B-schools assist student-entrepreneurs

From Business Standard

Business Standard (Kolkata March 03, 2009, 0:19 IST): While venture capitalists (VCs) are reluctant to fund several entrepreneurial ideas this year, a few of the country’s B-schools are helping student entrepreneurs to go ahead with their own ventures by providing seed funds, mentorship and using the alumni network to raise funds and get in touch with useful contacts.

While many B-schools and IITs have introduced deferred-placement-policy, which enables students to take a break from placements for a maximum period of two years and even come back for it in case the venture does not kick off, students, on the other hand, have been making progress with the funds provided by respective institutes and alumni networks.

Though the final placement season is likely to continue for another month in many B-schools, several students have already put their business ideas in place.

XLRI Jamshedpur is the forerunner so far, with as many as three business plans in place.

According to Madhukar Shukla, a professor at XLRI, “XLRI recently raised close to Rs 14 lakh from its alumni network and other donations towards its XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust. The Singapore chapter has also generated close to SGD 5,000. This would go towards the seed fund reserved for student entrepreneurs. Right now, the students are looking to generate more funds to complete the various orders they are receiving from companies on a trial basis.”

“As many as seven students may opt out of placements this year. Each venture needs large funding. If the students are able to get it, which is a work-in-progress, they will opt out of placements. Otherwise, one person from the team will stay with the venture, while the others will perhaps take up a a job to keep the venture going... but for sure, whichever way, the ventures will continue,” Shukla said.

‘Parichay’, an initiative by XLRI students, is a venture to connect rural and tribal artisans and craftsmen to the mainstream market. According to the student body handling Parichay, a large part of India’s traditional rural and tribal art is dying because the artisans, being disconnected from the market, have not been able to contemporise their designs, and since they have no direct access to the market, they do not find their work remunerative enough to continue.

The students have roped in a few designers, who have developed product-prototypes for them, and are negotiating with NIFT, Pearle Academy and others, who have shown interest to send their students for internship.

The Parichay members have also built the ‘Learning & Design Centre’, where the rural tribal artisans are being trained to develop the product prototypes. The students are also in the initial stages of negotiation with Nabard, which has shown interest in the venture. The ‘Parichay’ team has already got close to Rs 3 lakh as seed funding from XLRI, and has also generated some funds through the prize money in various competitions.

Another initiative by the students of XLRI is ‘Swavalamban’, a venture that aims to use ‘ox-driven generator’ (a technology patented by a BIT Mesra professor of 20 years’ standing, and a known name in the renewable energy circles) to provide electricity to the villages in Jharkhand. So far, the Swavalamban team has an order from the Jharkhand Renewable Agency Development Agency (JREDA), and has also got sanction from the Jharkhand tribal minister to electrify one village as a working ‘proof of concept’. Tata Motors’ CSR department and SEEDS (an NGO) have showed interest by ordering five units each for testing in their villages, while NTPC has shown interest to acquire 200 units at a research level. Larsen & Toubro has seen the prototype, and in principle agreed to acquire some for their CSR activities.

A third project, ‘Dream4Others’, is the youngest of all ventures at XLRI. The venture aims to use online market surveys to generate funds for registered NGOs. It is being mentored by a director at A C Neilson.

Likewise, at Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME) Bangalore, at least two students are opting out of placements this year to pursue a project that converts petrol-run two wheelers into CNG-led vehicles. According to Nigel Job, one of the two students opting out of placements to pursue this venture, “This project ensures savings of close to Rs 6,000 every year on fuel prices and is eco-friendly too. Our project will convert two wheelers which are running on petrol to CNG.”

“The start up cost is close to Rs 15 lakh. We are talking to National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) and a few venture capitalists for the funds,” informed Ranju George, another student who is opting out of XIME Bangalore placements this year to pursue this venture.

At S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, first-year student Praveen Gera plans to start a venture on manufacturing auto-ancillary parts made from carbon fibre, which is expected to ensure longer life with smooth and durable texture. “Around Rs 1.3 crore is the capital required for this project. There are four of us involved in this project and we intend to opt out of placements next year to pursue this project. Our institute helps students with seed fund of up to Rs 20 lakh,” Gera said.

At IIM Calcutta, at least two first-year students are opting out of summer placements to pursue their own ventures. Pranav Kumar, a first-year student of IIM Calcutta, has decided to pursue a venture on mobile value-added-services. He, with his team of six others, has started ‘Mobme’, a social networking venture on mobile. “The entrepreneurship cell at IIMC is helping us meet several venture capitalists. We are also looking at angel funding for our venture,” said Pranav Kumar.

Likewise, Pathikrit Ghosh, another first-year student of IIMC, has decided to opt out of summer placements to start a consultancy project, offering consultancy services for sectors such as energy, sales and marketing, human resource, and others. “This is a low-capital business and would need close to Rs 2 lakh to start off,” said Ghosh. Abhishek Nagaraj, another first-year student at IIM Calcutta is planning a social networking site on videos. “It will be a Wikipedia centred on video. I already have a prototype and the start-up cost is very little and manageable,” Nagaraj said.

Pune Alumni Picnic - 15 March

Hi All

The Pune xlgroup is planning a Trip Out this 15th March. Venue of the Trip is yet to be decided, I have suggested Garudmachi - 75 Kms from Pune, 140 kms from Mumbai.

This link will give an idea about Garudmachi:

http://www.hpmpl.com/garudmaachi.html

This link has the maps of reaching to Garudmachi from Mumbai and Pune

http://www.hpmpl.com/garudmaachi_outdoor.html

The Arrangements described in the webpages are property of High Places consultancy who run their Outdoor Training and Management Development centre at Garudmachi.

Regards
Avijit

Chennai Meet. Final Details

Dear all,

As repeatedly shared in many posts, the alumni get-together is planned at

BOAT CLUB
Raja Annamalaipuram, 2, 3rd Avenue, Boat Club Road, Chennai

TIMING: 7:00 PM

DRESS CODE: Collared T-shirt / Shirt

We had expected some sponsorship for this event but thanks to the current economic slump, we could not get anything worthy. Hence we will have to charge Rs.400 per person for this meet. This includes snacks, soft drinks, unlimited booze and food.

Hoping to meet you people there.

Please pass on this message to others not hooked onto this group and get them as last minute additions.

Cheers,
Karthik

Chennai Alumni Meet 20 Feb

Please confirm your participation ASAP

We need to confirm numbers for catering

Venue: Boat Club

Time: 700 PM

Date: 20th Feb 2009, Friday

Cost aspects will be shared soon

Looking forward to meeting you

PNS

Rajesh Saxena (87batch) New CEO of American Express, India

From Money Control

Published on Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 15:37 , Updated at Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 16:26
Source : Moneycontrol.com

American Express today announced the appointment of Rajesh Saxena as Chief Executive Officer for American Express Banking Corp. (AEBC), India. Rajesh will head the Country Executive Team and directly manage the International Consumer Card and Small Business Services, leading the company’s marketing, acquisition, product development and insurance areas.

In this role, Rajesh will also spearhead several strategic and business development initiatives for the company while steering smooth collaboration across its diverse businesses in India. His position will be key to advancing and strengthening the company’s strategic focus in India.

Rajesh will be based in Gurgaon and will report to John Steward, Executive Vice President, ICSS, World Markets.

“I am delighted to welcome Rajesh to American Express. He represents the ideal combination of vast international experience and an in-depth understanding of diverse markets coupled with a natural knack for leading from the front. We are confident that his commitment to excel in everything he does, his strong values and work ethic will further strengthen the brand’s leadership in the Indian market,” said Mr. Steward.

India’s dynamic market has served as the launch pad for American Express’ several industry-leading initiatives including the launch of The Platinum Club, American Express Kingfisher First Card in strategic partnership with Kingfisher and Airtel and the Ultimate Platinum Experiences for its affluent Cardmembers.

Detailing his appointment, Rajesh said, “India is undoubtedly one of the most important financial services markets in the world, characterized by its ever expanding consumer base, evolving lifestyle and spending needs. As a premium payment solutions brand, AXP has a definitive competitive edge in providing high-quality service. My role will be to further enhance quality and service culture though innovative products and solutions to meet the ever growing needs of affluent population in India. I am extremely happy to take on this new role with American Express - one of the world’s most trusted and respected service brands.”

An 18-year veteran of consumer and retail banking, Rajesh joins from Citibank where he held several senior management positions in Operations, Business Development, Merchant Network, Consumer Credit, Sales, Marketing and general management functions across five geographies including India, Israel, UAE, Turkey and Japan.

Most recently he served as Sales and Marketing Head, Citi Cards in Japan where he had diverse responsibilities in all front office units including sales, marketing, partnership, merchants, corporate business and merchandising. Rajesh earned a Bachelors of Engineering degree from BITS, Pilani and an MBA from XLRI in Jamshedpur.

American Express Company is a leading global payments and travel company founded in 1850.

Sourced From: Text 100 Public Relations Consultancy

Social Entrepreneurship Conference@XLRI - Day1 pics

Pictures and more details about the conference here:

http://social-entrepreneurship-at-xlri.blogspot.com/2009/01/social-entrepreneurship-conference-day.html

and here:
http://xlri.blogspot.com/2009/02/coverage-1st-national-social.html


Coverage in Financial Express

Coverage in The Telegraph

Bahrain Get together - 27 Feb

Folks,

It has been a long time, but we have finally got around to Organising the next meeting of the XL Bahrain Gang.

We are proposing to meet on Friday, the 27th of February at the Party Hall in Golden Sands I - Hoora (Opp. Ashraf's)

Please confirm attendance back to either me or Udit Mishra (XL 1992) or Sunil Zacharia (XL 1999).

Let's aim to meet at 7:30 pm on the 27th of February.

Please bring Spouses and Children also along.

Look forward to seeing all of you on the 27th.

Cheers,
Saji Zacharia (XL 1990)