XLRI gears up for National Working Conference on Social Entrepreneurship

From The Daily Pioneer

City-based premier B-school XLRI is gearing up to play host to the second National “Working Conference on Social Entrepreneurship” from January 29. Vijoy Prakash, Prinicipal Secretary, Rural Development, Government of Bihar would deliver the inaugural address of the three-day event.

The theme of the conference is “Solutions for Inclusive Development” and it aims to provide a common space to the practitioners like social entrepreneurs, CBOs/NGOs, Government agencies, academics, funding agencies, support organisations and corporate for interaction and learning from each other.

“We are happy to share that more than 160 development sector professionals from across India, have registered to participate in the conference. This year’s event is designed as a “working conference” which would allow the participants to not just listen and learn, but also to share, discuss and co-create solutions, alternatives as a take-away, by actively and collectively engaging in solving real, live problems, which are of their interest and concern,” said Prof Madhukar Shukla, coordinator of the conference.

He further added that about 25 social entrepreneurs and development sector professionals have been invited to participate in the conference as resource persons for the “Working Groups”.

The professor went on to inform that several resource persons have confirmed their participation,which includes Abhijit Ray, director, Unitus Capital, Anshu Gupta, founder-director, Goonj Ashoka Fellow, Arbind Singh, executive director, Nidan Ashoka Fellow, Arun Diaz, trustee and member of investment board, Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund, Ashish Rajpal, co-founder and managing director, Discovery Ashok Kamath, CEO, Akshara Foundation, Ashwin Naik, co-founder and CEO Vaatsalya Healthcare Systems Pvt Ltd.

“Based on our interactions with practitioners in the field, we have also tentatively identified a few broad themes/groups for the working groups in the conference. In each group, we also plan to have Resource Persons, who have made significant contribution to the space, and would help bring greater value to the group, and lead the discussions,” he noted.

Padma Shri for Fr Romuald D'Souza - Director XLRI 82-89

Fr D'Souza used to be director of XLRI during '82-'89.
He was also the founder of XIM, Bhubneshwar and Goa Institute of Management.

Today he was announced as a recepient of Padma Shri for his contribution to Education and Literature.

View the List of Awardees here

The GoI has named Fr. Rumualdo D'Souza for the Padma Shri this year. He was the Director of XLRI in the late 1980s and taught Stress Management among other subjects at the institute. Fr. Rumualdo, a mild mannered Jesuit, was the founding Director of XIM, Bhubaneshwar and Goa Institute of Management. Below is an impressive list of institutes he founded and positions he  has occupied in his career of 50+ years as a Jesuit educationist:


Founded:

• Xavier Centre of Historical Research Porvorim (Goa)
• Thomas Stephens Konkanni, Povorim (Goa)
• Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar
• Goa Institute of Management, Ribandar (Goa)
• National Institute of Construction Management, Ponda
• Marian Institute of Health Care Management, for the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman

Served as

• President of the Association of Indian Management Schools
• Member of Executive Council of Association of Management Development Institutes of South Asia
• Member of National Board of Accreditation and All India Board of Management Studies, Government of India
• Professional Member of Academy of Management (USA)
• Member of International Council of Psychologists
• Member of the American Psychological Association
• Member of the Board of Directors, IIT, Mumbai
• Director of Goa Education development Corporation
• Director of State Technical Education Council, Goa
• Member of Goa Education Development Corporation Board
• Member of Knowledge Commission of Goa

News Story from the internet:

Scrap exam system: Padma Shri awardee for education

Panaji, Jan 26: Padma Shri awardee Rumualdo D'Souza has advocated scrapping of the examination system to improve the level of education in India.
Rumualdo, a Jesuit priest and brother of former Goa chief minister Wilfred D'Souza, was speaking to reporters Tuesday.
Rumualdo, who was among the 130 Padma Shri awardees announced Monday, said the education system needed an urgent overhaul.
"The examination system should be scrapped. Teachers should be allowed to assess the performance of students instead. The system of examinations promotes other bad practices like tuitions, coaching classes etc," Rumualdo said.
The priest, who has been awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of education, has also founded the Goa Institute of Management (GIM), which is one of the top management institutes in western India.

Nirupama Subramanian (94 BMD) publishes "Keep the Change"

Freelance corporate trainer and consultant by day and struggling-to-stay-awake writer by night, Nirupama Subramanian has a postgraduate degree in management from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and used to be a banker. Her writing has appeared in various magazines and she has received several awards for her short stories, articles and essays. She currently lives in Gurgaon, Haryana, with a precocious eight-year-old daughter and a peripatetic husband.

From The Harper Collins website
  Keep the Change

ISBN:	9788172239428
Cover Price:	Rs. 199.00
Format:	Paperback
Extent:	224  pages
On Sale:	January 2010

BOOK SUMMARY
The uncoolness of her name plagues B. Damayanthi, along with the bunch of unsuitable prospective husbands her Amma throws at her, a dead-end job as an accountant in a decrepit firm, the oppressiveness of Chennai. When she finally jettisons her job and some of her inhibitions to join a bank in Mumbai, Amma's parting words are: "Be good. Don't do anything silly." Translation: "Stay away from sex and alcohol!" Soon Damayanthi is negotiating competitive corporate corridors and big-city life. Aided by dubious words of wisdom from the cherub-faced Jimmy, she must impress the intellectual C.G., who has a low opinion of her; battle Sonya Sood, flatmate and size-zero  sophisticate, for the TV remote; choose between resisting or giving in  to temptation in the form of the seductive Rahul; deal with the moral dilemma of "stealing" a million-dollar idea for her project. Can a good  girl have a really good time? Can the conservative, curd-rice-eating Damayanthi become a cool, corporate babe? Keep the Change is a rollicking, wickedly witty story of every girl's journey to fulfil her dreams and find her own place in the world.

XLRI, Jamshedpur to Host 31st Annual Marketing Fair

From Cool Avenues

XLRI, Jamshedpur to Host 31st Annual Marketing Fair
The Marketing Association of XLRI, popularly known as MAXI, is set to organize its Annual MAXI Fair on the 17th of January, 2010. Started in 1979, the MAXI Fair is a unique and innovative approach to conduct Market Research in a fun format.

The idea was conceptualized 31 years ago, much ahead of its time, by Sharad Sarin, Professor of Marketing at XLRI and a visionary. Year after year since then, major Indian corporate houses bring their market research problems to the students of XLRI, who design elaborate games around them. These games are hosted in the XLRI grounds, and are open to public who visit the fair and have a good time apart from winning prizes. The students, on the other hand, get useful data about public preferences, which they then analyze to solve the problems faced by the companies. This makes the task of conducting the otherwise boring and mundane research easier and interesting.

This year, Hindustan Unilever(HUL) and Tata Main Hospital (TMH) are taking part in the MAXI Fair. While HUL wants to understand consumer behavior and preferences in its Face Care category, TMH wants to determine the factors which drive or inhibit the people from visiting their hospital.

HUL and other companies from the Tata Group, among many others, have been taking part in the Fair in previous years also, which provides a testimony to the quality of the research conducted at the Fair. In fact, the idea has been so popular and effective that it has been replicated and implemented by business schools all over India.

The magnitude of the Fair can be estimated by the fact that the number of people gathering in the XLRI grounds runs into thousands, in a span of just one day. The footfalls last year were over 2000, which are expected to increase by 50 percent this year, to over 3000 people.

The popular game stalls last year were ‘Bhutiya Haveli’, helping Tata Steelium determine consumer preferences in furniture, and the ‘Wonderland’ which took the visitors on a joy ride to the land of Alice and Genies, facilitating Spencer’s to judge its brand image relative to other retail stores. This year as well, the preparations for the Fair are up in full swing in the XLRI campus, with everything being done and managed by the students. Let us see what experiences Maxi Fair has in store for the public this year.

97 batch XLer's - Rajiv Rajendra - play in Sydney

Folks

 

belated Happy New Year

 

a play directed by Rajiv "Jeeves" Rajendra (97BMD) - citi-banker turned entrepreneur and also in theatre:) is scheduled in Sydney during Feb 3 and Feb 7... details below

 

ciao

madhukar

 

 

The Fruits of War @ Sydney

Written by Earl T Roske
Directed by Rajiv Rajendra

Start Time: Wednesday, February 3 at 8:15pm
End Time: Sunday, February 7 at 8:15pm
Where: Newtown Theatre, NSW, Australia
THE FRUITS OF WAR

For tickets please visit www.shortandsweet.org or call +61 2 8507 3034.

2nd National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship @ XLRI - Registration Details

Hello Folks!

I am happy to invite your participation in the 2nd National "Working" Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, which we are organising at XLRI Jamshedpur (Jan 29-31).

The registration details of the conference are enclosed and also pasted below - and I am also enclosing the Nomination Form.

If you know of someone who may be interested in attending this conference, please forward these too - thanks!

Wishing you all a wonderful and meaningful 2010

ciao
madhukar
ps: er.... a bit of "ambush marketing" ;0) - if you have not much to do, pl also have a look at my article in WSJ which got published yeterday :)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126258063197814415.html


<http://2nd-se-conference-at-xlri.blogspot.com/>

Why a "Working Conference"? - Purpose & Theme

Welcome to a conference with a difference!

Breaking away from the format of outlined agenda, specified topics, and fixed speakers, the <http://2nd-se-conference-at-xlri.blogspot.com/> 2nd National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship is designed to collaboratively explore, discuss, learn from each other, and co-create.


Designed as interest-based 'facilitated' Working Groups, the conference aims to:
facilitate learning by actively involving the participants in collaboratively solving real, live problems, which are of their interest and concern.

. leverage the rich experience and competence available in the participants' community to address real challenges, issues and opportunities facing the sector, and help learning from each other.

. result in relevant "take-home" learning (solutions and alternatives) for the participants, which can be implemented.

The Themes & Design

The Conference is designed around seven broad themes for the Working Groups; each group would be anchored by Social Entrepreneurs/ Resource Persons, who have contributed significantly to that particulars space, and will add value to the discussions and outcomes:

. Market Linkages: Mainstreaming the Marginalised Producers
. Employment & Livelihood: Organising the Unorganised
. Universal Primary Education: Investing in the Future
. Financial Inclusion: Creating an Equitable India
. Healthcare & Hygiene for All: Making a Healthier Society
. Access to Technology & Societal Resources: Empowering the Masses
. Grass Root Innovations: Supporting Social Entrepreneurship

Dates: January 29 - 31, 2010

Venue: XLRI, Jamshedpur

For Whom:
Development sector professionals, i.e.,
. Social entrepreneurs,
. NGOs,
. Government officials operating in development space,
. CSR executives,
. Academicians, and
. Interested students

3. Participation Fee

** due to "interactive working groups" methodology, the conference will accept limited number of participants on a first-come basis

The Cheque/DD should be drawn in favour of XLRI Jamshedpur


Download Nomination Form

Nominations should be sent to:
Prof Madhukar Shukla
Conference Coordinator
The 2nd National Entrepreneurship on Social Entrepreneurship
XLRI
CH Area (East), Jamshedpur 831 001
Ph: 0657 - 398 3333 Fax: 0657 - 398 3200
Email: seconference@xlri.ac.in> seconference@xlri.ac.in
Conference Blog : http://2nd-SE-Conference-at-XLRI.blogspot.com/

Confirmed Resource Persons:

Mr Arbind Singh
Executive Director
<http://www.nidan.in/> Nidan & Ashoka Fellow

Mr Arun Diaz
Trustee & Member of Investment Board
<http://www.aavishkaar.in/> Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund

Mr Ashish Rajpal
Co-Founder & Managing Director
http://www.idiscoverii.org/> iDiscoveri

Mr Ashok Kamath
CEO
<http://www.aksharafoundation.org/> Akshara Foundation

Dr Ashwin Naik
Co-Founder & CEO
<http://www.vaatsalya.com/> Vaatsalya Healthcare Systems Pvt Ltd

Dr Balaji Utla
CEO
<http://www.hmri.in/> Health Management & Research Institute

Mr Devendra Shukla
Director
<http://www.jaipurrugs.org/> Jaipur Rugs Foundation

Mr GN Murthy
General Manager - New Initiatives
<http://www.echoupal.com/> ITC - Agri Business Div

Dr Joe Madiath
Founder & Executive Director,
<http://www.gramvikas.org/> Gram Vikas & Skoll Social Entrepreneur

Mr Kirti Prasanna Mishra
Partner
<http://www.martrural.com/> MART

Mr Niraj Subrat
Vice President -Marketing
<http://www.ide-india.org/> International Development Enterprises - India

Mr Paul Basil
Founder & CEO
<http://www.villgro.org/> Villgro & Ashoka Fellow

Mr Pravin Mahajan
Founder & Executive Director
<http://www.janarth.org/> Janarth

Mr Rohit Magotra
Chief Operating Officer
<http://www.ekgaon.com/> Ekgaon Technologies

Mr Samit Ghosh
CEO
<http://www.ujjivan.com/> Ujjivan

Mr Sandeep Farias
Founder & Managing Director
<http://www.elevarwquity.com/> Elevar Equity

Ms Saloni Malhotra
Founder & CEO
<http://www.desicrew.in/> DesiCrew Solutions Pvt Ltd

Ms Sohini Bhattacharya
Director, South Asia Partnerships
<http://india.ashoka.org/> Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Mr Soumen Biswas
Executive Director
<http://www.pradan.net/> PRADAN

Prof Shukla in the Wall Street Journal

An Invisible Revolution in Rural India

An Invisible Revolution in Rural India - Wall Street Journal

online.wsj.com

Self help groups are quietly changing the dynamics of rural India says Madhukar Shukla, professor at the XLRI School of Business & Human Resources.

Read the entire article on The Wall Street Journal

XAT 2010 attains glory as the toughest MBA entrance exam; Offers total of 101 questions in three sections

From MBA Universe

The first MBA entrance exam of the year, XAT 2010, held on Sunday, 3 January 2010, was by far the toughest MBA entrance exam.

“XAT2010 was easily the toughest paper of the management exam season so far this year. This was a very difficult paper with all the ingredients of a Bollywood potboiler; lengthy questions, difficult questions, tricky questions and yes, easy questions too. Students would have come out of the exam hall not knowing how well they fared,” said an official from leading prep institute T.I.M.E.

XAT 2010 maintained the difficulty level of XAT 2009. The number of questions was 101 and each question had 1 mark. The negative marking scheme is progressive. There was 0.20 negative marking for the first five incorrect answers in each section and 0.25 marks for each incorrect answer thereafter.

Like last year, the number of sections was three. They were Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability, Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making and Verbal & Logical Ability. Each questions had five choices. The essay topic to be written within 20 minutes was ‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed’.

“The key to approaching this paper was to keep cool and follow the tested ‘TIME-allocation’ strategy. Those who left the difficult questions and did not target a ‘pre-fixed’ number of questions would have been able to find the easy questions and have a good, balanced performance in all three sections – which is the key to get the coveted call from XLRI,” mentioned T.I.M.E. in its analysis.

Now let us focus on the sections of XAT 2010.

Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability
This section had 40 questions. According to T.I.M.E., this was the most difficult section in the entire paper. “The DI sets were almost ‘undoable’ and should not have been attempted,” mentioned T.I.M.E. The Quantitative Ability questions were from a variety of areas. Though most of them were difficult and tricky, some of them were simple. “Locating such easy questions and solving them would be the key to scoring well in this section,” said T.I.M.E.

Verbal & Logical Ability
This section had 31 questions. According to IMS Learning, this section was much tougher than what it was in XAT 2009. “While the focus was once again on inferential logic and critical reasoning, a lot of questions contained long paragraphs, which were difficult to interpret in themselves, apart from the fact that the options were very close,” mentioned IMS Learning. This section consisted of four Reading Comprehension passages which were pretty tough to interpret. “Additionally, there were two Jumbled Paragraph questions, and an FIJ one, both of which were taxing to attempt,” added IMS Learning.

Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making
This section had 30 questions. In the Analytical Reasoning section, there were questions on Data Arrangement and Business Judgement. According to PT Education, the Data Arrangement area had 19 questions with five sets. They were of Moderate to Tough difficulty level. The area of Business Judgement had 11 questions and four sets. This topic was of Moderate difficulty level. “The Decision Making sets though ‘easy’ to read always had two close options which made the process of selecting the right answer a very tedious and time consuming one,” T.I.M.E. stated.

XAT 2010 exam held today

From Samay Live

Click Image to Enlarge

F Prev Next L

XAT 2010 exam to select management students for top 60 associated institution was held today in 33 cities across the country.

The XLRI aspirant students will have to crack the XAT 2010 exams.

XAT 2010 Analysis:

XLRI, Jamshedpur is one of the leading management institutes in the country. XLRI, Jamshedpur is believed to be centre of excellence in management studies.

XLRI Jamshedpur is considered as one of the best schools of business and Human Resource.

XLRI is one of the best and admired management institutes in Asia. The students receive good offer from national and overseas companies after completion of course from XLRI.

XLRI can be a good option for the students, who want to make career in management field with quality of education and facilities.

First Conference of Indian Academy of Management

From http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091229/jsp/jharkhand/story_11919152.jsp">The Telegraph

CEOs harp on religion

SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt lights the ceremonial lamp at the conference on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad Jamshedpur, Dec. 28: The inaugural session of the first conference of Indian Academy of Management at Tata Auditorium today saw corporate honchos sharing their knowledge of religion, mythology and Bhagvad Gita which they have used for better management. XLRI hosted the first conference of Indian Academy of Management — an autonomous body founded along the lines of the US-based Academy of Management with the idea of promoting research work and studies in management and also to serve as a platform for all B-schools to share ideas. The theme of the three-day conference that began was Indian Management: Past, Present and Future. The conference saw the likes of vice-chairman of Tata Steel B. Muthuraman, O.P. Bhatt, the chairman of State Bank of India and Venugopal Dhoot, the chairman of Videocon, as speakers. All of them explained the theme by citing examples from Bhagvad Gita, Kautilya Arthashashtra and Rig Veda. “Good management can be learnt not just in B-school but in everyday life, ancient traditions, religion, art, culture and sports. What we teach in business schools today have been found in the country’s culture that dates back to 5,000 years,” said Muthuraman. He pointed out that one could find examples of leadership, motivation and performance in Gita and examples of decision making in Rig Veda. “These religious books also speaks about vasudeva kutumbakam, which means universe is one family and that is globalisation that we talk about now,” said a speaker. Dhoot quoted Bhagvad Gita and explained how management saw a heavy presence of Indian culture. At this conference, about 150 research papers and 34 concurrent sessions on various management topics will be presented. “The motto is to provide researchers and doctoral students a platform to present their papers. This platform is for sharing and encouraging ideas,” said E.S. Srinivas, the conference chairperson.

2nd National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship @ XLRI (Jan 29-31, '10)

Hello folks! Season’s Greetings from XLRI! I am happy to inform you that we are the 2nd National "Working Conference" on Social Entrepreneurship @ XLRI during Jan 29th-31st, '10. This mail is both to inform (in case, some of you would like to attend), and with a request to pass it on to those who you think may be interested. The theme of the Conference is "Solutions for Inclusive Development" and it aims to provide a common space to the practitioners (social entrepreneurs, CBOs/NGOs, Government Agencies, Academics, Funding Agencies, Support Organisations and Corporate) for interaction and learning from each other. We were greatly encouraged by the participation in the last Conference, (http://social-entrepreneurship-at-xlri.blogspot.com) which was attended by about 160 practitioners from the development sector as participants. This year's event is designed as a "working conference" which would allow the participants to not just listen and learn, but also to share, discuss and co-create solutions/alternatives as a take-away, by actively and collectively engaging in solving real, live problems, which are of their interest and concern. Based on our interactions with practitioners in the field, we have tentatively identified a few broad themes/groups for the working groups in the Conference. In each group, we also plan to have Resource Persons, who have made significant contribution to the space, and would help bring greater value to the group, and lead the discussions. · Market Linkages: Mainstreaming the Marginalised Producers · Employment & Livelihood: Organising the Unorganised · Universal Primary Education: Investing in the Future · Financial Inclusion: Creating an Equitable India · Healthcare & Hygiene for All: Making a Healthier Society · Access to Technology & Societal Resources: Empowering the Masses · Grass Root Innovations: Supporting Rural Entrepreneurship In addition, the conference will be interspersed with panel discussions on relevant themes (I am pasting below the tentative schedule of the Conference for your reference). We are working on the registration details for the conference (that being the function of sponsorship – if we can get those :0), and will share the same soon. We expect about 25 Social Entrepreneurs and Development Sector Professionals to participate in the Conference as Resource Persons. I am also happy to share, that as of now, the following have confirmed their participation as Resource Persons - Mr Arbind Singh (Executive Director, Nidan) Ashoka Fellow & Social Entrepreneur of the Year '08 http://www.nidan.in/ - Mr Arun Diaz (Trustee & Member of Investment Board, Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund) http://www.aavishkaar.in/ - Mr Ashish Rajpal (Co-Founder & Managing Director, iDiscoveri) http://www.idiscoveri.org/ - Dr Ashwin Naik (Co-Founder & CEO, Vaatsalya Healthcare Systems Pvt Ltd) http://www.vaatsalya.com/ - Dr Balaji Utla, (CEO, Health Management & Research Institute) http://www.hmri.in/ - Mr Chandra Shekhar Ghosh (Chairman & Managing Director, Bandhan Microfinance) Senior Ashoka Fellow & winner of Microfinance Award '09, http://www.bandhanmf.com/ - Mr Devendra Shukla (Director, Jaipur Rugs Foundation) http://www.jaipurrugs.org/ - Mr GN Murthy (General Manager – New Initiatives, ITC- Business Div) http://www.echoupal.com/ - Dr Joe Madiath (Founder & Executive Director, Gram Vikas) Senior Ashoka Fellow & Skoll Social Entrepreneur http://www.gramvikas.org/ - Mr Niraj Subrat (Vice President, Marketing, International Development Enterprises-India) http://www.ide-india.org/ - Mr Paul Basil (Founder & CEO, Villgro) Ashoka Fellow http://www.villgro.org/ - Mr Pravin Mahajan (Executive Director, Janarth) Ashoka Fellow http://www.janarth.org/ - Mr Samit Ghosh (Founder & CEO, Ujjivan Financial Services Pvt Ltd) http://www.ujjivan.com/ - Mr Sandeep Farias (Founder & Managing Director, Elevar Equity) http://www.elevarequity.com/ - Ms Saloni Malhotra (Founder and CEO, DesiCrew Solutions Pvt Ltd) http://www.desicrew.in/ - Ms Sohini Bhattacharya (Director, South Asia Partnerships, Ashoka Innovators for the Public) http://india.ashoka.org/ - Mr Soumen Biswas (Executive Director, PRADAN) http://www.pradan.net - Mr Upmanyu Patil (Managing Director, Sakhi Retail Pvt Ltd) http://www.sspindia.org/resources/SRPL_profile_09.pdf ======================== Tentative Agenda of the Conference January 29th 2:00-3:30 Inauguration, Design of the Conference, Inaugural Address 4:00-5:30 Panel: Social Entrepreneurship & Inclusive Socio-Economic Development January 30th 9:00-10:30 Panel: Inclusive Growth: Challenges, Opportunities and Impediments 11:00-6:00 Working Group Discussions - Themes: · Market Linkages: Mainstreaming the Marginalised Producers · Employment & Livelihood: Organising the Unorganised · Universal Primary Education: Investing in the Future · Financial Inclusion: Creating an Equitable India · Healthcare & Hygiene for All: Making a Healthier Society · Access to Technology & Societal Resources: Empowering the Masses · Grass Root Innovations: Supporting Rural Entrepreneurship January 31st 9:00-12:30 Sharing/ Presentations by Groups 2:00-3:30 Panel: Scaling the Impact 3:30-4:00 Conclusion ================================ Dr Madhukar Shukla Coordinator - 2nd National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship (Jan 29 -31, '10) & Professor (OB & Strategic Mgt) XLRI Jamshedpur CH Area (East) Jamshedpur 831001 (India) ph: 91-657-398 3333 mailid: madhukar@xlri.ac.in / seconference@xlri.ac.in/