Indian Institute of Management Shillong hosts Business Leadership Summit x Learning on the Green Turf

Shillong: Indian Institute of Management Shillong organized Business Leadership Summit x Learning on the Green Turf on the 4th and 5th of March 2023. Business Leadership Summit (BLS) is the annual flagship event of IIM Shillong. It hosts industry stalwarts across domains, including Consulting, Finance, Marketing, Systems & Analytics, Human Resources, and Operations. The event is a joint effort by various clubs and committees of the institute, and the sessions conducted are enthralling and cover the latest, most important industry trends. The theme for this year’s event was “Youth, Managerial Competence and National Growth”.
The event kicked off with an Inauguration Ceremony on the 4th of March, with Mr. Dhruv Sharma, Senior Economist at World Bank, and Ms. Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited, Youth Development and Partnerships at UNICEF India, as the Keynote Speakers. They covered essential topics on Indian economic conditions and the development of opportunities for the Youth of the Nation for better growth and success of the Nation. Day 1 saw Panel Discussions across Marketing, Systems & Analytics, and Human Resources domains. The Marketing Panel had Divya Karani, Board Director, CEO Media South Asia at Dentsu; Shardul Bist, Head – Marketing (FMCG – Nutrifix/Sebamed) at Mother Dairy; Esha Arora, SVP Marketing at Info Edge India Ltd and Rohit Lamba, VP Sales and Marketing, Head – Branding at Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. Prof. Guhesh Ramanathan was the Panel Moderator. The students witnessed an intriguing discussion on digitization, generational changes, and the steps to take if a campaign goes wrong. For the Systems and Analytics panel, the speakers were Vivek Sahabadi, Head of Data and Analytics at Navi; Swati Jain, Vice President of Analytics at EXL; Nitin Gupta, Senior Director, Head – Enterprise Analytics, Data and AI at VISA and Hardik Somani, COO and Co-Founder at Sapio Analytics. Prof. Basav Roychoudhury was the Panel Moderator. The theme for this discussion was around insights and growth of AI, biases that could come up as AI continues to grow, and skill development of individuals in the field. The HR panel had eminent speakers like Anuja Ghosh, Head HR at SBICAP Ventures Ltd; Ganesh S, CHRO at Emeritus and Eruditus; Sajjad Ahmed, Senior Director HR at Capgemini; Vikram Mhaske, CHRO|Director HR, Legal Affairs and EHS at Rheinmetall and Venkat Sundaram, VP Learning and Development at SAR Group (Livpure, Livguard). Prof. Sitanshu Sekhar Das moderated the discussion, which focused on how organizations today enhance employee experience.

Day 2 started on a solid note with the Consulting Panel. The speakers were Tushar Chakraborty, Director at Deloitte India; Nilabha Dey, Director at KPMG India; Suraj Prasad, Senior Director at IQVIA; Anupam Dutta, Startup Advisor and Ex-Partner at PwC and KB Unni, Senior Advisor and Partner at an Independent Consulting Firm, Ex-SVP & CTO at McKinsey. Prof. Parijat Upadhyay was the Moderator for the session. The Panel discussed transformation, digital disruption, and reasons to join Consulting in a rapidly growing India. The Operations panel had Reena Evans, Director of Operations at Swiggy; Anish Azeez, Head of Logistics Operations at Sterlite Technologies Ltd; Abhilekh Suryavanshi, South Asia Regional Transportation and Logistics Head at Cargill and Ranjan Sinha, Senior Project Manager at Envision Enterprise Solution America Inc. For this session, Prof. Rohit Joshi was the Moderator. The insightful discussion focused on technology and human capital in the Indian Context in this domain and the impact of COVID-19 on the entire sector. For the last panel discussion of BLS 2023, the Finance panel took to the stage. The speakers for this session were Sanjiv Bhasin, Director at IIFL Securities Ltd; Tirthankar Patnaik, Chief Economist at NSE India Ltd; Vivek Mavani, Owner of Vivek Mavani Financial Services and Prof. Sharad Nath Bhattacharya. Neil Borate, Deputy Editor and Head of Personal Finance at LiveMint, moderated the panel discussion. The panelists exchanged ideas on moving from conventional to unconventional finance in the modern economy, and the students gained thorough insights.

The two-day event helped broaden the minds of the young, aspiring managers who will be the future of our Nation. Experts from all domains brought excellent ideas to the stage and led thought-provoking discussions, making the Business Leadership Summit 2023 a grand success.