, Ma Foi also had a dot-com plan and got a lot of venture capitalists investing in it. But then came the dot-com bust. "Thankfully we were affected only slightly by the dot-com bust. We pulled back the dot-com model very soon and convinced our VCs to use what we got -- around Rs 8.5 crore (Rs 85 million) -- in the brick-and-mortar model. With that money, we could spruce up our offices and add more people."


Image: Students at a laboratory in a school run by a trust set up by Ma Foi Consultants.

Part of the Vedior Group
In 2002, Ma Foi set up their first overseas office in Dubai. "In terms of turnover, we were number one in India then, with 600 people working for us. Whenever we travelled abroad we noticed that the staffing industry over there was quite evolved. It also made business sense to have offices abroad. Deputing 10 people in the United Kingdom is equivalent to deputing 100 people in India!"

After understanding how the overseas market worked, they had two choices: either to go for an initial public offering, or to look for a global, strategic partnership. "The IPO market was down and volatile then. So, we decided to go for a strategic partnership with global majors. Giants like Manpower, Adecor and Vedior were also looking at the Indian market."

"Vedior (the world's leading specialist staffing company from the Netherlands) was much below the two in terms of turnover, but it allowed us much more flexibility. It was a multi-brand company and called itself a federation and corporation. Because it is a federation, a lot of entrepreneurs become a part of it. We run the show and they support us. We had 270 shareholders, plus the VCs, then. It was a majority partnership with 76 per cent held by Vedior and 24 per cent by us. Today, we hold 18 per cent.

With Vedior's support, Ma Foi set up offices in the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Oman, the United States, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia.

The Indian market and the world market
"India is still an evolving market; it is still not a mature market though a lot more clarity has emerged in the last five years. In terms of legality, it is clearer too. On the other hand, the European and the US markets are quite mature. It will take another decade or so for the Indian market to evolve fully."

"People are slowly getting comfortable with temporary staffing in India too. In a country like France, almost 80 per cent of the staffing is on temporary basis. People mostly work on contract. But in India, there is a stigma attached to temporary jobs."

Image: Ma Foi has been giving back to the society through its corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Impact of the US recession
"Definitely the slowing down of the US economy will have an impact on the Indian economy too, but not too much. It may take another six months for the IT and BPO sector to feel the pinch. Sometimes, the impact could be positive; there may be more outsourcing too as they have a problem there."

Making profits
Ma Foi broke even in their first year itself. From placing 30 to 35 people in the first year, now they find jobs for around 5,500 people every month.

If the turnover of the first year was Rs 520,000, today, it is Rs 435 crore. In the initial years, Ma Foi grew at more than 100 per cent. The company's compounded annual growth rate has been 70 per cent.

Social responsibility
"Though both of us were fairly well employed, our dream was to build an institution, do something meaningful and give something back to society in whatever way we could," the Rajans say.

The company made a profit of Rs 5,000 in the first year. Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar, two college students had just started Banyan, a Trust that helps rehabilitate mentally challenged destitute women at that time. "We sent the entire money to help them set up Banyan. From that year onwards, we keep aside a part of our profits for charity."

As they doubled their profits every year, their contribution to charity too increased. In 1997, they started a Trust called Sornammal Educational Trust (SET) in the name of Pandia Rajan's grandmother. The first effort was to help the students of his village.

In 2000, when a school with 100 very poor children run by Hemalatha's grandmother was to be closed down after she passed away, the educational trust decided to run it. "When we saw the poor children, we felt like helping them. We bought a piece of land and built a school. We called it Sornammal Matriculation School. Now we have 650 children, of whom 350 study free of charge."


Image: In 1997, they started a Trust called Sornammal Educational Trust (SET) in the name of Pandia Rajan's grandmother. The first effort was to help the students of his village.

It was when Hemalatha met the mothers of the poor children that the idea to start self-help groups (SHGs) originated. These women are clustered into groups and are given vocational training so that they could start their own ventures. Training is provided to women to become nurses, DTP operators, housekeepers and even auto drivers. They are also taught tailoring, bag making, handicrafts, embroidery, et cetera.

"Till today, we have given Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) as loans to these women to start their own businesses. I must say the repayment of loans has been 100 per cent," a satisfied Hemalatha said.

The trust has 816 SHGs for 13,128 women in Chennai.

CIOSA
In 2004, after working with many NGOs, Hemalatha felt the need to bring all the NGOs under one umbrella, and that was how the Confederation of Indian Organisations for Service and Advocacy (CIOSA) was born. It acts as a good platform for corporates and NGOs to work together.

In 2007, the Ma Foi Foundation was formed so that all the corporate social responsibility activities are taken care of by one body. Under the Disha Scholarship Scheme, 1,300 children from corporation school -- 150 are from the Rajans' native town Sivakasi -- get scholarship to study. The foundation also runs career guidance programmes for the 8th, 9th and 10th standard students.

"Ma Foi Foundation promises a better society as we believe in giving back what we take out and changing the world for the better," the Rajans said.


Image: Under the Disha Scholarship Scheme, 1,300 children from corporation school -- 150 are from the Rajans' native town Sivakasi -- get scholarship to study

Chandran's talk 19/4 - 1 pm at xl singapore

Some people have asked when is the talk and what is Chandran going to talk about etc -
here are the details

It is on INNOVATION:

- the importance of innovation in driving growth
- How do companies approach innovation typically today; what's is missing
- What are the key ingredients for innovation
Consumer Marketers - whether of product or of service companies - from all walks of life would be quite intersted in the talk.


Date: 19 April
Time: 1 pm
Location: Xl singapore at 7 floor, Connection One, Bukit Merah.

www.imageint.com.sg has all the location and map details.

Atisa and Seven Wonders by Anu Kumar (94PMIR)

Penguin Books

After her two earlier fictional works - In Search of Raja and Other Stories, and Letters for Paul, Anu Kumar (94PMIR) has published her third book - This time for children.

Atisa and the Seven Wondersis published by Penguin Books India (Puffin), and is described as a story:

"...full of thrills, chills and spills, Atisa and the Seven Wonders weaves fact and fiction to take you on an action-packed, imaginative and informative exploration of the seven wonders of the ancient world."

Recruiters lap up XLRI grads

From Business Standard

BS Reporter / Kolkata April 11, 2008

XLRI Jamshedpur’s general management programme (GMP), the one-year full-time executive MBA course, has concluded a successful season of placement for its 2008 batch.

The batch has been offered plum roles highlighting the potential of the participants for middle and senior management roles.

Nearly 30 per cent of the batch went for a change from their earlier work experience.

The placement process attracted 54 companies as opposed to 23 last year, and made 101 offers to 53 participating students. The average salary offer stood at Rs 17.8 lakh, an increase of close to 20 per cent from previous year.

The highest domestic offer was Rs 33.8 lakh and the average international offer was $130,000, an increase of 30 per cent over last year.

Sponsored candidates got elevated roles from their parent companies too.

The batch witnessed a good mix of participating companies from diverse sectors such as banking, energy, IT, Consulting, manufacturing, steel, real estate and telecom. ArcelorMittal, Reliance ADAG, Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Communications, Cairn Energy, L&T were some of the major recruiters.

Participants from the consulting field were McKinsey, Accenture, IBM S&C, ICRA Management Consulting (IMACs), TCS Global Consulting, KSA Technopak. Axis Bank, SBI Capital, ICRA, UBS were some of the BFSI companies that turned up for recruitments.

According to Uday Damodaran, chairperson of the placements at XLRI, “With just two years of organised placement support from the institute, the one-year general management programme has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters.”

There were a number of recruiters who personally expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the participants. These positive comments reinforce our belief that we are doing things right as far as our one-year programme goes.”

The placement season was held during the second week of February at Mumbai followed by rolling placements in March at Jamshedpur.

Students also visited Australia as part of the international immersion module introduced this year.

From the next batch, the immersion module is expected to expand with the institute getting into tie-ups with major universities across the globe.

XLRI plans to increase the student intake from the next batch due to better response.

Obituary : Mrs Evelyn Vanjour

Prof Vanjour (Dean in 98) died a few years ago of cancer. His wife Mrs Evelyn Vanjour just died yesterday, also from cancer.

Franklin is their only child. He was just entering high school when we were on campus (97-99). He currently works with Infosys. Franklin can be contacted at fvanjour[@]gmail[.]com

Kim


Hi XL'ers:

Just got a call from Franklin informing me that his mother Evelyn Vanjour, wife of Late Prof. Mike Vanjour, passed away peacefully in her sleep this morning at 0530AM, at Karunashraya.

May her soul rest in peace.

The funeral details will be announced shortly.

David D'Costa

Hi Folks:

The funeral service for late Mrs Evelyn Vanjour will be held at Infant Jesus Church, Viveknagar,Bangalore, at 0930hrs. On 12th April, followed by internment at Hosur Road Cemetry.
For those who cannot make it to the church, the hearse should reach Hosur Road European Cemetry by about 1020to 1030hours.

Earlier today there was a prayer service conducted for the repose of the soul of Evelyn at XLRI, Jamshedpur.
The XL Bangalore chapter had arranged for a floral tribute earlier today.

David D'Costa
www.purewaterhouse.com

GMP batch of XLRI gets good offers from industry, salaries up

Jamshedpur, Apr 10 (Financial Express): XLRI has received an overwhelming response from the industry for its one-year full-time general management programme (GMP). Its batch of 53 participating students received 101 job offers from 54 Companies, as against 23 Companies last year.

The average salary of the batch, for global and domestic assignments, which stood at $1,30,000 and Rs 17.8 lakh respectively, is around 20% and 30% more than what the last GMP batch was offered.

The highest domestic offer made this year stood at Rs 33.8 lakh...(Offers made for) "posts like director, associate director, chief manager, managing consultant, strategic account manager offered to the candidates clearly highlight the potential of the participants."

The batch also witnessed a good mix of participating Companies from diverse sectors such as banking, energy, IT, consulting, manufacturing, steel, real estate and telecom, with Companies such as Arcelor-Mittal, Reliance ADAG, Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Communications, Cairns Energy, L&T being some of the major recruiters.

Among the consulting firms participated in the recruitment process were McKinsey, Accenture, IBM S&C, ICRA Management Consulting (IMACs), TCS Global Consulting, KSA Technopak. Prominent banking & financial sector participants to pick up students were Axis Bank, SBI Capital, ICRA, etc.

IT/ITES majors HP, Cognizant, Satyam, Wipro, Inautix, Hexaware and Genpact also recruited according to their needs.

XLRI, which has plans to increase its student intake for its GMP from the next batch, also plans to include international options for students from the tieups the B-School has with major universities around the globe.

"With just two years of organised placement support from the institute, the GMP has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters," said Uday Damodaran, XLRI placement chairperson, adding that a number of recruiters have personally expressed their satisfaction with the quality of the participants.

XLer as Social Entrepreneur: Aparna Banerjee

From The Hindu Business Line

Further information on Project Sukanya website

Manned by women
Soma Mitra

Aparna Banerjee's mobile retail chain, Project Sukanya.

On the move: In six months, nearly 500 such 'boucarts', will be launched. WFS

Big retail chains such as Reliance Fresh, Spencer's Daily and Big Bazaar have competition. Not from a rival business group, but from a Kolkata-based enterprising woman - Aparna Banerjee. An alumni of the prestigious Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) in Jamshedpur, Bihar, Aparna, 36, retails her goods under the name of Project Sukanya. Interestingly, the goods are not sold from huge showrooms, but from 54 roadside mobile kiosks, manned by 141 women who work in shifts. Another 3,500 women directly benefit from this project by making products such as handicraft items, edibles like papad , pickles and jams. Packaged spices and ready-to-eat lunches are also sold. And in the next six months 500 more `boucarts' would be deployed across 18 districts, again manned by women.

"When I got the idea of these mobile kiosks, my first step was to finalise the design and patent it under the Intellectual Property Rights Act.," says Aparna. The project was the result of extensive research based on material gathered from 62 villages across India during her studies on Anthropology at Calcutta University.

"I did my MBA in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from XLRI and realised during that time that I wanted to become a social entrepreneur. I then did a course in Anthropology to get a grip on human rights. I realised that women need financial independence to get freedom from restrictions, abuse and social taboos," says Aparna, who struggled to complete her studies under great financial constraints.

She realised that marketing was the bottleneck of small-scale enterprises and blocking cash within a supply chain was not advisable. "I found that retail was the only option. But setting up huge retail space was beyond my capabilities. I hit upon the mobile kiosk idea and worked on it for two years, getting all required permissions and licences to place them on the roads. No loophole was left open. The carts are manufactured at our own unit," she adds.

PM, CM encouragement

When Aparna sent her pilot Project Sukanya to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in 2005, the PM encouraged her to go ahead, assuring assistance in case of hurdles. When apprised, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, also instructed his secretariat to offer support. The attractively-designed sleek kiosks, which are placed at major crossings in the city, easily catch the eye. The apron-clad women manning them are polite and knowledgeable about the products. Kakoli Das, 24, is one of the smiling faces at the Rashbehari kiosk. "We don't have any problems with the police regarding parking of our kiosk. Our paperwork is watertight. The customers, too, are friendly. We get repeat clients on a regular basis now."

The turnover for the Project, which started rolling in early 2007, has already reached Rs 1.05 crore. The target is to touch Rs 50 crore by 2009. "We market a range of handicrafts and home-made edibles under the brand name Sukanya. The organised sector never bothered to tap the potential of the cottage industry, but we are giving a brand identity to these products," says Sudakshina Sen, 43,Chief Coordinator, Project Sukanya.

Project Sukanya has a 20,000 sq. ft. common facility centre at Topsia. The rural women who supply the products come here with their samples.

The products are graded into three categories. Under A category, the product is immediately bought with a 10 per cent advance. For the B category products, Sukanya gives support for better packaging and then it is bought. Falling under the C category are products that have market saturation. Sukanya trains these women to shift focus to products that would have more market demand.

`I am committed'

The edible products are tested and certified by the central government's National Test House. The success of the venture is obvious from the fact that several big retail chains have started making offers to buy out Project Sukanya as well as the patent for the mobile kiosks.

"But I am committed towards my social responsibility. Rather than entrepreneurship, it is the emancipation of women that is my primary concern. My venture helps several needy women take home a well-earned salary," says Aparna.

Success stories

All women within the project are, as Aparna puts it, "those in need of a livelihood". Jayanti Chatterjee, 49, from Baharu village in South 24 Parganas district, responded to one of the first advertisements placed by Sukanya in a newspaper and approached Aparna for a job.

A school dropout, Jayanti had done menial jobs for over three decades and had managed to send her six siblings to school. However, they all went their ways once they were well settled, leaving her to cope with an ailing mother. Jayanti, who is in charge of the Sukanya Tollygunge kiosk, today earns a regular Rs 3,000. She and her mother now reside in a rented one-room unit in Kolkata.

Swapna Dutta, 50, was dumped by her husband during the initial years of their marriage. She managed to educate her son up to higher secondary by doing odd jobs. However, when he secured admission to an engineering college, Swapna found herself helpless.

The Sukanya project came to her rescue and she pays the tuition fee from her regular monthly salary of Rs 2,800. On the anvil for Aparna is a rural initiative. Project Sukanya is set to adopt a village, offering alternative livelihood development. "There are many villages which have poor irrigation or flooding problems that restrict agriculture activity. I have approached the government for adopting one such village to set up the Sukanya Village Common Facility Centre," says Aparna.

"It's a Chinese model for promotion of alternative employment. We would provide the infrastructure and training required for setting up the centre," she adds. Sukanya is also set to spread its wings beyond West Bengal with 30 new outlets. Groups of needy women have already been identified in States such as Kashmir from where consignments of saffron and apples have already arrived to be sold from the mobile kiosks. Here too, it is women who are at the back and front ends of operations.

XLRI in global ethics network

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, April 8: XLRI has set a record of sorts by becoming the first B-school in India to become part of a UN global initiative promoting corporate social responsibility, values and ethics.

The business school is now a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), which provide an engagement framework for academic institutions to advance corporate social responsibility by incorporating universal values into curricula and research. PRME is a part of Global Compact, a framework for organisations committed to do business by safeguarding human rights, labour and environment, and by being anti-corrupt.

“PRME is a UN-backed global initiative developed to promote corporate responsibility and sustainability in business education. It has been endorsed by more than 100 business schools and universities around the world. It is a proud privilege that XLRI is the first and the only Indian B-school to be part of this global conglomerate,” said Father E. Abraham, the director of XLRI. The agreement between XLRI and the UN was signed in Geneva last year. “They (the UN) were in the process of signing similar deals with other international B-schools. The announcement was made on Monday,” said a XLRI official.

The coming days would see XLRI incorporate core values of the UN Global Compact programme in its activities and curriculum.

Raguram said: “Not only management education institutions but major companies are also moving towards this programme with the need for managers who can understand core values such as corporate social responsibility and corporate environmental responsibility. There is a dearth of such management graduates and UN has taken this initiative to incorporate values and ethics in business education.”

Some of the leading multinationals that have incorporated PRME into their framework are GE and Suzlon.

The B-school would now start moulding its vision and mission on the lines of PRME, introducing subjects and co-related activities based on its principles.

“We will facilitate and support dialogue and debate among educators, businesses, governments, consumers, media, civil society and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability,” added Abraham.

Anupama Chatterjee (03PMIR)

Anupama Chatterjee (03PMIR) has become the Country HR Manager, India & South Asia – AEB Integration for Standard Chartered Bank.

XLRI on Forbes.com

From Forbes.com

The Mega-Hirers
Tara Weiss, 04.03.08, 6:10 PM ET

Dell: 8,800 jobs. Chrysler: 12,000 jobs. Bristol-Myers: 4,300 jobs

Companies are slashing payrolls left and right. But over at Accenture (nyse: ACN - news - people ), an international consulting, technology and outsourcing company, managers plan to hire 60,000 new employees this year. That's a 34% increase in its staff. The outlook is similar at the Indian technology services company Infosys, which is looking for 31,000 employees internationally, a 35% growth in its workforce.

When an employer brings in so many new hires--Infosys welcomed 1,000 people one day in June 2006--getting them integrated into the company and its culture is a massive operation. It's especially important for global companies, since operations should be the same if you're in Bangalore or London.

In Pictures: Who's Hiring?

The first problem: Finding that many qualified people. Infosys received 1.3 million résumés last year. "In peak seasons we receive around 6,000-10,000 resumes in a day," says Nandita Gurjar, vice president of human resources development at Infosys.

Despite that magnitude, managers say the percentage of qualified candidates is disappointing. The story is the same at German software company SAP (nyse: SAP - news - people ), which needs to find 4,000 new employees for positions in programming, development, solution management, engineering and sales.

"In the last 16 quarters we reported double-digit growth and, as a result, we need to hire," says Claus Heinrich, SAP’s head of global human resources. "But it's a challenge to find qualified people".

Infosys took matters into its own hands. The company created Campus Connect, a partnership with top Indian engineering schools to educate students according to company standards. "We needed to meet our growing demand for 'industry-ready' professionals," says Infosys' Gurjar. Infosys trains professors to teach industry-specific courses, offers seminars taught by Infosys employees, and sponsors events at tech competitions.

In developing countries, human resources is a hot field, since growth is occurring so rapidly. But the supply of candidates isn't keeping up with demand. So Accenture started HR Academy to boost the candidate pool. The company partnered with XLRI, a prominent Indian business school, to create classes that will produce a quality talent pool, which will then work for Accenture. The company is looking to replicate the program in other countries.

Read the rest of the article on Forbes.com

CII's Yi Chapter at XLRI

From The Telegraph

Corporate lessons for teachers

OUR CORRESPONDENT

XLRI officials after signing the MoU. Picture by Bhola Prasad Jamshedpur, April 3: Trained corporate leaders and managers would now instruct teachers in schools located in remote regions on how to bring about a change in the education system. Akshara, an educational drive to be launched in rural pockets across the steel city, would bring about the much-needed change in the rural education system and government schools. To be run under the aegis of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and envisaged by Young India (Yi), Akshara would soon be launched in all government schools in the region. Yi members would not only conduct classes but would also supply teachers with required study material. The first Yi Net was formed at the XLRI today with the formal signing of MoU between XLRI director E. Abraham and Jay Kamani, the chairperson of Yi Net in Jamshedpur, today. “Yi is a group comprising young Indian entrepreneurs, businessmen, managers and professionals who unite under one roof with the objective of creating a better future for the Indian youth and to bridge the gap between the different sections of society. The focus areas of YiNet include economy, education, environment, healthcare, youth affairs and employment,” said Rohan K. Mehta, the national president of Yi Net, who was present at the B-school, today. There are about 18 Yi chapters in the country comprising 836 members. Reputed institutes like IIMs, along with over 30 renowned institutes, are also part of Yi Net. Some of the unique movements launched by Yi Net across the country are fund-raising events for developmental projects, rural education, AIDS awareness work and several others. “This is just the beginning. In the coming days, the B-school would witness a rise in the number of such units through schools and colleges,” said Kamani. CII would also help students organise several knowledge-sharing platforms with company chiefs, corporate behemoths and young political leaders. Apart from that, e-Yi — an online platform of the different members — would also be launched. Apart from XLRI, a small initiative has also been started at Loyola School where the Yi members help with free treatment at the Loyola clinic. There is also a national Yi farmers’ network.

Hadayoli Joyshop in Bangalore - from seeking to spreading happiness

Nityashanti - the person behind this workshop is the current avataar of Harsh Khanna - PMIR 2001

Dear All,

You are very warmly invited for the...


Hadayoli Joyshop
The Happiest Days of Your Life

Hadayoli stands for the Happiest Days of Your Life

Join Nithyashanti and friends for two profoundly happy days.

Together lets experience the joy of being more present,
more kind, more loving and patient with ourselves and others.
We'll also meditate and experience the fascinating power of our attention.
We'll re-discover the miracle of being totally conscious and alive
We'll connect with our highest nature and explore ways to recognize it in others.
We'll tackle big big issues like Enlightenment & yet remain Entirely Lighthearted.
We'll be happy and spread happiness.

Just that much!

Who is Nithyashanti?

A person who went from being Nithya-ashanti (almost "perpetually non-peaceful")

to Venerable Nyanasanti (a monk who strived to "know peace")

to being Nithyashanti (one who "abides in peace"...or atleast pretends to!?)

An MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Who opted out of the corporate whirl.

He lived as a forest monk for six years.

And then stepped beyond the folds of tradition,

to simply live from the heart.

Nithyashanti shares

the wisdom of "is-dom"

with people around the world.

His simple message is "be loving".



(Yes, yes, its not all that simple...

thats why you are invited to this joyshop, beloved one!)


A Few Gentle Guidelines...

The Hadayoli Joyshop is priceless beyond estimate...one may contribute/ donate from your heart

Everyone is invited...but whole hearted participation is essential

Joy knows no language...yet this joyshop will be in conducted in English

Date & time:
First Joyshop: 5th & 6th April, 2008 (Sat. & Sun) 9:00 am to 6:30 pm both days
Second Joyshop: 12th & 13th April, 2008 (Sat. & Sun) 9:00 am to 6:30 pm both days
Please be peacefully on time for the Happiest Days of Your Life!

Venue for the first Joyshop:

(second Joyshop venue will be announced soon)

Sri Varasiddhi Vinayaka Temple Hall
Canara Bank Colony,
Nagarbhavi Road, Near Chandra Layout,
Vijayanagar,
Bangalore - 560072

(Pls call Vasanth on 9845394032 for further guidance)

People may come for only one day of the joyshop (if two happy days is too much to bear!)...

needless to say, priority be given to those who can come for both days.

We have made arrangements for lunch.

Please get along a writing pad and a pen

You are expected to learn and apply the Five Minute Miracle if you intend to participate:

http://lovingsilence.org/meditation.htm

Place is limited, so please confirm participation to: badalsuchak@hotmail.com.

For more info call Badal on 9901452272 after 6 pm

Learn more about the Hadayoli Joyshop on the Web: http://lovingsilence.org/hadayoli.htm

May you be truly happy and well, (whether or not we see you at the joyshop!)

Peace and Light.


Nithyashanti


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grant yourself a moment of peace
and you will understand how foolishly
you have scurried about.

Learn to be silent
and you will notice
that you have talked too much.

Be kind
and you will realize
your judgment of others was too severe.

- Wise proverb (yes, Made in China)

http://lovingsilence.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once you start deliberately offering thought, then you can never offer enough action to keep up with the thought. Once you access the Energy that creates worlds, a huge vortex comes into place, and there's just not enough action for you to keep up with that. And so, what you have to
do is visualize every step of the way, envision you happy in the process. Envision things in place, envision people catching on. Just envision it working. Skip over the how and the where and the when and the who -- and just stay focused upon the what and the why.
www.abraham-hicks.com

http://lovingsilence.org __._,_.___

Nagarajan Ramamoorthy (86) - becomes Fulbright scholar

From http://www.uhv.edu/car/newswire/release.asp?id=312

UHV business professor becomes Fulbright scholar

---

Nagarajan Ramamoorthy, an associate professor of management at the University of Houston-Victoria, has received a prestigious Fulbright award to lecture and conduct research in Bulgaria for five months. Nagarajan Ramamoorthy “This visit will help me have a first-hand understanding of the transformation taking place in Eastern Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union, and I can bring that back and share it with my students,” he said. Ramamoorthy, who also is the UHV Faculty Senate president for 2007-2008, found out Saturday through a letter from the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board that he was an award recipient. As a Fulbright scholar, Ramamoorthy joins more than 286,000 participants chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential who have been in the international educational exchange program since its inception in 1946. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as a way to increase understanding between U.S. citizens and people in other countries. “I am so pleased that Dr. Ramamoorthy is being recognized internationally for his outstanding academic leadership,” UHV President Tim Hudson said. “This is a benchmark achievement for any scholar and will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for him to share his knowledge of business management and to learn about another culture and country.” UHV’s last Fulbright scholar was Meledath Damodaran, a professor and coordinator of computer science, information systems and math, who received an award in 1992 to lecture in India. In addition, Hudson won Fulbright scholarships to Mexico and Germany in the 1980s, and Bud Fairlamb, a professor of humanities and interdisciplinary studies, received a Fulbright-Hayes scholarship in 1984 to study in Columbia. “I’m very happy for Dr. Ramamoorthy,” Damodaran said. “It’s an energizing experience that can influence higher education programs in the United States and abroad in positive ways.” Ramamoorthy will be in Bulgaria from October to February teaching and conducting research at one or more universities that have yet to be decided. His research interest is in cross-cultural management, so he hopes to work on research in that area while he is there, he said. He also would like to talk to Bulgarian professors about collaborating on research projects after he returns to the United States. “The UHV School of Business Administration aspires to be a leader in global management education,” Dean Charles Bullock said. “Dr. Ramamoorthy’s Fulbright is a significant step toward attaining such status as a global leader.” Ramamoorthy said he has never been to Bulgaria. He will be able to lecture in English but plans on learning conversational Bulgarian. He also will travel to Tryavna, Bulgaria, for two weeks in August to attend the Fulbright International Summer Institute as a way to find out more about the academic and cultural environment of the country. Ramamoorthy came to UHV in 2002 as an assistant professor of management and was promoted to an associate professor in 2005. He also was chairman of the Management and Marketing Department in the School of Business Administration from 2002 to 2005. In 2006, he was a finalist for UHV’s Enron Teaching Excellence Award. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and the Irish Journal of Management. In 1998, he was awarded the Emerald Citation of Excellence for an article he wrote that appeared in the journal Human Relations. He received the Southwestern Academy of Management Best Reviewer Award in 2006.

Sanjay Chaturvedi (IR 88) - Group Director HR - Spice Energy

Sanjay Chaturvedi (IR 88) will be moving to Gurgaon to join Spice Energy (www.spicenergy.com) as Group Director Human Resources.

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XLRI conducts study for Pay Commission

From The Hindu

Corporates pay lower salaries to peons, clerks: Pay Panel

New Delhi (PTI): Corporates are poor paymasters when it comes to rewarding lower level employees such as peons and clerks, says a study commissioned by the Sixth Pay Commission.

The government pays better salaries to the lower categories of employees than the corporate sector, pointed out a study conducted by XLRI, Jamshedpur, at the behest of the Pay Commission which has recently submitted its report to Finance Minister P Chidambaram suggesting revision of pay scales for the central government employees.

"During the presentation before the Commission, it emerged that...the compensation provided by the government is higher at Group C and D levels", the pay panel report said.

In case of middle level (Group B) employees, the report said the compensation package offered by the private sector is only "marginally" higher than what is provided by the government.

The real difference, however, is in case of the higher-category Group A officers, whose counterparts in the comparable posts in the private sector get "substantially higher" compensation, the report said.

Reacting to the demand of market-linked salaries put forth by various associations, the Pay Commission said, "The high starting salaries projected in the media and other reports are granted only to a minuscule number who are the best students of top-end management schools".

High salaries depend upon the demand for talent at that point of time and are not reflective of the industry average, the Commission said, adding "Such episodic events should not be used as the yardstick for comparison, as ultimately the higher salaries...get normalised over time."