Life @ K J Somaiya Institute of Management

MBA CAT 2022
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Enactus Somaiya Social Cell - 2014 Activities


1. National Competition

National Competition is a showcase of how Enactus students are transforming lives and enabling progress through entrepreneurial action. From March 2014 to July 2014, Enactus teams competed across 36 countries where the quality and impact of their projects were evaluated by business leaders serving as judges.

At the Enactus National Competition organized by Enactus India, "Hope Dream Change. Empower", was Enactus Somaiya Social Cell's war cry for the competition. Among the five inspiring projects undertaken by Enactus SSC, Enactus Somaiya Social cell showcased two projects namely, Project Mogra and Project Kruti.

Enactus-SSC won the following accolades: 1)  Enactus Somaiya Social Cell stood third in their league sponsored by Syntel  2) Prof. Asha Bhatia received the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award for guiding the Enactus    SSC team successfully throughout the year. 3) For the prestigious Enactus Special Unilever Competition for Leadership and Sustainability, One Faculty Guide and one student from Enactus SSC were entitled to visit the Enactus World Cup in Beijing, China from 22-24 October 2014. This event was sponsored by Unilever. 

1. Enactus Somaiya Social Cell @ Enactus World Cup 2014, China

The Enactus World Cup 2014 was held at the China National Convention Centre, Beijing, China from 22 - 24 October 2014 hosted by CPAFFC (Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries). Around 34 Enactus participating countries were present. Teams from Morocco, Ireland, Puerto Rico and China were the finalists with China winning the world cup 2014. As an award for winning the first place in the Enactus special Unilever Competition for leadership and sustainability Enactus Somaiya Social Cell faculty advisor(Prof. Asha Bhatia) and one team member (Ms. Urvi Dharamshi) were sponsored to attend the Enactus World Cup as Unilever Ambassadors from India. From Enactus SSC and attended the event. Our team member was given an opportunity to give a presentation on Project Mogra undertaken by Enactus Somaiya Social Cell.

The key event held in World cup were

· Enactus Unilever Special reception

· Culture Fair

· Enactus Faculty Advisors Best Practices session

· Opening, Semi - final and Final Rounds of Enactus World Cup 2014

· Action Leaders Forum

The event was attended by many high profile persons. It was a great learning experience for our Enactus team.

1. Enactus KPMG Competition

For the past 15 years KPMG International has been an active supporter of Enactus, a global non-profit organization that mobilizes students to make a difference in their communities while developing skills that help them become the next generation of socially responsible business leaders. Enactus SSC won the KPMG Business Ethics Grant 2014 with the Grant amount of Rs 50,000.

2. Enactus- TATA Chemicals Special Competition

Tata Chemicals conducts this annual Social entrepreneurship competition every year. Enactus - India is also a part of this special competition where Enactus teams all over India participate and demonstrate one of their ongoing projects. The learning objective of this event is to create social venture for agricultural workers and farmers using sustainable business models. This event was held during June 2013, where Members of Enactus Somaiya Social Cell presented the Project Mogra, which deals with teaching Mogra plant cultivation to farmers of Dahanu and create a source of living for them. Enactus Somaiya Social Cell emerged victorious in this special competition and has won a grant of Rs 40000/- for our projects.

3. Rakhi Kiosk

On 5th august 2014, Enactus Somaiya Social cell in association with National Association of Blind conducted the Rakhi Kiosk in our SIMSR campus. Along with the Rakhi made by partially blind kids of NAB, we also had two mehendi artists applying mehendi to the ladies of our college. The event gained good response and lead to a good contribution to NAB by the Rakhi's sold.

1. Education As A Way Of Life

The Team FinLit at Enactus Somaiya Social Cell has always striven to contribute to the cause of providing education to the underprivileged and giving India a chance to speak, read and write lines of a fresh, literate and visionary Bharat. FinLit organized a certificate distribution ceremony for the students of KJ Somaiya Vocational Training Institute (VTI). The event was conducted in presence Prof. Asha Bhatia, the faculty coordinator of Enactus SSC, Mr. Mathew, Principal of VTI and Dalvi Sir who was instrumental in helping us throughout the FinLit program at VTI. The principal of VTI, Mr. Mathew, appreciated the efforts put in by the volunteers and looked forward to the upcoming FinLit sessions and requested to increase the number of batches for VTI since more students are now interested to be a part of this program. This was followed by the certificate distribution ceremony for the meritorious students of VTI by Prof.Asha Bhatia. All FinLit Programs are supported by IIFL who recently felicitated Project FinLit with a grant of Rs. 30000 and also provided Financial Literacy Material to all 442 students associated with the Project. Project FinLit will continue to contribute to the cause of spreading financial awareness and English proficiency amongst the students and contribute in a small way to the Millennium Development Goal of Literacy.

1. Recycle Drive

After the overwhelming response of the previous years, Enactus SSC continued with its activity of collecting old newspapers and recycling them.  Hundreds of kilos of newspapers were collected from SIMSR hostel. These news papers were sold to scrap vendors. Money acquired through this activity was utilized for funding projects of Enactus. This year, the program saw a participation of all SIMSR hostelites. For some, it was that feeling of helping others which motivated them; while for others it was the dynamic challenges that they faced.

Enactus SSC team has been wowed by the response of the entire college! Thanks everyone! Cheers!


8. Blood Donation Drive

K.J Somaiya institute of Management Studies and Research conducted a "BLOOD DONATION" camp on 10th of September, 2014. All the students, faculty and staff members participated voluntarily in the camp. In total, 50 units of blood were collected. This camp helped students generate awareness about their social responsibilities and they participated enthusiastically. The camp was jointly organized by "Enactus Somaiya Social Cell" and "K.J Somaiya Hospital, Sion, Mumbai" in the SIMSR Boys Hostel under the supervision of Dr Pradnya Kulkarni and Professor Asha Bhatia (Chairperson, Enactus Somaiya Social Cell).

The camp was organized in a much disciplined manner checking each and every aspect of participant's health. Refreshments were provided to the participants after donating blood. Student volunteers under the guidance of Somaiya Hospital staff helped the participants and gave moral support to students for donating blood. Blood Donation Camp organizing committee members, faculties were inspecting every aspect of the camp throughout the day. Cleaning staff of Somaiya also donated blood which is huge inspiration for students.

9.Joy of Giving

Enactus Somaiya Social Cell conducted Joy of giving week from 6th -11th October. The theme for this year was to help Jammu and Kashmir flood victims. In order to help the people in J & K, Enactus Somaiya Social Cell along with the NGO Goonj urged the students and faculty to donate generously for the cause. The donation was in the form of money, clothes donation and even old newspaper donation drive. A small museum depicting J & K flood situation was made and kept near the entrance. The drive was a huge success with students and Faculty donating more than Rs 14,000.

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Consultancy @ SIMSR

The Consultancy Committee at SIMSR (popularly known as C@S) consists of students from SIMSR who work on live projects for the corporates. Students are given practical knowledge of their area of specialization coupled with relevant industry exposure.

C@S is an important touch point for SIMSR with the corporate world as the quality of project deliverables by C@S showcases the ability and skills of students at SIMSR. C@S tries to make the best use of resources at SIMSR to expose students to the real world requirements of our clients, which supplements classroom teaching to instil better understanding of academic concepts.

What we do:

Most of our projects are market research projects, and the clients' requirements range from Primary Research & Secondary Desk Research, to detailed sectoral analysis reports.

Primary Research: This generally involves us getting 'down and dirty', with a lot of background research, travelling by the Mumbai Locals, meeting our targets from both ends of the cooperative spectrum, white lies and subterfuge, with a lot of excitement thrown in.

Secondary Research: This involves a lot of creative cold calling, some targeted as well as non-targeted pitching, a truck load of data mining (there's lots of Googling involved here), and some 'fill in the blanks' with 'on the spot surveys'.

Sectorial Analysis Reports: We may not be a Crisil yet, but the reports we do come up with, end up awing our clients to a great extent, so much so, that we have received no less than a dozen letters of appreciation to the tune of the same! Our reports include the assumptions and research hypotheses, the survey premise, the actual survey methodology, planning and design process, the detailed data with micro-analysis, and relevant conclusions with our recommendation with regards to the particular sector concerned.

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Guest Lecture Committee

One of the official and exclusive student-driven committees of SIMSR, the Guest Lecture Committee brings eminent personalities from across the industry to campus to deliver guest lectures. The immense wisdom gained by the stalwarts in the industry through years of experience is passed on to the students of SIMSR, many of whom will turn out to be pioneers of a brighter future through their innovations.

This academic year, the Guest Lecture Committee succeeded in bringing a number of eminent personalities across different sectors to SIMSR to deliver guest lectures. One of them was Mr. Sunu Mathew, Founder and Managing Director, LEAP INDIA Private Limited, who delivered a lecture on "how to choose a specialization" to provide a road map to all the first year students with insights from his own corporate journey. He briefed about the career cycles of various specializations prevalent in corporate world.

The second eminent personality, Mr. Rahul Avasthy, Lead, Digital Marketing at Abbott, delivered a lecture on the rise of digital marketing as an industry in India. He mesmerized the students through his use of lucid language to deliver powerful ideas expressed with the help of PowerPoint slides and videos.

Again, the committee also roped in Mr. R.V Balasubramaniam Iyer, Vice-President (Learning and Development Facilitator) at Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, to deliver a lecture on the topic 'Sustaining Relevance with Industry'. His use of extremely relevant examples to get his points across played a great role in an increase in the intellectual capital of the students.

Many other guest lectures, other than the ones already mentioned, organized by the Guest Lecture Committee have played a pivotal role in the enhancement of knowledge of the students outside the periphery of their everyday lessons. The committee hopes to continue to contribute to the betterment of the students at SIMSR.

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Finstreet is the exclusive Finance Committee at SIMSR.

Glimpses of Events:

Finzomania- The annual intra-college finance quiz of SIMSR was even bigger and better this time. Conducted in two phases, Finzomania witnessed the finance enthusiasts compete fiercely to get every answer right!

Finstreet Fiesta- To mark the beginning of a prosperous 2014, we at Finstreet had a weeklong event comprising of exciting and rigorous competitions-

Equity Research - A competition wherein the teams did a thorough and extensive equity research analysis of Cipla (Pharma) Ltd. on real-time data which challenged their acumen and analytical skills!

Quiz- A fun quiz not just about finance but everything and anything under the sun. With four interesting rounds, some of the questions made a lot of brilliant quizmasters scratch their heads!

 Article Writing- An on-the-spot event which saw students penning down their thoughts on the topic 'Given the current Global Financial Crisis, do you think re-regulation could be a possible solution. Keeping in mind the effects of several decades of de-regulation, give your opinion on the impact of re-regulation on the economy'.

Knowledge Sharing Sessions (KSS) - Keeping the legacy alive and thriving, FINSTREET organized a Knowledge Sharing Session in the month of December on the topic 'Forwards and Futures'.

Apart from the already mentioned events, Finstreet also conducts Investrix - a corporate panel discussion with eminent speakers, Pravartanva - to develop a new and innovative financial product and analyse the risk and returns of the portfolio using different parameters and Finstruct - a corporate restructuring competition.

Finstreet is the committee which keeps the Finance sector at SIMSR up and kicking. Everyone with a financial acumen at SIMSR - Finstreet is the place to be.

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ALCOM Activities

Imprints

In our constant endeavor to stay in touch our prestigious alumni, every two months, we come out with Imprints - The Alumni Newsletter. Imprints bring to the alumni the latest news about the events and happenings at their own institute so that they are always connected to the best days of their life.

Imprints June-July 2014

Imprints March-April 2014

Imprints Jan-Feb 2014

Imprints July - Aug 2013

Alumniscence

As an initiative towards learning from the expertise of our esteemed alumni, we conduct 'Alumniscence' - The Alumni Guest Lecture Series where alumni are invited on a monthly basis to enlighten the students with their thoughts and experiences.

Many esteemed alumni have visited the institute already and shared their insights on diverse topics by means of interactive sessions with the students, Ms. Kirti Shukla (Manager, Global Sourcing, Sandoz Pvt Ltd), Mr. Chetan Shah (Business Head - Capital Market & Commodity Market Group, HDFC Bank), Mr. Madhusudan Kela (Chief Investment Strategist, Reliance Capital), Mr. Nirav Parekh (Planning Director, Ogilvy and Mather), and Mr. Manish Gadia (VP, Sales and Relationships, HSBC) to name a few.

Alumnus of the Month

The committee selects an alumnus as the 'Alumnus of the Month' and shares a detailed profile of him/her with the current students of SIMSR through the college notice boards and via email. The profile is also posted on the official blog of SIMSR. Some of the esteemed alumni covered for Alumnus of the Month are Mr.Harsh Bhosale, Vice President and Head-HR at Essar Steel, Mr. Kaushal Mehta, Founder & Partner, Proton Infosolutions Pvt Ltd, Mr. Shivkumar Subramaniam, GM & Geographic Head-Middle East, MindTree Ltd and Mr. Sumit Banerjee, Assistant Vice President- Credit Suisse India Pvt. Ltd.

Anveshan

This event is instrumental in providing guidance from alumni to students from current batches on various aspects like projects, summer internships etc. It also provides them an informal platform to know about life at SIMSR.

Anveshan is conducted every year in first week of September. The students benefit immensely from this interaction.

Chapters

The committee facilitates and provides support for alumni get-togethers at various cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, and Hyderabad. 'Chapters' are informal meets where alumni build relationships with fellow alumni working in a particular city.

On request from alumni, the committee plans to conduct Chapter Meets abroad in cities like Dubai, London and Singapore.

1. Chapter Meet - Hyderabad - 21 March 2014

2. Chapter Meet - Calcutta - 30 March, 2014

3. Chapter Meet - Bangalore - 29 March 2014

4. Chapter Meet - Delhi - 05 April 2014

5. Chapter meet - Chennai - 19 April 2014

6. Chapter Meet - Pune - 19 April 2014

7. Chapter Meet - Mumbai - 26 April 2014

Venues of the above chapter meet will be announced soon.

Teaser

Confluence

Confluence, the Annual Alumni Conclave is an initiative where the Alumni Committee attempts to connect with alumni who are part of the 25 year long history of SIMSR's professional contribution to society and have carved out a niche for themselves in the country's corporate circles. The Conclave aims at bridging the gap between industry professionals and students through an open discussion on current industry challenges and trends.

The 1st Annual Alumni Conclave was conducted on 17th Sept'11. Elite alumni from diverse sectors were engaged into two separate panel discussions. Panel A which consisted of Mr.Makrand Teje, VP - Capgemini, Mr. Nimish Danani, Account Head - CISCO, Mr. Anuj Bhargava, CEO - AB Associates, Mr. Viddyesh Raje, AVP - Ernst and Young, Mr. Ankur Mehta, AVP- Marsh India, and Mr. Dhananjay Parchure, Entrepreneur. The moderator for this panel was Prof. C.P.Joshi, full time faculty member at SIMSR. Panel B consisted of Mr. Harsh Bhonsle, Head HR - Essar Steel, Ms. Smita Bhonsle, Head South Asia - Unilever, Mr. Rahul Pitale, Sr. Manager (Asia Strategy), Pfizer, Mr. Darayus Mehta, VP- Reliance Communications, Mr. Shashank Pore, Head Marketing - Tata TeleServices, Mr. Anand Ramaswamy, Asst. GM - ICICI Bank, and Mr. Ashok Desai-, Senior Manager- Air India. The moderator for this panel was Prof. Isaac Jacob, HOD Marketing - SIMSR.

Conclave will continue to engage prestigious alumni from diverse corporate backgrounds, starting from the senior batches, in the years to come. The Alumni Committee requests your support and cooperation in this endeavour.

Mentorship Program

The committee proposes to implement an alumni-student mentorship programme for the senior students. This will be designed to have a one-to-many interaction between the alumni and the students where the alumni will guide them about industry expectations and requirements.

Milaap

The Alumni committee facilitates a batch reunion every year for selected batches. It is a joyous occasion for both the committee and the numerous alumni of the particular batch as they recreate the charm, energy and enthusiasm that their batch shared as students.

Anshu

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Public Relations Committee (PR Committee)


Samavesh - 21st December 2013

21st December 2013 witnessed yet another successful Annual Business Conference, Samavesh 2013. In order to take forward the institute promise to bring education and corporate industry together; so as to enable SIMSR's talented students to be better skilled managers, this flagship event is organized by Public Relations Committee in SIMSR every year where in various industry experts come together on a single platform and address the students of SIMSR.

Samavesh 2013 was inaugurated with a lamp lightening ceremony by honorable Chief guests;

Mr. MG Parameshwaram (CEO FCB Ulka), Mr. Dinesh Kuma (Alumnus SIMSR, 1995),

Mr. K. Rambhushan (Head M&A, Barclays Bank), Mr.  Clarence Fernandes (India Representative, Rwanda Development Board) and Mr. Winnie Umutes (Management Trainee, Rwanda Development Board). These eminent personalities were invited by IBS committee for discussion on topics like Trends and challenges in Global Communication by MNEs, Importance of Innovation in Economic Downturn, Opportunities and Challenges in Cross border M&A & Opportunities for International Trade & Investments in Rwanda.

· The first session of panel discussions were done by IBS, IT and Human Equations Committee.

Ø IT committee had invited Mr. Rajiv Vaishnav (VP NASSCOM) and Mr. Himanshu Goyal (Country Manager - IBM Collaboration Solutions) for throwing their light on topics like Technological Trends for Tomorrow and IT Challenges in Economic Downturn.

Ø Human Equations had invited Mr. Satish Mahapatra (Siemens Ltd), Mr. Colin Mendes (Tata Group), Miss Varda Pendse (Cerebrus Consultants), Mrs. Sudha Jayasankar (AIA) and Mr. Devdatta Mahajan (Renoir) to enlighten the students on Innovative Trends in Compensation.

· The Second session had dignitaries invited by E Cell and Enactus-SSC to share their experiences with the students.

Ø E Cell organised a panel discussion on Changing trends and Entrepreneurial opportunities in the Hospitality Industry. They invited Ms. Rupali Samat (Founder - Choco Le), Mr. Chinmay Divekar (Director, Nature Trails Resorts Pvt. Ltd.), Ms. Roop Betala (Managing Director: Lexington Park Group), Mr. Vikrant Holkar (Owner - Vinsura Wines), Mr. ShriRang Tambe (MD - Ourea Capital Advisors), Mr. Kalpesh Khivasara (GM Sales & Supply chain - InI Farms Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. Harpal Singh Sokhi (Celebrity Chef & Founder - Turban Tadka) and Mr. Sushant Patil (VP Operations - Khana Khazana)

Ø Enactus invited dignitaries Mr. Murali G (CIO of Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance), Mr. Pradeep Talpade (Ex CEO, L&T charitable trust) and Mr. Kaushal Mehta (Director, Protoninfosolutions Ltd) to explain and share their opinion on The Impact on CSR during Economic Slowdown.

The Alpha Manager - Last Man Standing - 15th Feb 2014

The PR committee organized a complete management event called The Alpha Manager - Last Man Standing. It was the ultimate business challenge which tested the participants on various parameters in different areas ranging from Crisis Management, Business Acumen, PR skills and many more.  This event was made to challenge and hunt the best mind in the field of management.  It was a battle of wits, communication, negotiation & persuasion.

The event was divided into three rounds. The first two rounds were eliminating rounds and were conducted online. The last and final round was held on campus on 15th Feb 2014. The final round itself consisted of five highly grilling sub-rounds which tested the management students at each and every point of the different management aspects like Marketing, Finance, Operations, HR, Public Relations, etc.

SPRIHA- 24th September, 2014

On 7th September 2014, the students of KJ SIMSR witnessed Spriha 2014, a joint initiative by SPRIHA committee and Public Relations Committee of SIMSR. This event was first time launched over a pan-India basis and entries from all over India were received. After thorough evaluation by the esteemed jury, six entries were selected for the finals of Intercollegiate Spriha - 2014. The entries were from prestigious colleges such as IIM Trichy, NITIE Mumbai, TISS Mumbai, GIM Goa, VJTI Mumbai and KJ SIMSR Mumbai. The six finalists competed against each other for the coveted title of the Winner of Spriha 2014.

The panelists comprised of eminent dignitaries from the corporate world. The judges for the event were:

Mr. Rajiv Wadhwa - Brand Services Partner with Leo Burnett,

Ms. Bhakti Prasad - Associated with AFCONS Infrastructure Ltd. managing the HR, Development & Administration functions,

Mr. Anand Ramaswamy, an alumnus of SIMSR, 1997 batch, currently working with ICICI, and

Mr. Sanjeev Dixit, Chief People Officer at Allied Blenders & Distillers Pvt Ltd.

The event was a grand success. The presentations were lucid and very well-researched. The presentations were followed by the Q & A round wherein the judges tested the participants on various parameters. The judges had a tough time in deciding the winner.

After exhaustive discussion, the winner declared was Gauri V Paranjpe from SIMSR. The second spot was bagged by Amjad Ali from NITIE. The winner got Spriha - 2014 trophy and prizes worth Rs. 25000. The runner-up got prizes worth Rs. 15000.

Horizon - November and April Issue

Horizon is the official bi-annual magazine of SIMSR. The Public Relations Committee is entirely responsible for bringing forth this magazine. It vividly portrays all the happenings of SIMSR. The articles encompasses events under various exclusive and non-exclusive committees, updates on the achievements by faculty, staff and students, visits of esteemed dignitaries to the campus etc. Horizon is like a panoramic view of SIMSR.

Jithin 

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                             Quantinuum at a Glance

Quantinuum is the quants forum of SIMSR formed primarily to connect students to the significance of numbers in our day-to-day life. The influence of numbers is deep rooted in the career of a management graduate and it is necessary for all of us to understand its significance. An extensive acquaintance with numbers aids in quantitative and qualitative decisions.

Vision

To be a forum that would address various issues which arise in quantitative applications in the core management streams of Marketing, Finance, Operations and Human Resources.

Mission

To actively engage the students of SIMSR for the purpose of sharing of quantitative knowledge and to make them aware of its applications in their respective fields.

What we add to SIMSR?

Quantinuum is a conclave which addresses the need of one's love for numbers and provides inputs and opportunities to challenge our current understanding of numbers and quantitative techniques. The forum not only emphasizes core quants but also its effective application in managerial decisions as well as in all walks of life. It is a place where students get hands-on experience of solving mathematical problems that handle data and complex real life situations.

Venkat

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ACUMEN is the official Quizzing and Debating committee of SIMSR...A short glimpse of the activities done by ACUMEN this year..!!!

FUNDA"mentals

The first quiz of the season: "FUNDA"mentals was held on 6th August by ACUMEN,The quizzing & debating society of SIMSR.

The students were very enthusiastic & excited to test their knowledge & thus turned in huge numbers for the event. It started with a preliminary round where 20 Questions were displayed & students had to answer them individually. The questions were from a wide variety of topics, covering everything from business to sports to advertisements.

Two highest scorers from each class represented their class in the finals. The finalists gave each other a really tough competition. The different pattern of rounds like connecting different images to find a common link, & finding the answer with the help of different clues made each round very interesting. Finally after a lot of brainstorming Varun Ratnakaran & Ashay Pahadia from RM came out as clear winners.

All the participants had a good experience on being exposed to such a vast array of questions. Winners & runners ups were awarded with a trophy, certificates & prizes.

ACUMEN hopes to conduct more of such events in future & will try to involve even greater participation from students...!!!

MANTHAN-"The Churning of Ideas"

    The rage for public debate now shelves itself in all quarters of corporate world. On 27th August, 2014 ACUMEN-The Quizzing and Debating Society of SIMSR, offered the students a valuable opportunity to participate in MANTHAN, its first debate competition .The students displayed their art of persuasion to the fullest. The event received overwhelming response for its online prelims round followed by 8 teams carving their way out for the main event.

  The teams were evaluated on the basis of 3 rounds by our judges, Prof Deepika Atawar and Prof Pramod Shetty. Ankit Redkar and Ashish Dangra from MMS first year gave a tough fight to all the finalists and were declared as winners. Mohit Juneja and Krishna Thakkar were declared as runners up for the event.

QuizWiz-2014

After two events at SIMSR, this time Acumen was all set to take it to the next stage. The result was QuizWiz-2014, a general quiz for the entire Somaiya Vidyavihar Campus. It was organized as a part of the Founders Week celebrations meaning that all colleges of Somaiya would get a taste of Acumen quizzing. 

In the preliminary round, about 175 quizzing enthusiasts from various colleges like Somaiya Polytechnic, Arts and Science College, Engineering and our very own SIMSR engaged in a battle of wits. Prelims were conducted in a very novel way with 26 questions whose answers started with A-Z. This way of giving a subtle clue was extremely well received by all the teams and led to much excitement among them. Due credit must be given to Quizmasters Harsh Jha and Bhaskar Kumar for thoroughly engaging the participants with not only brilliant questions but also humor and banter.

Six teams, three from SIMSR and one each from Arts & Science, Engineering and Polytechnic were the chosen finalists ready to battle it out for the final glory. The event had 6 Rounds of intense quizzing including a Lateral Connect and an Audio Visual round handled with aplomb by quizmasters Joel George and Ridhi Gupta. There were "moments" of extreme anxiety, excitement and even a small brawl and exchange of words among participants that added much mirch masala to the Grand Finale!! But the highlight of the show were the last two rounds "Pick you Poison" and the "Rapid Fire" which completely altered the course of the Quiz, ensuring a tantalizing end.

Finally after a closely fought battle, Team Invincibles the duo of Monysh Bandeally and Saurabh Prasannaraj from K J Somaiya Institute of Management kept their cool and striking the "hammer" at the right moment emerged as the Champions of QuizWiz 2014 while two other teams from SIMSR (Leneil Gomes and Kshitij Gore; Satyajit Gahana and Binit Sinha) emerged as the first and second runners up!

The audience too had its share of fun with audience questions, picking up goodies along the way with a couple of faculty tickling their grey cells too.

To sum up, the event was a resounding success that cemented the quizzing culture across Somaiya paving the way for many such events in the future.

HeadRush

Acumen kicked off the new trimester with HeadRush, a general quiz with Anurag Yelkur donning the quizmaster's hat.   His questions are always crackable and the number of "aha" moments just keeps on increasing as the quiz goes along.

This time too there was amazing participation from SIMSR with as many as 60 teams turning up for the prelims event. The prelims round format was a spin-off to the well-received format that Acumen had tried out in Quiz Wiz. After 35 brilliant questions, 6 teams were selected with many teams missing the cut with a single point.

The finalists were an equal measure of juniors and seniors and it set up for a crackling contest. The finals introduced many new and exciting formats of quizzing like Pounce and Infinite Bounce which had all the participants literally in the edge of their seats. Finally after many intense rounds of quizzing, Bhaskar Kumar and Aakanksha Vats emerged as the winners while Satyajit Gahana and Binit Sinha were the runners up.

This was Anurag Yelkur's second quiz and as promised was even better than his quiz last year. This certainly proved to be an event every quizzing enthusiast would cherish.

Jithin

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Reports on the Events by Pathfinder I & E-Cell in Academic year 2014-15 till 30th November, 2014

I. Ennovate - B-Plan Workshop on Opportunity Evaluation

Pathfinder Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell began the academic year 2014-15 with a B-Plan workshop which was conducted by Dr. Prema Basargekar on 31st July, 2014. The event attracted students from all the courses of SIMSR with around 100 attendees. Entrepreneurship was being told as the conversion of an opportunity to an idea. The workshop was really helpful to understand and recognize the gap between any two processes, things, segments, products etc and how to overcome it. It also informed about the 7 Domain Model that included attractiveness of market, competitiveness, employee base, contingency plan etc. The speaker also gave us insight about the nine building blocks to start a venture. The building blocks are customer segment, value proposition, channels, customer relationship, revenue structure, key resources, key activities, key partnership and cost structure. She also touched upon how the overview of the B-Plan should look like. The B-plan should include executive summary, company overview, market analysis, marketing & sales strategies, operations, management structure, financial plan, critical risk cover, harvest strategy or exit plan, milestone and appendix. This information was extremely useful for the students who wish to come up with a business of their own. Last but not the least, she stated, "E-Cell, do not care about the future because they believe in making the way they want" Students loved these encouraging words and the workshop concluded on a positive note.

II. TEDxGateway Campus Connect @ SIMSR

The much awaited TEDxGateway event finally happened. This event was organized by SIMSR in association with Pathfinder Innovation & Entrepreneurship-Cell. The event was initialized by Prof. Radha Iyer who informed what a TED talk is and the crowd was explained what the difference between "TED" and "TEDx" is and by the introduction of the TED Speaker, who is also the SIMSR alumni, Anand Damani.

Anand Damani is of the batch 2000 of SIMSR. He is currently working in behavioral science and is famous for his BLEEP device. His TEDx Talk which happened last year was screened and the students enjoyed it. It was then followed by the interactive Question and Answer session and students responded him enthusiastically. He also invited students at SIMSR to present their own idea and he will assist them in achieving it. At the end, being a SIMSR student and showing an urge to serve his institute, he declared to provide internship to some of our students.

The next speaker of the evening was Cynthia Koenig. Cynthia is an entrepreneur whose career focuses on incubating mission-based businesses designed to alleviate poverty in the developing world. Her video of her TEDx Talk which happened two years ago was played and students loved the idea of her social venture - Wello. It was then followed by an interactive Question and Answer session and which made students realize how even simple ideas can be so creative.

The students enjoyed and learned from the experiences of both the speakers and the event was concluded by penning down the ideas for new causes - A Better Country, A Better City and Women Empowerment.

III. Entrepreneurship & Business Plan Workshop by Nurture Talent Academy in association with IIM-A

Pathfinder I & E-Cell organized an Entrepreneurship and B-Plan workshop on 12th October 2014 from 10 am - 5 pm. 'Nurture Talent' conducted it in association with Confluence IIM-A, as it is a necessity for every budding entrepreneur to understand the importance of Business Plan. The workshop was open for all colleges in Mumbai, as SIMSR was hosting the Zonal City workshop for Mumbai region. We had attendees coming in from other colleges in Mumbai like VJTI, Welingkar and more. The full day workshop enlightened and motivated the budding entrepreneurs.

The founder of 'Nurture Talent', Mr. Amit Grover himself conducted the workshop in a very subtle manner where he kept the audience engaged and amaze throughout the event by introducing the different ways an entrepreneur can grow without spending any money. His session on using Social media especially enriched all the attendees as he opened whole new world of www, which could be used to our advantage for free.

The session by Mr. Neeraj Gutgutia, Chief Financial Officer of H-Energy group of Companies addressed the workshop in a much-focused way. He discussed the investor's perspective for the entrepreneurs, which made the gathering of budding entrepreneurs to realize the need of being focused and concentrated on one idea to make a profit out of it.

Both the speakers were delight to interact with, as they were very friendly with the attendees and shared their experiences to the maximum. The workshop made a huge difference to all the attendees, as the ones that were running their own ventures already, could get some simple professional solutions for their problems. SIMSR has been awarded with a Certificate of Appreciation for hosting Zonal Workshop organized by Nurture Talent in association with Confluence IIM A. All in all it was a great experience for the attendees and vice versa.

IV. Simulcast of TEDxGateway: Asia's largest TEDx Event

TEDxGateway happened on 2nd November, 2014 at NCPA, Mumbai and K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research had the opportunity to have it's live simulcast in association with Pathfinder Innovation & Entrepreneurship Cell. TEDxGateway is oriented at developing a community of highly informed and engaged innovators, designers, thinkers, technologists and environmentally and socially concerned individuals in India's biggest metro - Mumbai. Students from various courses and colleges of Mumbai had the chance to see the event live at our institute. TEDxGateway's community is multi-disciplinary - their Delegates represent every field from A (architects) to Z (zoologists). This breath taking range of experiences and perspectives provide the richest possible landscape for creative collisions. Each conversation with a new person could reveal new trends, treatments and technologies - or spark them. There were speakers like Hemani Kalucha, Sonam Kalra, Luis Von Ahn, Zenia Tata, Vijay Kumar, Cynthia Koenig and many more. It was a great opportunity to listen to all these wonderful speakers and inspire ourselves from their experiences. It was a very good learning for each and every one who attended the simulcast.

V. Y2B Talk by AIESEC

SIMSR had the opportunity to witness Youth to Business Talk by AIESEC on 4th November, 2014. It was organized by Pathfinder Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell.

Young entrepreneurs were invited to share their thoughts and journey so far. The session witnessed two speakers who inculcated the entrepreneurial mindset among the attendees. The talk had the attendees close to 100.

Mr. Vaibhav Chabbra, Co-founder Maker's Asylum started the session by sharing his experience. He explained the Maker culture of creative thinking and transforming ideas into reality. He also discussed the importance of providing artists, engineers, musicians, doctors, architects and hobbyists with the tools and technology in a physical space which collaborates and fuels the spark of Innovation among them.

The second speaker was Mr. Angad Nandkarni, founder Examify.com. A young enthusiastic entrepreneur undergoing his graduation has done a lot to make his presence felt in the market. He shared ten golden rules that one should follow if they are planning to become an entrepreneur. He is currently pursuing his graduation degree in Computer Science from BITS Pilani. He encouraged and motivated all the attendees to take a step ahead in transforming yourself in an entrepreneur.

Overall it was an interactive session where attendees learned and understood the importance of Entrepreneurship in life and were glad to know new techniques of becoming an entrepreneur. It was a great learning experience for all.

VI. Eye-Dea'14

Pathfinder Innovation & Entrepreneurship Cell had organized a pan India B-Plan competition, Eye-Dea'14 in association with Clinique Gorgeous.

The theme for this year's event was Health and Wellness. The first prize was for Rupees Fifteen thousand, the second for Rupees ten thousand and third for Rupees Four Thousand.

The event received a total of 40 registrations from institutes viz, SIBM, XIMB, IITs and SIMSR amongst others. The teams were asked to send the Executive summary of their B-plans for the first round. In all twenty teams were shortlisted for the second round and the teams were asked to send the comprehensive B-plans. The two stage evaluation process was conducted by the SIMSR faculty and after rigorous evaluation; six teams were shortlisted for the final round. The finalists were from SIMSR, XIMB and IIT Madras.

To ensure national participation, shortlisted teams were allowed to present via skype. In all five teams were presented physically and one presented via Skype to an elite panel of entrepreneurs and angel investors. The finale was conducted on 6th November, 2014 at SIMSR.

1. Mr. Abhijeet Kumar, Co-Founder: ah! Ventures, Angel Investment Club

2. Mr. Neeraj Gutgutia, CFO: H-Energy, Upcoming Incubator

3. Mr. Bharat Banka, CEO: Aditya Birla Private Equity

4. Mr. Sanjay Mehta, Founder: MAIA Intelligence, Angel Investor

Mr. Saurabh Garg, Director: The Four Fountains Spa, Entrepreneur. The audience took the advantage of the opportunity and witnessed the chance to listen to some of the brilliant business plans in the Health and Wellness sector. The session also added value in terms of knowledge and innovation from different B-plans. Finally Terrific Trio of SIMSR bagged the first prize followed by Critical Thinkers of IIT Madras and the event was concluded with feedback from the panelists on the importance of thinking of an Eye-Dea and then taking it ahead and implementing it in a near future. They also motivated the audience by sharing their journey which definitely inculcated entrepreneurial mindset amongst the audience. Such business ideas convert into opportunities and change into revenue of millions of USD; so keep thinking, keep observing and start implementing it.

Jithin

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Samavesh 2014

Samavesh is an annual panel discussion event conducted in K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research where industry experts come and give insights about a topic. This year Enactus Somaiya Social Cell had the opportunity to listen to 6 eminent industry experts on the Topic: CSR in Evolving India. Speakers were Dr. Kumar Iyer, Associate VP, JSW, Ms. Meera Tenguira, Founder & CEO, Aarohan Communications, Ms. Shoumashree Dey, CSR at Welspun Ltd, Mr. Moloy Chakraborthy, CEO, Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, Mr. Pradeep Talpade, Ex CEO, L&T, Mr.Ameya Dabli, CEO, Swades Foundation.

The discussion of few hours gave all the students a bright idea of what exactly CSR is and how import it is in any organisation. It also gave an overview of the career opportunities in CSR. Overall it was a great platform to learn and know about the current industry norms in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Jithin

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Christmas Fiesta 2014

The festive season was ushered in with the SecretSanta phenomenon. Each student was appointed the Secret Santa of another student of the same course and the Secret Santa had to bestow a gift, keeping in tandem with the Santa Claus tradition in Christmas. All of us received  amazing gifts from our respective Secret Santas, which only helped in spreading Christmas cheer all around.

The Christmassy feel of carefree happiness was enhanced further with the Christmas Fiesta night at the amphitheatre, organized by the Student Activity Forum. All the students, while getting a well-deserved break during the Placement season, also got to experience the true significance of Christmas- being the messenger of happiness and infecting everyone around us with the joy that we ourselves relish. Dancing to the beats and swaying our bodies to the rhythm being played by the DJ, there was party on everyone's minds.

It was indeed a night of fun and frolic, a night to cherish. Still living the fond memories of Christmas, I wish each and every one a very Happy and prosperous New Year in advance. May all our desires be fulfilled and may the new year fill us with renewed vigour to achieve our dreams.

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Samavesh 2014

A series of Panel Discussion and deliberations by the brightest minds in industry

SAMAVESH is the absorption, incorporation and assimilation of thoughts and ideas by dignitaries and sought-after individuals. Samavesh, started in 2003, is an annual event of SIMSR, conceptualized with the one point agenda of "Building Minds for Greater Times" - from insights by the experienced Industry Stalwarts and the Aspiring Managers of tomorrow.

International Business Session:

On 13th December 2014, the SIMSR annual event - 'Samavesh' began with the International Business Session organized by International Business Society at SIMSR. The event had got on board some of the best industry veterans to share their experiences and insights with the students. The speakers were Shri V Somasekhar, VP- Treasury and Forex, Axis Bank Ltd, Shri Ashok Dhar, President - Industrial Marketing - Reliance Industries Ltd, Shri Durgesh Buxy, Senior Manager - Exports, Raymond Ltd and Shri Anuj Bhargava, CEO - AB Associates.

The first speaker, Shri V Somasekhar spoke about the Emerging Trends in International Trade Finance. He threw some light on expected EXIM policy, 'External Commercial Borrowings' and the associated risks.

Next, the presentation on Cross Border Alliances, Mergers & Acquisitions by Shri Ashok Dhar broadly covered the motives, types, processes, challenges and risks of Mergers and Acquisitions.

Shri Durgesh Buxy through his experience at Raymond depicted the challenges of 'Taking Brand India abroad'. He highlighted how the successful 'Made to Measure' concept of Raymond helped it to enter even prestigious markets like Dubai.

The final speaker, Shri Anuj Bhargava adopted a unique approach. He narrated his anecdotal experience as the Country Manager in Belgium for TCS to highlight the role of a Country Manager. He also shared his contrasting cultural experience in South Africa.

Somaiya Social Cell Session:

Enactus Somaiya Social Cell had 6 eminent industry experts on the Topic: CSR in Evolving India. Speakers were Dr. Kumar Iyer, Associate VP, JSW, Ms. Meera Tenguira, Founder & CEO, Aarohan Communications, Ms. Shoumashree Dey, CSR at Welspun Ltd, Mr. Moloy Chakraborthy, CEO, Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, Mr. Pradeep Talpade, Ex CEO, L&T, Mr.Ameya Dabli, CEO, Swades Foundation.

The discussion of few hours gave all the students a bright idea of what exactly CSR is and how import it is in any organisation. It also gave an overview of the career opportunities in CSR. Overall it was a great platform to learn and know about the current industry norms in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility

Humanist Session :

Topic of the discussion was 'Make in India - Evolving HR in Emerging India'. Given the popularity and doubts about the effects of the ongoing 'Make in India' campaign the students flocked the auditorium to hear the experts speak and to get their questions answered by the esteemed panelist.

The event started with welcoming the panelists and with a short introduction of Samavesh. A brief introduction about the panelists helped the students know the expertise of the panelists and get ready with the questions.

The panel discussion began with each of the panelists sharing his/her views on the topic of the discussion.

Ms. Renu Mukherjee opened the discussion with sharing her experience in the HR domain. She talked about the industry forecast of jobs that would be created due to the Make in India initiative. At the same time she also highlighted the issue of qualified vs skilled workforce in India. She drew attention toward the reinvestment of the company profits in Talent and Skills development. According to her while 60% of the population is ready to contribute towards GDP, only 25% are actually suitable for market. Ms. Renu also talked about 'Talent Supply Chain' a new term buzzing in the Talent Management Area. She also expressed the need to update the content and delivery of the academics to map with that required by the industry. To the existing concerns she guided the students to be aware of their own job expectations and the requirements of the industry for a given job profile and to be focused and dedicated in building one's profile.

While Ms. Renu Mukherjee shared her thoughts on the Talent Demand and Supply, Mr. Biplob Banerjee shared his experiences of hiring talent over the years. He pointed out the 4 crucial things lacking in today's talent force - Curiosity to learn new things, Insight - having opinions and new ideas about the available information, Engagement - Usage of emotion and logic and finally Determinationto deal with stressful situations. Mr. Banerjee also highlighted the difference between High Performance and High Potential, which many fail to identify and expressed that high performance need not guarantee high potential and training is required for every job profile. Finally he discussed on Learning Agility and the verticals under it - People Agility, Change Agility, Result Agility and Mental Agility.

Mr. Arun Vishwanath took the discussion forward on suggesting a 6 step process to efficiently harness the talent supply chain - Plan the hiring process, Hire Right People, Develop the acquired people,Monitor their Performance, Energize and engage them with various initiatives, Plan for Succession. He also discussed the Tata Motors Leadership strategy and shared his insights about the same. The importance of People, Results and Business Strategy in an organization was revisited. He explained the Tata Motors Model, which is built around 4E's Employment, Education, Entrepreneurship and Employability, explaining the needs and the required steps to be taken for the same.

Mr. Anand Desai had a different perspective altogether to share. He talked about Frictional Unemployment and the herd mentality among the youth. He expressed the need of Focus and dedication among the youth. He briefed the crowd about his Social venture 'Dheya' and shared his experiences running the venture in various parts of the country. He threw light on the demands and the thought process of the rural youth, the existing concerns about their employability and the growing skill gap. Mr. Desai's views revolved around Employability and how the 'Make in India' should be rightly channelized in employing the rural youth.

Later the panelists also discussed around topics like Role Centering and Role Entering, Bell Curve concern among the HRs and expressed the need for the candidates to be Innovative, Questioning the norms, gather as much Knowledge, and have Business and Communication acumen.

In all, the panel discussion was a success and admired by students, faculty and the panelists alike!

E-Cell Session :

Pathfinder Innovation and Entrepreneur Cell invited a panel of five members including a moderator who shared the stage to discuss the topic - 'Make in India - Entrepreneurship Opportunities in Entertainment Industry'. The discussion highlighted multi-dimensionality of the topic. The event took place on 13th December 2014 in the Red Auditorium where the panel witnessed audience of more than hundred and fifty.

Five enthusiastic entrepreneurs from the entertainment industry were invited to share their thoughts and ideas about the entertainment industry. The invited guests were as follows:

1. Vaibhav Modi, CEO and Director, Bolt Media Ltd.

2. Satish Kataria, Managing Director, Starting Blocks Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

3. Harikrishnan Pillai, Founder, The Small Big Idea

4. Lavin Mirchandani, Founder, Mirc Media

5. Abhigyan Jha, Founder and CEO, Undercover Productions Ltd.

Mr. Lavin Mirchandani was the moderator of the event. The panelists shared how they started their career in this industry and also their experiences. They discussed various opportunities, challenges, future and growth of the entertainment industry. Audience came across various new concepts and technologies used in this industry. They participated actively during the discussion and made the session interactive. Many queries were raised regarding the plagiarism of the ideas, crowd funding, and fiscal issues etc that were resolved by the panelists. Not only the audience, but also the panelists got an opportunity to see the industry from perspectives of their colleagues. The event ended on a positive note where students realized the numerous entrepreneurship opportunities in the entertainment industry and hope to build their careers in the same.

Jithin

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The Post Graduate Diploma (Financial services) is two year full time program approved by AICTE Delhi was started by K.J.Somaiya Institute of Management studies and Research, Mumbai from the academic year 2011.

This program offers a unique integration of management concepts in financial markets and techniques followed for market analysis and practices as well as policy formulation. The overall objective of the program is to prepare and enhance the knowledge of the participants in the domestic as well as global Financial Services which enable them to understand the market complexity and take effective decisions.

This program proposes to facilitate the expansion of knowledge horizon through learning basic and modern concepts, techniques and best practices in the area of financial markets and services along with a close synergy with other business functions which is prerequisite for an overall development.

Students who wish to make their career in financial sector like banking, insurance, capital market, credit rating agencies, housing finance companies, investment banking, leasing, financial planning and other financial services prefer this program.The focus here is on finance area right from first year of the program. In other programs specializing finance, first year is consisting of general subjects on management and specialization starts with second year.

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PGDM (Retail Management) -Two Years FULL Time AICTE Approved and AIU endorsed Post Graduate Programme.

1. To whom your Programme is meant for? Alternatively, what kind of traits do you expect the aspirants to be ideally possessing?

People who want to make a profession in the front end of marketing ie  retailing of products and services should aspire to take up the Retail Management program. Aspirants who wish to join the growing retail business should have a detail oriented focus on working as also a strong positive service attitude to serve the customers. Besides these traits, good man management skills would be an added asset. The PGDM (RM) course is structured for those joining aspiring to join the nascent but fast-growing retail management Industry. Graduates from BMS/BMM/BFA/BBI/Economics/Commerce as well as engineers are eligible to enroll for this course. Orientation towards numbers and key focus on detailed driven work would be traits  beneficial for the candidate to make a good success in the Retail Industry.

2. Indicative career opportunities to students who would successfully complete the Programme (sectors/ job title/ prospects down the line)

Participants having completed the retail management course from Somaiya have found well  placed  in store operations management, CRM function, logistics and supply chain, brand and private label management in retail  chains, modern trade divisions of large multinational companies, banks, and retailing of services. Eg insurance products, financial services, managing retail chains such as Enrich, Kaya, Wellness Forever, Apollo Pharma.etc. SIMSR students have been placed in companies such as Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, Landmark Group( UAE), Reliance Retail, Tata Croma, etc.

Profile of Jobs: Front end

· Counter Selling

· Shopper Experience Management

· Visual Merchandising and Designing

· Store Operations  Management

· Category Management

· Store Promotion Management

· Store Brand Management

· Private Label Management

Back end jobs

· Logistics

· CRM/eCRM

· E-Retailing

· Retail Analytics

Globally retail management specialists will find good opportunities with experience and specially for the high performing professional global MNC's and large retailing businesses would be a great opportunity to work for such as the Landmark Group in the middle east, Carrefour, Tesco , Marks & Spencer's, Walmart, Metro Cash & Carry.etc

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PGDM Communication (Two Year Full Time AICTE Approved Post Graduate Programme)

1. To whom your Programme is meant for? Alternatively, what kind of traits do you expect the aspirants to be ideally possessing?

The PG Communication Programme is structured  for  individuals who aspire a career in the area of brand creation and management. The course is developed keeping in the mind the ever-changing trends in media and advertising. Niche subjects like Celebrity and Sports Marketing, Communication Analytics and Media Planning and Buying, Analysis of Creative, Digital Marketing (Stage I and Stage II) are well integrated into  the course to ensure development of a business professional in the Advertising  and Communication sector. Aspirants applying for this particular course must possess passion and love for advertising, orientation towards numbers, skill to analyze ads, creative mindset and a learning attitude. Conceptual and strategic thinking with a compelling service attitude will be highly desirable.

2. Indicative career opportunities to students who would successfully complete the Programme (sectors/ job title/ prospects down the line)?

On completion of the 2 year PGDM Communication Programme the candidate can widen his horizon of jobs and opportunities in various fields like Account Planning, Account Management, Media Planning and Buying, Data Analytics, Rural Marketing and Communications, Digital Analytics, In-film product Placements, Celebrity and Sports Marketing, etc. Graduates from BMM/BMS/BCOM/Psychology/Economics/ Commerce/ Engineering etc can enroll for this course to enhance their knowledge and skillset for an aspiration professional career in Advertising and Communications.

Job Titles

· Media Planning and Buying jobs in Media Houses

· Jobs in Advertising Agencies for roles like account planning, digital planning, account management

· Research companies

· PR agencies

· Event Management Firms

· Brand Activation and Affinity Programs

· Corporate Communication jobs in large companies

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Hello Puys, 

We are pleased to announce that NSE has signed a MOU with SIMSR to launch a Post Graduate Program in the field of Financial Economics.


http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/nse-ties-up-with-somaiya-institute-for-postgrad...

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CII Yi SIMSR Net as part of their flagship event Resolution conducted a one of a kind event named 'One Day PM'. The journey started with 91 teams from premier management institutes all over India taking part in an online general awareness quiz. The top 40 teams after the first round were required to submit their mock-party's development agenda and communication strategy as a short writeup for the second round of screening. Based on their submission, the best 6 teams were selected. There were teams from Welingkar, NMIMS, SJMSOM-IIT B, IRMA and two from SIMSR. The finalists met at the KJSIMSR campus on 21st December, 2014 to battle it out for the crown. The first round was the Cabinet Meet where the teams were given a topic, based on the write-up they had submitted, and one person from the team had to give an extempore speech for two minutes after discussion with teammate, whcih was followed by a brief Q&A session from theother participating teams as well as from the audience. The final round was 'Parliament' which was a debate round- a series of 3 debates, two teams at a time. The topics were decided by the honourable judge, Prof. (Dr.) Shaila Srivastava, Chairperson of the Centre of Excellence in Economic Ploicy Analysis and Research, SIMSR. The teams put in their best efforts and proved their mettle in the right competitive spirit. The cumulative scores of the two rounds were considered to arrive at the final scores and Mohit Juneja from SIMSR was crowned the One Day PM, 2014. The team from NMIMS- Honey Garg and Manish Porwal came second. Overall, it was very well conducted event and was well appreciated by the participating teams and the audience. We look forward to making this event even bigger in the coming years.

Saptarshi Das

PGDM MC(2014-16)

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COMSTRAT 2014

COMSTRAT 2014 was the 19th edition of the prestigious National B_School Communication Strategy competition organized by FCB Ulka,_ India's 3rd largest marketing communication group (part of Inter public group worldwide) and partnered by SIMSR.

This year the contestants had to devise a communication strategy that details the way forward for Airtel to drive usage of mobile Internet in the most effective manner to achieve its objective of increasing the reach both in terms of existing and new consumer base. The primary objective of the task was to identify the right audience and the key challenges for the adoption of mobile Internet through the lens of a customer. The analysis was to be followed by the development of a feasible strategy to project the image of Airtel as the preferred mobile internet provider and its consequent adoption.

The competition was tough as the top 6 finalists comprised of teams from premier MBA institutes in India- IIM_ Indore,SOM_IITKharagpur, JBIMS, SIMC_Pune, MICA_Ahmedabad, SIMSR. The final presentations were held at K.J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research on 20th December'14.

The event was presided over by Director Dr. Ailawadi and Prof Isaac Jacob. The judges included Mr. DorabSopariwala, the Founding Managing Director of MARG, one of the most prestigious market research companies in the country and Mr. Vidyadhar Wabgaonkar, Sr. Vice President_ Strategic Planning, Interface Communications.

There were online and offline pre buzz events conducted for promoting COMSTRAT on campus. The events included Buddy connect, #HarEkFriendZarooriHotaHai, Airtel Jingle contest.The winners of the buzz events were felicitated on the D_-Day of the event by the esteemed guests.

The winners of COMSTRAT'14 were the team from K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research who completed a hat_trick, winning the event 3 years in a row. The 1st Runner_up was the team from VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur and the 2nd Runner_up was the team from JBIMS.

The event concluded with a note from the judges who spoke about the quality of the presentations and the implications of the strategies in the real life scenario. It was a very good experience for students who not only got an opportunity to witness quality presentations but also learn from industry stalwarts.

Saptarshi Das

PGDM MC(2014-16)

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Please find the message from Dr.Satish C Ailawadi, honorable director of KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research.


http://youtu.be/zzQ5Zmjocts

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Entrepreneur Expo'14

Pathfinder Innovation & Entrepreneurship Cell organized a two-day event named Entrepreneur Expo'14 that took place on 8th and 9th of December 2014. It was a platform where ten entrepreneurs from various sectors were given an opportunity to present themselves to more than four hundred MBA students, providing a perfect opportunity to the entrepreneurs as well as students to interact. The objective of Entrepreneur Expo'14 was to provide a chance to such wavering young minds to wet their feet through concurrent projects and internship opportunities.

8th of December, 2014 was marked by the following companies:

1. Gozoop: It is an industry leading Internet Marketing Agency which offers professional consultation and management services across multiple areas of online marketing.

2. Edubridge: It is an organisation started by a group of IIM alumni and professors in October 2009 based in Mumbai. It has been setup with the vision of fulfilling the skill gap that exists currently between the youth in semi-urban and rural areas and the skill requirement of the corporates.

3. Testbook:It is an EdTech company - founded by IIT graduates - committed to provide the best online learning experience. It brings one stop personalized learning experience to students globally through its innovative technology and content.

4. uFaber: An Edutech online marketplace, lists courses on professional skill-development, hobbies, crafts, academics as well as vocational courses for students to build on their skills through online courses.

5. Shop4Prop: It is a real estate firm based in Mumbai.

9th of December, 2014 was marked by another 5 Companies:

1. Snackbar: It is a Student initiative planning to open a canteen in K.J.Somaiya, Vidyavihar campus.

2. Paintcollar: It is India's finest marketplace for inspired artists. They offer artists, the opportunity to reach out to thousands of people by transforming their art into trendy merchandise products and earn by selling them online.

3. Windchimes: It is a social media agency that specializes in helping brands use social media to engage with their consumers effectively and create awareness on online platforms.

4. TripKitchen: It offers last minute prices on air deals, hotels deals, transfer deals, package deals, sightseeing deals and travel deals.

5. UCID: Unconventional Crafts and Ideas is the newest advertising and communications outfit in Mumbai. They are a team of advertising and marketing professionals who believe in tapping opportunities that don't seem so obvious.

Entrepreneur Expo'14 made a huge difference to all the students as well as to the entrepreneurs who participated in the event, as they could get students for their interesting projects and students could get a good learning experience with those projects.

Saptarshi Das

PGDM MC(2014-16)