Magazine of Business SchoolKCT I March 2016

P3 P7 P11 P16Business NOT as usual:Ashoka- Housing For All

Seriously DifferentHelikx School

Sustainable Model of Development and Social ImpactBOOND

The Rising StarVillgro

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

YOU + + COMMUNITYIDEA

+ SOMESTART GOOD

= IMPACT

CONTENTS

3 Business NOT as usual:Ashoka- Housing For All

Seriously DifferentHelikx School

Sustainable Model of Development and Social ImpactBOOND

7

11

16 The Rising StarVillgro

18

20

22

Your Story:This Pune-based company is helping MSMEs meet their financial needs

Your Story:How this startup from Chennai is reducing school dropouts in Tamil Nadu

Campus News

Vishnu SwaminathanSouth Asia Leader, Ashoka Innovators for the Public.

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Vishnu Swaminathan ispresently the South AsiaL e a d e r f o r A s h o k aInnovators for the Public.He leads Ashoka's work inthe region and is part of theLeadersh ip Group a tAshoka. He has spent thelast 6 years at Ashoka.

For the first 4 years he ledthe affordable housinginitiative under “Housing forA l l ” w h i c h a i m e d t odemonstrate that largesocial problems can besolved - if for-profits cometogether with non-profits ase q u a l p a r t n e r s a k a

“Hybrid Value Chains”. Hiswork led to change thel a n d s c a p e o f h o waffordable housing wasdone earlier by creatingover 15000 homes in ashort span of 2 yearsacross multiple cities.

V i s h n u h a s b e e n a nentrepreneur most of hislife. His first two for-profitventures were based out ofSingapore. He also servesas Founder Director ofIndian Housing Federationan entity focussed onAffordable Housing atscale in India

Looking all around us, the nature of business haschanged. You cannot conceptualise, run or scale upbusiness the way it used to be few decades ago.aEvery business today has to think about the effects ofits footprint on every stakeholder before evenlaunching itself. A mining company has to think aboutthe effects it would have on the environment andmake plans to replenish the resources - or a papercompany has to look at the ways it would procure itsraw material, trees. It is not only those with directimpact on the environment or its stakeholders, butthe time has also now come for every business tobeing socially aware from the very conceptualisation.

On the other side, making profits and then dedicatinga small percentage of its profits towards socialresponsibility is being enforced through the CSR law.Even though the CSR law does not qualifybusinesses on the ways to make that profit, it doesdrive people to think about how the money wasmade. If it's not just a thought, the people who willreceive the money will eventually ask the question. Abusiness cannot survive on dichotomy for long. If themoney was not made legitimately, it might not beaccepted by society even if it is given free to others forlong.

Prof. Muhammad Yunus, the founder of GrameenBank, gave seven core principles that define a socialbusiness. A social business focus onsingtransforming society than just on profits, can becomeeconomically and financially sustainable Investors.get only their investments back without dividends,any surplus gets invested back into expanding thebusiness, it is environmentally friendly and last butnot least, to do it with fun! When you look at theseprinciples and what is regular business, socialbusiness sounds counter-intuitive and the process is

to unlearn the way we were taught about business.Almost every aspect of social business contradictswith the way regular business is carried out. The mostimportant first step is to unlearn slowly but steadilylearn the process of building a business to thrive insocial business. I have tried to articulate the keysteps here below.

1. Picking the social problem that grows evenwith a lot of investment.

Identifying the core problem as the first step seemsnatural in every business. But, the key difference withsocial business is to look at the societal impact and toidentify the problem that is growing of a lot ofin spiteinvestment. For example, consider the issue ofmalnutrition. Almost one in every two children underthe age of five in India is malnourished. The data isavailable from World Health Organisation and theMinistry of Women and Child Development, India.We have seen enough advertisements on theimportance of malnutrition. In 2015, Government ofIndia allocated 2 lakh crore towards food andnutritional security. If one witnesses the trend, theproblem has grown along with the amount ofinvestment. When you look at the other side, we are aproud nation - because India is the only country in theworld, where nearly 60% of our population will beunder the age of 35 by 2020. That only means we willhave the most productive population for the nextdecade regarding age. When you compare these twostatistics, one amazing anomaly pops up.

What is the point of having so many young people ifnearly half of them are under-performing due tonutritional issues? It is pretty evident that if a child hasnutrition absorption issues, t is not going toidisappear when the child grows up to become an

Business NOT as usual:Making business sense by solving

the world's largest problems

3

adult. The problem of malnutrition is pretty broad - itstays with the human body much beyond the growthyears, all the way until death. Malnutrition is also oneof the leading causes of health problems that comeup. When nutrition does not get fully absorbed intothe body, one can imagine the effects of itmanifesting in various ways in the body.

So, as a social business - where does one start?What are the issues we need to gather beforedeciding the intervention? Will it be a profitablebusiness from the start? Who are the people weneed to look at as stakeholders? All of thesequestions have a different answer compared to aregular business and it must be rightfully so.

2. Impact first, Model next.

The issue at hand is so large, and one thing isobvious here has to be a business model. I am- Tparticularly focussed on the question - When? Whenyou are moved by a particular issue like this, wherethe problem is mighty - you have to unlearn first andthen start learning. In that process, we need to bedriven by a heart rather than only by the mind. Asocial business needs a soul and that soul getstypically manifested by a moving thought or a closepersonal experience. There are countless examplesof social entrepreneurs who start with no model, amodel that appears to be entirely charity based, orphilanthropy driven for a few years. But a businessmodel slowly emerges.

Anshu Gupta, an Ashoka fellow and founder ofGoonj was moved to a social problem. People weredying in the streets of Delhi during a cold winterwithout essential clothing. He started Goonj to collectcloth from the haves and pass it on to the have-nots.For the last ten years, he has received tonnes ofmaterial and repurposed to the people who do nothave them. At that time, a model did not exist. Collectfrom donors repurpose and distribute free through a,volunteer network. Later he realised that a lot of clothwas wasted when repurposing as he was cuttingcloth. That led to the creation of a model to makecloth sanitary napkins. Today, Goonj probablymakes the most number of cloth sanitary napkins in

India. Recently, cloth for work evolved where socialinfrastructure like roads or bridges that needed to befixed gets set by local people and they get paid bycloth.

Models evolve as a social entrepreneur movesthrough their work, but starting with just the modelfrom day one is never a good idea. Focus on theimpact the work can bring and the model comesaround naturally.

3. Find the most unusual partner

In regular business, it is evident that one needs toknow every stakeholder in the value chain very well,have a robust, tightly sealed business partnershipagreement with everyone so that they will deliver. Insocial business, we have to find the most unusualallies to solve your problems.

Affordable Housing in India is such a problem.Statistics shows that 24.6 million homes are missingin India for the urban poor. This number grows everyyear as migration to cities is increasing and thesupply is meagre with just a 100,000 new homes ayear. In my work in affordable housing for the last sixyears, we had an insight. In regular housingbusiness, the architects and builders come out withstandard 2–6 designs of the homes expecting thatthe customers will fit into one of those six designs like1BHK, 2BHK, etc. When designing homes for low-income urban poor, we cannot assume this. Thehomes are between 250–550 Sq ft and architectshave never designed such small homes. We made asample home in Ahmedabad city and broughtwomen buyers from the low-income communities tolook at them. An architect was placed there to takenote and make changes. Within three months, thedesign was modified 35 times and at the end of it, thearchitect and builder could not believe their owneyes. The home was almost perfect and did not feellike a tiny space. The women designed it from theirneeds rather than from heard knowledge. Womenhere became the most unusual allies.

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For every social business, there is always an unusualally who can bring that much-needed knowledge atthe right time. The key is to identify them at the righttime by keeping the minds and eyes open.

4. Letting go rather than holding on.

The most counter-intuitive thought is about letting goof the idea rather than copyrighting it and patenting itto oneself. Earlier days, usiness success wasbmeasured by the amount of patents or copyright acompany held.

Tesla Motors, one of the world's largest and newbusinesses manufacturing electric cars announcedin 2014 that all their 800+ patents and every patentbuilt in future will be open source. Anyone interestedin the construction of a car can use their patents. Thatseems a ridiculous decision a for-profit company canmake. But, this is the future. Within a short span of ayear, many new businesses have evolved - takingthe battery idea from cars to homes, taking softwareideas to unusual places and more than that,companies evolving towards charging these cars byproviding charging stations, etc. In the short theormedium term it might seem like a crazy idea, but inthe long run, it does make perfect sense.

When the problems are large, no one company orindividual can solve it. It makes sense to have a lot ofallies to work together than just one person trying tosolve .the problem

5. Scale the idea and not the organisation

Traditional business is measured by the number ofemployees or number of branches the company has.That is how companies scaled.

Prof. Yunus did not start even one branch ofGrameen Bank outside Bangladesh. He had theresources and networks to open in every country. Butby letting go, the idea of micro-credit became thenorm of the banking industry rather than GrameenBank becoming the largest micro-credit organisation.When the time came to scale beyond Bangladesh,Prof Yunus just let the idea go. He made it easy forothers to copy the model. That is the key. By making iteasy for others to copy him, he ensured that he didnot have to open thousands of branches everywhere- others did and whether they credited Grameen forthe model hardly mattered. Now we not only havethousands of banks providing micro credit, but it hasalso become the new reality where any bank cannotsurvive without a product called microcredit.

These are just the starting critical thoughts when itcomes to building a social business. Fundamentally itmust he cause and the problem that drives thebe tbusiness than the amount of money or scale thecompany wil l eventually achieve. It is thetransformation of the lives of individuals that willmatter more than the numbers on the balance sheet.It is the future of the society that matters more thanthe future wealth of the founders.

That is the problem plaguing our nation and if you areready, you can cause the transformation not bymerely solving the problem but by making thesolution the norm of the future. The opportunity tocreate that new reality is very much here and it ispossible for anyone to play that role.

G. SENTHILKUMARChairman, Helikx Training, Counseling, School Social Work, Research And Learning Center.

Director of Shavyasashi & Edu Value Creators India Pvt. ltd

G. Senth i lkumar is theChairman of Helikx OpenSchool and Learning Centerrun by Helikx Trust at Salem,T a m i l N a d u , I n d i a . AManagement & Social workgraduate from PSG College ofArts and Science, completedhis Ph.D in Social Work fromBharathiar niversityU

He is a pioneer to start anEducational institution underthe banner "Helikx" to helpc h i l d r e n w i t h L e a r n i n gD i f fi c u l t y a n d L e a r n i n gDisability in Salem district. Theprinciple of the school is CANYOU TEACH ME THE WAY IC A N U N D E R S T A N D . Acertified specialist in learningdisabi l i ty , he gradual lydeveloped Helikx SpecialLearnin School into a fullgfledged residential school withstate of the art facilities. Hesimultaneously started theHelikx Training Institute tocater to the training needs ofthe Ins t i tu t ions and theIndustry in the year 2004 andmade it as Private LimitedCompany in 2007. Helikx is a

renowned brand in TamilNaduand result oriented HumanR e s o u r c e D e v e l o p m e n torganization with more than200 organizat ions in i tsclientele list. Helikx is focusingon the developmental activitiesof MSMEs. Helikx SchoolSocial Work and ResearchDepartment was established inthe year 2013 to establishSchool Social Workers indifferent schools.

As an Educational Consultantfor many schools he helpsschoo ls to ca te r to theLearning Disabled children. Hehas transformed and given anew lease of life to about12000 individuals, to face theworld with practical outlook.Represented the Governmentto aboutcreate awarenessLearning Disability for over adecade and recently theGovernment of TamilNadu,Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)recognized him and the teamof faculty from Helikx Schoolas Master Trainers to traint e a c h e r s a n d s p e c i a leducators.

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Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business,social entrepreneurs act as change agents forsociety, seizing opportunities others miss to improvesystems, invent new approaches, and createsolutions to change society for the better. While abusiness entrepreneur might create entirely newindustries, a social entrepreneur develops innovativesolutions to social problems and then implementsthem on a large scale. Helikx is a seriously differentschool run by Mr. G Senthilkumar who certainlylived up to its promise by continuously encouragingsocial, personal and environmental development ofchildren with specific learning disability.

"A man with a difference who runs a school withdifference" . Itis the best sentence to describe e ikxH lis seriously different, because difference inof theteaching methodology, difference of kids who studyin the school more than a learning disability, thatschool run by learning disabled.a

LEARNING DISABILITY

Learning is acquisition of new knowledge, skills orattitude. Children during their early years ofdevelopment learn to understand the spokenlanguage first and then learn to speak. Subsequentlyduring their school year children learn to read, writeand do arithmetic according to their age andintellectual capacity. But some children may not beable to learn one or more of these skills as per theirage and intellectual capacity. It seems that there aresome children who in spite of having intelligence 90or above and with normal visual or physical abilitiesare unable to acquire one or more age appropriatelearning. These children have Specific LearningDisability (SLD). National Centre for LearningDifficulties survey says, early 12% of the studentn

population is struggling with learning disability “Noother disabling condition affects so many people andyet has such a low public profile and low level ofunderstanding as SLD”, Washington Summit 1994.Specific Learning disabilities are neurologically-based processing problems. These processingproblems can interfere with learning basic skills suchas reading, writing, math and difficulties in motorcoordination. They can also interfere with higherlevel skills such as organization, time planning,abstract reasoning, long or short term memory andattention. It is important to realize that learningdisabilities can affect an individual's life beyondacademics and have an impact on relationship withfamily, friends and in the workplace

ABOUT HELIKX

Helikx traces its orgin to the Helikx trust, the activitiesof which spring around imparting academic skills tostudents, in particular to those children with specificlearning disabilities. It is the first school in the districtof Salem which caters education children withtolearning difficulties, slow learners and ADHDstudents. Applying remedial teaching based onlearning needs and potential of different students,with team of trained teachers, psychologist, socialaworkers and with unique methodologies.

Darkness to Light - Knowledge is the Path forThoughts and Imagination.

At Helikx School, they aim to facilitate theassimilation, dissemination and generation ofknowledge. They strive to provide an environmentthat boosts the exploration of new ideas and methodsof processing on these ideas practically. They aim totrain all students, to free themselves from dogma,

Story of a Successful SocialEntrepreneur, Helikx School:

Seriously Different

7

preconception and ideology to become independentthinkers. Helikx provid a non-judicial, unbiasedesenvironment to develop a student's analytical,problem solving skills and shape students tobecome conscious of their opinions, judgments,reflective of their actions and aware of their place inthe social , natural world.

FROM A SINGLE STUDENT TO HELIKX OPENSCHOOL: MR. G SENTHILKUMAR AS A SOCIALENTREPRENEUR

Known for his devoted career in advancing socialacceptance of Learning Disabled, G Senthilkumar isthe Chairman of Helikx Open School & LearningCentre for Children with Specific Learning Disabilityand south India's leading trainer who runsone ofHelikx Training and School Social Work ResearchDepartment. He started his career as Counselor inaa ospital in 1998, started to teach with a singlehDyslexic student in 2000, gradually developed HelikxSpecial Learning School under Helikx Trust. Now theschool is with 70 students with state of the art facility.He simultaneously started the Helikx TrainingInstitute to cater the training needs of the Institutionsand the Industry in the year 2004.

HELIKX CONTRIBUTUION TO THE SOCIETY ASA SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Assessment is the initial step in identifying learningdisability. Helikx with help of sychologists offersthe passessment for children with learning problems at anaffordable cost. Other than the regular school,Saturdays and acation are pack with Remedialv s edEducation for children who are studying in otherschools. People in the community are also seekingprofessional counseling to handle their emotionalissues. School Social Work Department, theyoungest initiative involves studies on improving theeducat ional system with more meaningfulexper i .ence Training and Counsel ing, isinstrumental in changing more than 800 giftedchildren to confidently lead their life with a new leaseof energy and transformed more than 15000individuals who were low in their confidence to facethe world with practical outlook. Pioneers in an

educational institution to help children with LearningDifficulty and Learning Disability in Salem district, theprinciple of the school is Can You Teach Me the Way ICan Understand. The school focuses on identifyingthe needs and levels of disability and caters to thesechildren with state of art facilities.

Being a Social Worker, he had great concern onhumanity especially with children. After joining theJCI organization in the year 2001, he took it as anopportunity and many projects for the benefit ofdidchildren. He focused on children with LearningDisability, over a period of 13 years, creatingawareness about Learning Disability among parents,teachers, doctors and with the public. He stronglybelieves "Every Child Matters" and brought thespecially gifted children back to main stream.

His exemplary service to over 700 children withlearning disability over a period of 14 years throughHelikx Open School and Learning Centre has provedhis rofessional xcellence. There are plans to openp esimilar remedial centers all over the country. The aimis to reach out to each and every child who struggleswith this hidden disability. Helikx has two remedialcenters in Coimbatore and Tirupur

What it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?

Highly innovative: Out-of-the-box, creative�

thinking and always searching for new ways ofdoing things, this will help to bring about changein the life of people.

persistent: Keep trying until it works. And,Be�

never let road blocks, obstacles, or naysayersdeter. Can-do attitude keeps one moving forward-- no matter what.

Find a cause that inspires: Believe in what you�

are doing and be committed. Sometimespersonal experiences help you to look at thingssin a different perspective. As person whoasuffered from difficulty in learning, it motivatedhim to work for people who faced the similardifficulty

8

exceptionally collaborative: Success ofBe�

Helikx is the committed staff. Good collaborationwith staff, parents and children paid gooddividends in the growth of Helikx. Specialattention is given in training staff in differentteaching methodologies.

Have a positive vision of the future: Think�

positive and work towards your goal with thatthought .

This "ordinary" man is doing the truly extraordinaryin the name Helikx .of

ACHIEVEMENTS OF HELIKX

� Out of the students who have completed secondary education 10% are pursuing Engineering stream,60% Diploma courses, the remaining are in Arts and Science stream.

� Mr.Singaravelan (2008 - 2009) has successfully been selected in campus interview by Infosys.� theIn current scenario Fine Arts bagged prizes in Jewellery Designing Competition, National Level

Drawing Competition in Jaipur, Star art International child Art Competition, StrokeRangotsavCompetition in Mumbai.

� In Robotic Competition (2012) won the second prize (IIT Mumbai).� Won state Level Yogasanna open Championship Award Junior/Sub Junior Category.� Master Shanmadan has won many Awards in State level swimming competitions.� Conducted 3 District conferences, Three State conferences and one National Conference.� Special Resource Group Committee Member to SSA Tamil Nadu Government for Training special

Educators and Teachers.� Successfully conducted 5 Batches of L.D Certificate program for teachers and parents.� Compiled 4 Levels Books for Remedial Teaching.

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R u s t a m S e n g u p t a ,Founder and CEO of‘BOOND’ holds a Mastersin Electrical Engineeringf r o m U n i v e r s i t y o fCalifornia, Irvine besidesMBA Degree from INSEADin 2008. Mr.Sengupta quith i s b a n k i n g j o b i nSingapore and started thisSocial Enterprise in 2010 tomake optimistic changea n d t o e n a b l e j o bopportunities in remotecommunit ies in India.Mr.Sengupta has beenw o r k i n g w i t h N G O s ,m a n u f a c t u r e r s a n dvillagers to improve, designand develop the Boondp roduc t s , mode l andsupply chain. He acquires

his motivation from therea l iza t ion that he isworking on some of thebiggest challenges that theworld is facing and everyminute that he puts intoBoond helps to make asocial impact. The purposeof Boond is to becomesustainable on its own twofeet and improve lives ofpeople by providing accessto clean energy. Boond hassuccessfully Influencedm o r e t h a n 1 0 0 , 0 0 0individuals and varioussmall-scale enterpriseswith the power of solarenergy.

Rustam SenguptaFounder and CEO, BOOND

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BOOND a social enterprise founded in 2010 byMr. Rustam Sengupta with the objective of promotingclean energy in the state of Delhi NCR, UttarPradesh, Rajasthan and other Northern states ofIndia. To ensure its social-values orientation, Boonddefined its mission as “to bring energy access togeographically and economically marginalizedcommunities in India through innovative products,creative financing and a strong servicing ecosystem.”

Boond started with the standardized product-basedoffering of solar lamps. Over a period of time, itexpanded solution-design capabilities across thevalue chain based on grassroots learning,localization of available resources. Since 2010Boond has been providing light, clean water, pestcontrol and hygiene to the poor living in remote areasof India and creating rural entrepreneurs. Alsoplaying an effective role as distribution channels forproducts like solar lamps, solar home systems, andmicro-grids. During the span of 5 years there areprojects being installed in various sectors with thecapacity of 1500 KW, extensively making an impacton more than 100,000 individuals as well as manysmall-scale enterprises. The sustainable use of solarenergy will support and give benefit to the communitywith a positive impact of power usage, education and

better health condition. To make solar energy easilyavailable is the primary goal of Boond. We believethat this kind of energy intervention is not only usefulin the general sense but also instrumental inimproving the quality of education and healthcare.Three key examples are worthwhile to highlight thatshow sustainable business models with respect tocommunity engagement, education and healthcare.

Community EngagementBoond has developed offbeat technology solutionsthat can cater to the basic energy needs ofhouseholds in a very cost effective manner. Thesolution is analogous to modern day grid basedenergy, where a centralized solar unit produces theenergy that is distributed to a number of households.Boond realized that different family demographicshave different kinds of energy requirement relevantto their households or businesses and thereforeimplemented the distribution of power primarily in‘pre paid payment’ basis to ensure that poorhouseholds are not deprived of solar energy (just like‘pre-paid mobile phones’).

These are providingPre-Paid Micro Gridsaffordable solar energy to the scattered and remotecommunities in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Thisunconventional approach has given freedom to thepeople to use solar power at affordable fee and at thesame time paying only for the power consumed bythem anytime around the clock. Successful models ofmicro grid have been implemented in many districtsof Uttar Pradesh, which has been proved to achievethe goal of easy energy access to all.

Villages of belowpoverty line (BPL)a r e g i v e np r e f e r e n c e a n da l so , t hose no thaving solar homesystem / generator

BOOND: Sustainable Model ofDevelopment And Social Impact

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penetration etc. The benefit of micro grid is that, it iscost effective and easily accessible to the communityliving at grass root level. The service of micro gridsalso establishes a relationship between the localcommunity and Boond.

The system size of Micro grids are usuallycustomized as per the number of households thatshall be connected to the micro-grid, as well asconsidering the load allocated to each household.Micro grids are designed for high voltagetransmission. The transmission voltage is to rangefrom 48V DC (direct connection) to 240V DCdepending on system size and transmission lengths.Each grid is designed to connect 40-50 householdsand provide energy equivalent to 40W solar homesystem. Each home is then provided up to three LEDbulbs (3W each), one direct connection of fan andone mobile charging outlet along with the Pre-paidEnergy Meter. In order to utilize the facility everysubscriber of a microgrid must pay Rs. 250 assubscription fee for the micro-grid connection. Everyrecharge for the pre-paid micro-grid is captured andtransferred to the cloud database along with supply,demand side voltage and current every hour (atminimum level) with unique identifiers for thehouseholds and the date and time stamp. Thereafter,the data is made available for downloading to theresearch partners as required as well as on a weeklybasis as per the requirement.

Energy supply is one of the key features of microgrids. The goal is to ensure that the micro grids areself-sustainable. While on the technology side weare emphasizing at optimizing system design, on thebusiness side we are trying to match up to theconsumption patterns, consumer's willingness topay and experimenting with various businessmodels.

Education

An important aspect in the process of socialdevelopment is Education. Before we discuss theimpact of education in the lives of people, we need toknow whether the basic education system is able tomake its way at the grass root level or not. Theeducation system has been improving and thefacilities available in schools are getting enhancedday by day. Contrary to the development in urbanareas, the education system in remote villages hasnot made drastic progress in terms of quality yet. AtBoond, we believe that energy intervention ineducation can make this happen.

Our is simple and‘light for education program’highly impactful, as light availability from thegovernment grids are not reliable and many of thevillages where most of the government studentsreside. They typically study under kerosene lightsthat affect their health and pollute the environment.Our program attempts to replace the kerosene lightsby solar power to ensure better quality and safetythat we have noticed and it has also became abinding factor between the school and the students.As the charging station is installed at the schoolpremises, students are motivated to come to schoolfor the purpose of charging their solar lamps thathelps in improving their attendance at school, whichis reflected in their studies.

Boond Sales Associate approach local schools andexplain the benefits of the program. Each unitinstalled has a solar module of 40W, a chargingstation with 20 charging points, 20 solar lamps, 20mobile charging cords are provided to school andsystem is fully installed by Boond’s Technicians.Solar Lamps come with a warranty of 5 years. Everysolar lamp has an inbuilt Lithium ion battery inside,which has long battery life. The battery works on 3modes respectively giving continuous light for 4,8and 16 hours.

Interested students are given solar lamps againstearnest money of Rs 200 for a year and these lampsare deposited back after the completion period of thefirst year. They pay a very small rate (Rs. 2-5/week)to charge the lights for getting good qualityillumination in their homes in return. Thereafter,lamps are given to different students for next year

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following the same process on yearly basis. Boondstarted this program from a governmental school inthe district of Udaipur and due to the success andinterest shown by the students, the program wasscaled to numerous rural schools in a number ofdistricts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Another worthwhile energy intervention that wemake at Boond for better quality education is the

‘Digital Education program’. Under this program asolar system is installed at school with 75W of batterypower that runs a projector (along with a screen).High quality education material (with content fromour partners CLT India) is then beamed into the classthrough this projector. It has been proved a greatimprovement in educating students with a betterunderstanding of presentation functioning of varioussubjects. The classes also help the teachers withteaching and benefit the students with betterknowledge of different areas of studies through videopresentation.

Health Care InterventionOne of the most important requirements for betterliving conditions is health care service. It is anindispensable need of each and every individual tohave the benefits of the facilities of primary healthservices, irrespective of the living conditions in theremote areas. In order to make health care serviceseffective and in reach of the communities, Boond hasinstalled electricity back up systems with some of theclinics working in rural areas by enabling them toutilize the equipment facilities with the help of easyenergy access.

In the Karawali village of Sulumbar district ofRajasthan, Health Center by Karma Healthcare ischanging the face of healthcare access at ruralgeographies of Rajasthan. Boond chose to supportthe initiative by providing uninterrupted energysupply for core operation of the clinic. KarmaHealthcare provides technology-based solution toimprove access and efficiency of primary healthcarein rural Rajasthan. The initiative aims to provideequitable, affordable and reliable primary integratedhealthcare services to the underserved populationsin rural areas. It also has several other clinics in

different parts of Rajasthan. The system installed atthe clinic is of 300 watt with the result of electricitysolution the footfall of patients is around 200 to 300per month.

The clinic being away from the main city causes theissue of non-availability of doctors for the patients. Itis also one of the reasons of health care services notbeing capable of functioning and giving the outcomeof better service to the community. However theenergy solutions in these places has played a vitalrole in achieving the goal by directly connectingdoctors with the patients via Skype calls. Arrangingvideo call enables the patients to interact with thedoctor directly and explain the physical problemsbeing faced by them. On the other hand doctors areable to recommend correct medicines. Uninterruptedelectricity backup helps in giving facilities of Skypecalls, X-rays and other test reports collection.Assured of getting connected to the doctor has apositive impact on the community to come to theclinic. Also, formal database of each and everypatient is prepared at the clinic for future reference.

Amrit Clinic is situated near the town of Udaipur.Energy crisis is one of the biggest challenges AMRITclinic in Bedawali village was facing. Many a timesdue to lack of energy, doctors operate on low lights,sometimes even mobile lights are used for delivery ofbabies. It is difficult to maintain vaccines, medicinesand samples of patients at right temperature, asrefrigerator does not work for maximum hours.Basic medical equipment like sterilizing machine andbaby incubators also need constant supply of energy

13

when in need, which does not happen in times ofpower cuts. In particular, procurement of vaccines &other medicines has become a difficult task forhealthcare centers that do not have sufficient energyaccess, especially located remotely in ruralgeographies.

Boond has installed a 1KW power backup system atAmrit Clinic as well as a solar powered refrigerationunit in Manpur village branch to provide power supplyduring emergency situations, also to ensure smoothrun of basic operations at the clinic. The systemallows maintaining temperature control between-°©-10 to 6 degrees and also has an automated system offeeding the data to a device.

The aim is to create a model clinic with uninterruptedpower supply and improve quality of healthcare. Ourmission is to provide people living in remote ruralareas with similar opportunities of social andeconomic development as people living in otherparts of the country. Considering the socio economicconditions in the rural areas, merging the gapbetween the rural community and clean energysolutions, we believe our work of solar energy accessis not just sustainable but high impact and essentialfor the future.

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Paul Basil founded Villgro in2001 with the mission ofi n c u b a t i n g e a r l y - s t a g e ,innovative businesses and hassince worked in discoveringthousands of innovations andinnovators, and incubatedaround 100 businesses. Paulco-founded the LemelsonRecognition and MentoringProgramme for Innovators incol laborat ion with India'sleading technology institution,t h e I n d i a n I n s t i t u t e o fTechnology Madras. He also,co-founded Villgro InnovationMarketing Pvt Ltd, a uniqueretail chain for innovativeproducts targeting the ruralpoor.

Paul is also a member of thegoverning board of the IndianB u s i n e s s I n c u b a t o r sAssociation, a network ofbusiness incubators in India.

Paul has contributed to buildingthe social enterprise eco-system in India through several

initiatives – Unconvention, aleading platform for events oni n n o v a t i o n a n d s o c i a le n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p ,Want rapreneur , a soc ia lbusiness plan competition, aCentre for Social Innovationand Entrepreneurship thatfocuses on research ande d u c a t i o n , t h e V i l l g r oFellowship that recruits globalmid-career professionals toe x p e r i e n c e s o c i a le n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p , a n dc h a m p i o n i n g t h e A N D EChapter (Aspen Network forDevelopment Entrepreneurs)to grow intermediaries that cansupport small and growingbusinesses.

Paul was awarded the AshokaFellowship in 2002 for hiso u t s t a n d i n g s o c i a lentrepreneurship in setting upVillgro. He has also beenconferred the Samaj SevaBhushan Award and the StarEntrepreneur Award

Paul BasilFounder and CEO, Villgro

15

Many have heard these words separately – socialand entrepreneurship. Many wonder, can thesewords really come together? I thought the same inearly 2000. Having seen how businesses couldbecome successful, generate employment, make theeconomy vibrant, I wondered, why businesses couldnot strive to make the poor rich. I went aroundspeaking to both businesses and NGOs. Businessessaid, there is no way you can make money, becausethe base of the pyramid is a difficult customer. NGOswere angry. They said, how can you make money outof the poor? Well, I was talking about the poor makingmoney, and in the process those serving themmaking money.

It took the late CK Prahlad's, Fortune at the Bottom ofthe Pyramid, for conversations to start aroundbusinesses and poverty. May be that was also goodatime as urban markets were getting saturated andcorporates had to head rural. But way before that BillDrayton at Ashoka had already started creating amovement around social entrepreneurship. Billregularly spoke about how people give fish to eat,some teach people how to fish and thereby don'tneed to give them continuous fish to eat. Sociale n t r e p r e n e u r s , a c c o r d i n g t o B i l l w o u l drevolutionalise the fishing industry itself! Outstandingsocial entrepreneurs like Dr. Verghese Kuriencreated an iconic brand in Amul, made India anexporter of milk and drove more money into thehands of the small dairy farmer, creating a whiterevolution! Dr. G. Venkataswamy,aimed to eliminate needless blindness and createdthe famous Arvind Hospitals, innovating in surgeries,eye lens etc., and created an eye revolution! Micro-finance which started off as an NGO activity is now anindustry, with one of the prominent MFIs, Bandhan,being given a banking license. This am sure will leadto a financial revolution! There are many greatleaders who have blended business with the poorand created outstanding social entrepreneurship. At

the same time, there are many rising socialentrepreneurs. We salute all of them.

As India and the rest of the world strives to bridge thedivide between the haves and the have nots, socialentrepreneurship will become a powerful tool toachieve that, though not the only tool. Whileestimates say th poverty has declined, we need toatrecognize that global peace cannot happen withoute l im ina t i ng pove r t y . Encourag ing soc ia lentrepreneurship therefore becomes important.Unlike in early 2000, I see a much more vibranteco-system. A eco-system that embracesentrepreneurship. Many in our society havegenerated wealth, thanks to economic developmentin general. Many such people have startedc o n t r i b u t i n g b a c k t o s u p p o r t i n g s o c i a lentrepreneurship by being angel investors, mentorsand some even becoming social entrepreneurs. Thenew CSR law, am certain will trigger much moreinvestments into social enterprise models. The newgovernment in Delhi has in the recent budgetannounced a Rs 10,000 crore funding to start-upenterprises. Villgro's research around 9 cities andregions across India, show evidence of greaterm o m e n t u m a n d a c t i v i t y a r o u n d s o c i a lentrepreneurship in the years to come.

For those wanting to become an entrepreneur and dowell by doing good, there is no better time than now tojump into social entrepreneurship. The opportunity iscompelling, as there is a growing low incomepopulation. The economic pyramid, seems to bebecoming an economic “diamond”, with those at thebase of the pyramid, having some cash flows andthereby willing to engage with market based modelsaround needs such as education, health, water,communication etc. Some business models havestarted showing traction, showing that money can bemade and yet create impact – micro-finance,affordable private schools. Never like before there is

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIPTHE RISING STAR

16

capital. For great ideas this is the time to raise capital.India has around 20 social venture funds, managingRs 2500 crores and has invested in 100 businesses.Small but a solid start, all in the last 5 years! Neverlike before there is a pathway and supportecosystem. Incubators, angel investors, venturefunds, media attention. You can't wait for a bettertime to get started.

We at Villgro also play a key role in this ecosystem.We support early stage, for-profit social enterprisesby funding, mentoring and networking for them.Much before any external investor would evenconsider them. We incubate to make theseenterprises investable. Bio-sense, a group of youngengineers and doctors is now a respected companyin the non-invasive anemia testing space.

Promethean Power has built a rapid milk chillerwhich is helping the dairy industry build a cold chainright from the village level milk collection centre.Desi-crew, India's first rural BPO inspired manyothers to set up rural BPOs. Skymet, the first privateweather forecasting company in India, is now arespected weather agency having raised multiplerounds of investments. We have been fortunate tosupport these amazing entrepreneurs and be part oftheir successful journey. These first generationentrepreneurs and business models have blendedprofits with impact. What about you?

Do not wait. The ecosystem is growing. Ride thewave and together, lets unleash the power ofentrepreneurship to positively impact the poor.

Social entrepreneurs are not content just

to give a fish, or to teach how to fish. They

will not rest until they have revolutionised

the entire fishing industry.

- Bill Daayton, Founder of Ashoka.org

17

Pavitra studied Finance in California StateUniversity, Fresno, and worked in Wells FargoFinancial for two and half years. Pavitra Walvekarwas quite content with his well-paying job in SanFrancisco. Due to his performance as a creditmanager in Wells Fargo, the company offered him ascholarship to pursue his MBA. However, Pavitrawanted to start up and so decided to give up hisscholarship and job and returned home to Pune in2007. Unfortunately, his first venture on onlineeducation for SAT students did not take off.

In 2009, when he noticed the financial crisis amongthe manufacturers with work orders from biggies likeMercedes and Volkswagen, the idea of KudosFinance & Investments was conceptualised.

Kudos Finance and Investment TeamKudos Finance and Investments, a Non-BankingFinance Company, operates in the MSME (MicroSmall & Medium Enterprises) space providing loansto small entrepreneurs. Pavitra received the Non-Banking Financial Institution license in 2010 and ranthe company on a pilot programme for the first three

years. It offers loans under three roducts – short-term loan (1–6 months), business loans, (24months), and machinery loans (30–36 months).

Kudos provides unsecured business loans toretailers, traders, kirana stores, saree centres, andrestaurants, etc., with a ticket size of Rs 1–20 lakh.Machinery loans are meant for the manufacturingsector, with a ticket size starting from Rs 1 to 30 lakh.Under short-term loans, Kudos offers unsecuredloans to existing customers who want to buy bulkgoods at discounted rates, with a ticket size startingfrom Rs 2 to 10 lakh.

An extensive market research on the borrowinghabits and loan purposes of MSME sector helpedPavitra to create a database of potential customers.Kudos Finance was officially incorporated in 2013and managed to successfully raise Rs 2 crore in twobranches from Bank of Maharashtra in May 2014 andMay 2015. In December 2015, the company baggedanother 50 lakh from Mas Financial.

Your Story: This Pune-based company is helpingMSMEs meet their financial needsSource: http://yourstory.com/2016/

Pavitra (33), says, during the initial days, I triedapproaching banks and NBFC’s for a line of credit.But everybody quoted portfolio size as hindrance.Ironically, I found myself to be in the same positionthat my customers are in, as we were too small to befunded by banks and NBFC’s.”

Robust underwriting processKudos follows robust underwriting process thatinvolves proprietary method of assessing beforeloans are approved and last mile customerverifications to avoid fraudulent cases. With a teamof seven employees, it has its presence in Pune andadjoining Maharashtra Industrial DevelopmentCorporation (MIDC) of Chakan, Bhosari, andPimpri.The team not only relies on the documentsprovided by customers, but does supplier verificationto get original bank statements. The startup alsoprovides credit link shield insurance to its customersso that in case of accidental death the loan is paid offby the insurance company.

Loan disbursementSince inception, Kudos has done 500 transactionsand disbursed loans over Rs 25 crore. It currently has65 customers. Loans get disbursed with an interestrate of 14–16 per cent on the securities of PersonalGuarantee, Limited Inventory Hypothecation, andCredit Shield Link Insurance.Kudos generatesrevenue from the interests and the processing fee forissuing the loan. It presently disburses about 45 lakhloan a month.

Success rateKudos Finance generated a total revenue ofRs 79 lakhs in the last fiscal year and expects toreach Rs 1.6 crore by the end of the current fiscalyear. Pavitra states that they will also double theirbook size from Rs 3.1 to 8 crore by March 2016. ThePune based startup will expand its footprint in Tier 2and 3 cities to capture the urban retail market andalso manufacturing units.

We are in advanced stage talks with other NBFC’s fora line of credit. Hence, we will end up with one PSUbank and three NBFC’s by the end of the financialyear. We aim to be a 100-crore book in the next threeyears by way of raising debt and equity,” saysPavitra.

YourStory takeAccording to the International Finance Report, onlyfive per cent of the 26 million registered MSME unitshave access to traditional sources of funding and intotal there is a 450 billion dollar gap in the market forthis sector.

SME financing has traditionally been limited tobusinesses that have solid financial credentials orassets to back the loan. However, startups likeIndiaLends, LendingKart,Faircent, Capital Float aremaking it easier for SMEs to receive loans byleveraging technology and alternate data sources tounderwrite. The potential growth rate of online SMEspace has drawn the attention of investors like SAIFPartners, Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital, MayfieldFund, and more.

Bandhan Financial Services Ltd

SKS Micro�nance Limited

Ujjivan Financial Services Private Limited

Janalakshmi Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.

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Satin Creditcare Network Limited

Equitas Micro�nance Private Limited

Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited

Gremeen Koota Financial Services Pvt Ltd

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Top 10 MFIs Disbursing Loan During 2014-15

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There is relatively easy access of loans to Indianstudents looking to study abroad, as compared tothose poor people who are looking to fund theirchildren’s schooling. This is one of the reasonsdropout rates in the country are still high. TwoChenna i -based char te red accoun tan ts –V.L. Ramakrishnan (42) and Jacob Abraham (40)started Shiksha Finance in order to bridge this ever-widening gap.

With 40 years of experience in banking, retaillending, finance, strategy and credit, the duo set upan RBI-licensed, non-banking financial company(NFBC), on the lines of microfinance, to providecrucial financial cover to educational institutions andparents of students in Tamil Nadu. Shiksha Financeis a pioneering NBFC, in that it is offering, for the firsttime in India, loans to middle and lower-incomefamilies, to finance their school-going children fromkindergarten to Class XII, with the objective ofreducing school dropouts.

Ramakrishnan, CEO & Director of Shiksha, has 20years experience in the banking, financial servicesand insurance (BFSI) sector, is a retail lendingexpert, and has held various positions at DCB Bank,GE Capi ta l , and Chola Finance. He alsoco-founded Suroyday MicroFinance, a Maharashtrabased micro-finance institution which recentlyreceived a small bank licence. Jacob, Co-founder,COO & Director at Shiksha, also comes from theBFSI sector, with a robust sense of the industrythrough roles in finance, strategy, credit,andunderwriting at Sundaram, Cholamandalam andPricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ramakrishnan or Ramki, as he is called, says, “Thefee is paid directly to the school”. We also offer assetcreation and working capital loans to schools,education institutions and their vendors, therebyestablishing good quality education infrastructure.

Your Story: How this startup from Chennai isreducing school dropouts in Tamil NaduSource: http://yourstory.com/2016/

20

Explaining the core offering of Shiksha, he adds,lower or middle-income parents struggle, because ofmeagre incomes and strained cashflows, to see theirchildren through school. At the same time, educationreceives highest priority in a household’s expenseplan. We provide such customers with the much-needed cashflows and a simple process. Ouraspiration is to provide English medium, conventeducation for all children the best that money canbuy.Ramki elaborates on the duo’s proposition of ‘makingmoney available, where it is otherwise notavailable.’“Our two biggest differentiators are speedand simplicity. We raise money through equity anddebt, for which we pay interest. We give loans toparents and to schools, for which we receive interest.We make a profit when our income from loans givenexceeds interest on debt, our operating costs andbad debts. In most cases, the interest that we chargeis half of what the customer is currently paying,” headds.

The venture’s loans for schools and studenteducation are secured through a unique socialcollateral, much like microfinance, by partnering withschool and corporates. “Our unique business modelallows us to create a win-win situation for all threeconcerned:the school, parents and Shiksha. Theproduct is designed to be a perpetual revenue model,for the biggest pull factor for customer in our loan isthat if their EMIs are paid on time, they are assured ofa repeat loan the following year for their child’scontinued education through school and college,”Ramki explains.

As for school loans, schools need betterinfrastructure and are required to comply with theRight To Education (RTE) Act. As they are alwaysstrained for working capital, they borrow to meet theirfixed assets requirements. Traditionally, theseborrowings have been mostly from private financiers.

Shiksha Finance’s school loan products offer suchcustomers lower interest rates, sometimes savingsof 50 per cent in interest, and easier cashflows withrepayment periods like 24 to 60 months, as opposedto a private financier’s 10-month terms. Workingcapital loans ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 croreare offered as collateral loans with a payback periodof four to five years.

Since i ts incept ion, Shiksha Finance hassuccessfully dispensed over 120 loans to students,between Rs 10, 000 and Rs 15,000, and 15 loans togovernment-recognised matriculation schools. It hasdisbursed Rs 5 crore in loans. No banking or financecompany, at this stage, offers loans for schoolstudent education. Bootstrapping the initial equity,the startup was also supported by investments fromreputed angel investors.

Setting up this intricate structure was a challenge,explains Jacob. “While the law requires minimumcapital of Rs 2 crore to get an NBFC licence, ournature of business is such that money is raw materialand raising it for this venture in the early stages wasposing to be a difficult proposition. We havemanaged to raise capital from angels to the extent ofabout Rs 1 crore,” he says.

But the grind has proved to be all worth it, as they hitsome great milestones and are constantly rewardedwith the smiles on the faces of parents. “Despite thedevastating rains in Chennai in December, we didnot see major delays in our EMI remittances.Thisspeaks greatly about the importance that ourcustomers attribute to education,” Jacob adds.

The road ahead has scaling up plans aplenty, with anexpansion to Karnataka on the cards in the nearfuture.

21

ACADEMICS

Board of StudiesThe meeting of the XV- Board of Studies,Department of Management Studies, KumaraguruCollege of Technology, Coimbatore was held onAugust 13, 2015. Dr. Vijila Kennedy, Director, Dept.of Business Administration, KCT haired thecsession. Dr. Saravana Kumar, Dean (I/C), AnnaUniversity, Coimbatore was the niversityurepresentative. There were 6 industry experts, 2external academic experts, 1 alumnus, Mr. TRSukumar, CoE, KCT, Centre Heads and seniorfaculty of the Dept. of Management Studies were theother members of the BoS

A discussion was conducted on The Ripple ffect ofEChinese Yuan Devaluation and Stock Market Crash.The discussion was open for participation all MBAtostudents & faculty. Fourteen students of batch 2014-16 & batch 2015-17 participated in the discussion. Abrief preparation on the cause and effects on theChinese Yuan Devaluation and Stock Market Crashwas prepared for the session by the students ofBatch 2014-16. The discussion started with the originof devaluation and the experience of Chinese aboutthe globalization. There was a intense discussionnabout the Chinese economy and the current situationin relevance to GDP and FOREX reserve. Thediscussion enabled the participants to get to knowmore about the impact of devaluation among thevarious countries. There was also an argumentamong the participants regarding Asian currencycrisis - 1997 and the financial crisis – 2008

Reality LearningDiscussion on "The Ripple Effects of ChineseYuan Devaluation and Stock Market Crash

Real Time Online Share Trading Program

Real-time Online Share Trading Programme(ROSTP) was launched on August 31, 2015.Mr. K. Annamalai, Director, Annamalai CapitalServices (P) Limited, Coimbatore facilitated thesession. ROSTP is a reality learning platform forstudents to learn and invest in stock markets. Theshare trading partner for ROSTP is AnnamalaiCapital Services (P) Limited and banking partner isAxis Bank. Twenty two students of batch 2014-16have enrolled and were part of the ROSTP.Mr.Annamalai officially launched the ROSTP for thebatch and highlighted the relevance of the initiative inimproving the knowledge and skill of MBA students.

24

The NISM (National Institute of Securities MarketsCertification in Securities Markets) is an onlinecertification examination for finance conducted bythe National Institute of Securities Markets, Mumbaito prepare qualified capital market participants.KCT.BS students specializing in finance have takenproactive steps to equip themselves with conceptualclarity and application knowledge in capital marketsthrough their appearance in NISM certifications. Intotal, 62 participants appeared for the NISM-Series-XII: Securities Markets Foundation CertificationE x a m i n a t i o n w h i c h w a s c o n d u c t e d o nSeptember 11, 2015.

National Institute of Securities Markets Certification in Securities Markets

Experiential earning for Business StatisticsL

During the Business Statistics class, the concept ofcorrelation was explained by an activity involvingstudents of (Batch 2015-17).A temporary retail outletselling two favorite brands of chocolates - Dairy Milkand Milky Bar was set up. These chocolates weresold to the students. Promotions were made to sellthese chocolates and the sales made by each teamof students were recorded. This resulted in team-wise data with two variables viz., Sales of Dairy MilkChocolates and Sales of Milky Bar Chocolates. Thedata thus collected was analyzed for the magnitudeand direction of association between these twovariables.

Students of Batch 2015-17 staged a skit during theBusiness Statistics class to explain the concept ofF N S Pive umber ummary and Box-Whisker lot. Theplay was based on placement activities in anengineering college in Tamil Nadu. The whole classwas divided into two groups- one group was asked toplay the role of Documentary Film Producers andanother group took the role of Film Distributors. Afterthe short play performance the Film Producers andDistributors were asked to record their responsesbased on some pre- determined questions .Thecollected data was compared and analyzed usingFive umber Summary and Box-Whisker lot usingN PMicrosoft Excel.

25

Mind mapping is a highly effective way of gettinginformation in and out of our brain. Mind mapping is acreative and logical means of note-taking and note-making that literally "maps out" your ideas. A goodMind Map shows the "shape" of the subject, therelative importance of individual points, and the wayin which facts relate to one another. This means thatthey're very quick to review, as you can often refreshinformation in your mind just by glancing at one. Inthis way, they can be effective mnemonics –remembering the shape and structure of a Mind Mapcan give you the cues you need to remember theinformation within it.When created using colors andimages or drawings, a Mind Map can even resemblea work of art. As a part of innovative teachingpedagogy in Organization Behavior course for IMBA

(Batch 2015-17), thestudents were taught tocreate mind mapping onthe topics “Att i tude,P e r s o n a l i t y a n dPerception”.

Mind Mapping

As part of Economics course, students ofBatch 2015-17 visi ted various markets inCoimbatore during the second week of September2015. The markets explored by the students wereFish market, Scrap market, Vegetable market,Thudiyalur Vegetable market, Coimbatore andMettupalayam Flower & egetable market,VCoimbatore Rice market, Kovilpalayam Vegetablemarket, Gold Jewellery market – Town Hall, Saibabac o l o n y e g e t a b l e m a r k e t , R . S . P u r a mVUzhavarSandhai , Onion Market – Mettupalayam,T.K. Provisional, Market – Coimbatore, Fruit market -K.G Street Coimbatore , Book Market - Ukkadam,Sunday market etc., to learn about Modus operandi,Market structures, Products dealt, Types of product,Customer retention, Reason for choice of productssold, Promotion strategy, Price determination,Innovative strategies adopted, Substitutes,Marketing strategy, elling skills, Distribution,SNegotiation skills sets, Cost determination, Inventorymanagement, Profit , Procurement techniques,Demand and Supply stimation.e

Local Market Visit

As part of Economics course, students of Batch 2015-17visited various villages to study the effect of MahatmaGandhi National Rural Employment uarantee ActG(MGNREGA) over the rural employment, livelihood andagriculture. The students explored the Generaloccupation practiced in the village, Gender wisecategorization, Type of task carried out, Type of job(other than 100 days), Areas of Improvement, Specialtyof village, Advantages and disadvantage of the program,Effectiveness of the program, Type of task performed in100 days scheme, Societal Impact, Impact onAgriculture, Projects undertaken and completed, Amountof Wages received, Benefits received, Problems faced,Satisfaction level, Modus operandi. The villages visitedb y s t u d e n t s a r e T h e k k a m p a t t i v i l l a g e ,Purandampalayam, Vellanaipatti, Vellakundapuram,Behratty, Veerakulam, Sultanpet, Sengalipalayam,Devarayapuram, Bandisholai, Kurudampalayam,IkkaraiBoluvampatti, Yeddapalli etc.

Rural Visit and MGNREGA

Students of Batch 2015-17 had hands on learning bydoing an activity to learn asticity of emand. TheEl Dstudents brought the real feel of a market andexhibited consumer behaviour in purchase decisionsand price negotiations.

Activity based learning on Elasticity of Demand

Students of Batch 2015-17 attended a three dayO T Autbound raining at LEAP cademy, Karamadai(Mathampalayam) from October 4-10, 2015. Themain objective of the program was to unleash thepotential of young students to imbibe life skills. Theprogram had six major real time exercises whichmainly focused on teamwork, team bonding,communication, leadership, time management,

problem solving, crisis management, decisionmaking and personal development. Thedeliverables of the program was to reflect onstudents' team skills, increased collaboration,sharing of common vision and values and team spirit.Activities included high rope course, dynamicobstacle course, human web, A-frame, shapes &colours and tyre maze.

Outbound raining, at LEAP AcademyT

ANGADI – The Shopping Carnival

The shopping carnival ‘Angadi 2015’ was organizedb y K C T B u s i n e s s S c h o o l s t u d e n t s o nOctober 16 17, 2015 at Kumaraguru College of-

T e c h n o l o g y ,Coimbatore. Angadi is as t u d e n t i n i t i a t i v eo r g a n i z e d b y t h eStudent Association ofKCT Business School.A n g a d i g i v e s a nopportunity to buddinge n t r e p r e n e u r s o fKCT Business School to

strategize, plan and execute their small businessesin the campus. Students had 41 stalls selling morethan 500 product categories and 10,000 productitems. The stalls included cars, clothes, accessories,footwear, candid photo centre, tattoos, fortune tellerand a variety of eateries. The event was sponsoredby JSW and co-sponsored by Nexa, HDFC Bank,State Bank of Hyderabad, KVB Bank and AnandRathi Securities Ltd. There was an overwhelminginterest shown by the students, faculties and ITemployees and there were more than 8,000 footfallson both days.

Smt.J.Mohanasundare, Managing Director of SharpElectrodes Pvt. Ltd, inaugurated Angadi 2015 andsaid, “This is a very impressive show and recordbreaking trade fair with the highest number of footfalls and exhibiting product categories by studentsw h i c h w a s n o t s e e n e v e r b e f o r e ” .Mr.M.Shanmuga Velayudham, Vice President,Cluster Head of Tamil Nadu 2, HDFC Bank was thespecial guest who discussed the art of selling andimportance of exhibiting the entrepreneurial skills fortoday’s managers. This event was conducted to

demonstrate the entrepreneurial and leadershipqualities of the students of KCT Business School andalso to accomplish their goals as a team. This madethe students to understand the current market trendsand promotional strategies to be followed therebygaining the compet i t iveadvantage.

The success of Angadi 2015w a s c e l e b r a t e d o nN o v e m b e r 1 8 , 2 0 1 5o r g a n i z e d b y S t u d e n tAssociation. During thisreflection program, stallowners of Angadi recalledthe experience that they hadduring the two day event,debriefed learning outcomea n d c h a l l e n g e s .Dr. V.R. Nedunchezhian,Centre Head- Centre ofFinance released the firstcopy of Angadi 2015 report and it was received byProf. S. Swaminathan, Head-Centre of CorporateRelation. Sponsors, co-sponsors, media partner,dignitaries, event organizers and volunteers wererecognized during the event. Award ceremony washeaded by KCT.BS faculty team. Stall no. 29 Bhotoe d u t h u r u v a n p a a t h u k a w o n t h e O v e r a l lChampionship trophy and Best Sale Promotiontrophy. Stall no 18 Mystery Inkzz won the VisualMerchandiser’s trophy and stall no. 20 Chillax wont h e B e s t e r s o n a l e l l i n g t r o p h y .P SStall no. 24 Kolors won the Maximum Sales trophy.This event reflected values such as hard work, trustand learning among the students in Angadi 2015.

Students of Batch 2015-17 were involved n aniexperiential activity of Tower Building using playingcards. This activity conducted with the purposewasof Introducing concepts of Hypothesis Testing andT Test. 8 volunteers were identified as samples andthey were encouraged to construct tower using 15acards. The participants used their creative ideas tocomplete the task at the earliest. Time taken by eachstudent to complete the given task was recorded bythe observers. The data collected through thisexperiment was used to execute one sample &Independent t sample test.

Experiential earning for Business StatisticsL

Students of Batch 2014-16 visited various banks toknow the operational of banks during thefunctionsmonth of October 2015. The event was organised forfinance students .12 teams visited KVB, Indian Bank,South Indian Bank, Coimbatore District CentralCo-operative Bank, Repco Bank, HDFC Bank,ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, Federal Bank, City UnionBank etc. The students presented their learning'swhich was evaluated by a panel constitutingDr. V.R.Nedunchezhian Professor & Centre Head,Mr. Senthil Kumar. A, Assistant Professor (SRG),Ms.Mohanamani.P, Assistant Professor, C oenter fF and Mr. Senthil Kumar.N, Branch Head,inanceRepco Bank.

2 student teams interviewed CFO of Roots Companyand JSW. The students interviewed the CFO of theabove leading companies and collected data for 31relevant questions.

Bank Visit and CFO Visit

A debate on the topic “Release of New License toCorporates – A welcome RBI?” was conducted forbatch 2014-16. Lots of insights were obtained alongwith the positives and negatives of licensing to newpayment banks. The current status of new entrantsand its future effects in banking industry werediscussed. Students spoke for the topic and counterargued against the topic. Prof. Swaminathan. SHead C andentre for Corporate Relat ionMr. Vijayaraghavan, Head – Training of SakthiFinance Limited were the moderators for the

Debate session

29

Innovative pedagogy was used to study marketstructure as part of the Managerial Economicscourse for I MBA students (Batch 2015-17). Thestudents were involved in explaining various marketstructure through activity. Market structurepresentation was successfully conducted for eachteam, in total 6 market structures were presented:Duopoly, Monopoly, Monopsony, Monopolistic,Perfect competition, Oligopoly

During the presentation various concepts like natureof the market, characteristics of the market, numberof players, competition, etc. were discussed with realtime examples. This a good learning platformwasabout the different markets and their impacts on theeconomy as a whole.

Experiential Learning on Market Structure

The concept of production function was learntpractically by students of Batch 2015-14 as part oftheir Economics course. The students were givensimilar inputs and were asked to produce as manycomponents as possible using the given input in aspecified time. Different teams produced differentoutputs and were assessed on different categorieslike quantity of output, quality of the products and thetime of completion of the production. The followingconcepts were inferred from the activity: Productionfunction Division of labour Specialization of labour, , ,efficient utilization of resources, etc. SRC & LRC.

Experiential Learning in Production

As part of Organization Behavior course, Reach yourtarget if you can, balloon activity was conducted forstudents of Batch 2015-17 to make the studentsunderstand the importance of group and groupbehavior. Students learnt the concept throughactivity. Chak de India and Corporate movie wasscreened in the class to teach OB concepts likestages of group development and OrganizationalPolitics.

Experiential Learning inOrganizational Behaviour

30

Certification Programs Conducted

September 12-13, 2015 Batch 2014-16

September 14-16, 2015

September 14-18, 2015

September 14-19, 2015

September 18-19, 2015

September 15 -16, 2015

October 2015 -December 2015

November 06 0 2015- 7,

Digital Marketing andSocial Media

Fundamental Warehousing

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Corporate Taxation

Project Management, CAPM

Certified Recruitment Analyst

Tally ERP 9.0

Supply Chain ManagementCertification Program

Batch 2014-16

Batch 2014-16

Batch 2014-16

Batch 2014-16

Batch 2014-16

Batch 2015-17

Batch 2014-16

ACT IIT Kharagpur andTech Bharat Consulting

Juran , Connecticut, USA

Institute of Computer Accountants

Accumenta

Middle Earth Consultancy

Sri Krishna I- Tech and ManagementSolutions Pvt. Ltd, Coimbatore.

CII - Chennai

CII – Institute of Logistics, Chennai

Date Theme of Workshop Batch Certifying Body

Workshops Conducted

Date Theme of Workshop BatchCertifying Body

August 17,2015

August 19-20, 2015

Balamurugan /Arjun BalaMetatype IP Strategy Consulting LLP

KrishnaCEO, Match Point

Jeganathan.PEnergetic Byz plus, Coimbatore

Aashish SolankiF P Dounder & rincipal esigner

NetBramha Studios

August 24, 2015

August 26, 2015

August 26, 2015

August 31, 2015

September 12-13, 2015

September 12, 2015

September 23, 2015

Intellectual Property

Employability Training Program

Event Management

Webinar on “Design Thinking:A Tool to Improve Productivity

Resume Writing

Stock Market Investments

HR Analytics

Japanese Anime & Manga Art

Building Brand Equity

KCT and KCT BSStudents

2014-16

2014-16

2014-16

2014-16.

2014-16

2015-17

2014 – 2016

Saravana Prasad VLead Corporate Relations, KCT BS

AnnamalaiDirector

Annamalai Capital Services

(P) Limited, Coimbatore

Soudhakar ElumalaiSenior Business Analyst, Flipkart.com

Bharath MurthyAnimation Film Director & Comics Author

Associate Professor, FTII, Pune

Nisha RamanAccount Manager

GS Farm Tazza Produce Pvt Ltd, Bangalore

KCT and KCT BSStudents

31

Date Theme of Workshop BatchCertifying Body

Rashaad HussainManager, Institute of Computer Accountants

S.ChitraDirector

Annamalai Capital Services (P) Ltd, Coimbatore

JagadeesanAssistant Manager (Retd), State Bank of India

P.R. Neelakantan / S.GowthamrajRegional Manager Chennai, Share Khan Ltd

Authorized Person, Share Khan ltd., Pondicherry

Sujit SukumaranCorporate HR, Iqra Education, Dubai

Dr. MurugappanProfessor, School of Management Studies,

Bannari Amman Institute of Technology

Webinar on Career Optionsin Learning & Development

December09-10, 2015

Data Analysis usingPivot tables

October 9, 2015

October 19, 2015

October 30, 2015

November 5, 2015

December 4, 2015

Online Share Trading

Banking Instruments

FOREX Trading

Reading Annual Reports

2014-16

2015-17

2014-16

2014-16

2015-17

2015-17

FACULTY

Faculty enhance their knowledge & skills

� Poongodi B, participated in a one day FacultyDevelopment Program on "Structura lE q u a t i o n M o d e l l i n g " o r g a n i z e d b yGRG School of Management, Coimbatore onSeptember 2, 2015.

� Hemanalini R , attended NIPM's 34th NationalC o n f e r e n c e o n " W i n n o v a t e H R f o rBusiness and People Aspirat ions" onOctober 8-10, 2015.

� Senthil Kumar A, attended a Webinar onOutcome-based Educa t ion and NBAAccreditation on October 8, 2015.

� Lakshmi Meera BL attended Tech Spark CityEvent by Your Story in PSG STEP onOctober 9, 2015.

� Nal in i P , Gok i lavan i .R and LakshmiSubbramani attended the Workshop on"Success Mantras for Women Entrepreneurs"by Mrs. Radhika Meenakshi, start-up mentor,Hyderabad hosted by WE Coimbatore Chapterfor women to learn business secrets onOctober 29, 2015

� Deepa. M and Hemanalini R attended HumanResource Forum of India's inaugurationat Sri Krishna College of Engineeringa n d T e c h n o l o g y , C o i m b a t o r e o nNovember 1, 2015.

� Kaarthiekheyan.V attended a one day FacultyDevelopment Program on “RedefiningMarketing in the Dynamic Business Scenario”at GRG School of Management Studies onNovember 5, 2015.

FDP Attended

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� Nalini P, participated in a one day workshop on"Art of Writing esearch apers and ettingR P GR F S Sesearch unding in ocial ciences" held atK o n g u E n g i n e e r i n g C o l l e g e o nNovember 6, 2015.

� V i j i l a K e n n e d y , M a r y C h e r i a n , a n dSenthil Kumar, attended the CII HigherEducation Conclave on Governance andQuality Systems in Higher Education onNovember 18 & 19, 2015.

� Vijila Kennedy, participated in the Sixth UnitedNations supported PRME (Principles forResponsible Management Education) AsiaForum at Goa Institute of Management onNovember 27-28. 2015

� Mary Cherian, Sangeetha.S and Poongodi.Battended a three day esearch orkshop onR W“Text Analytics and Model Building" organizedby VIT Bus iness Schoo l , Ve l lo re onNovember 26-28, 2015.

� Gokilavani R and Nalini P participated in a threeday onFaculty Development Program“Data Analysis for Model Building" atPondicherry University (A central University)School of Management tudies, PondicherrySfrom November 27-29, 2015.

MOOC

� Vinayagasundaram R, completed a MOOCcourse on Developing Innovative Ideas for NewCompanies: The First Step in Entrepreneurshipfrom University of Maryland, College Park withDistinction

� Jaishankar S, completed a MOOC course onStatistical Reasoning for Public Health1:Estimation, Inference & Interpretation from TheJohn Hopkins University

� Jaishankar S, completed a Diploma in SupplyChain Management from Alison

� Kaarthiekheyan.V completed the NPTELOnline Certification Course and examination on“International Economics” conducted by IndianInstitute of Technology, Kanpur.

� Kaarthiekheyan V completed the NPTELOnline Certification Course and examination on“Strategic Marketing - Contemporary Issues”conducted by Indian Institute of Technology,Kanpur.

� Latha A, completed a series of courses inDigital Marketing Specialization throughMOOC offered by the University of Illinois on“Marketing in a Digital World”, “Digital Analyticsfor Marketing Professionals: MarketingAnalytics in Practice” “Digital Analytics forMarketing Professionals: Marketing Analyticsin Theory”.

Nalini P completed a MOOC course on Creative�

Problem Solving and Decision Making offeredby Delft X -Delft University of Technologythrough edX

� Vijila Kennedy , completed a MOOC on Womenin Leadership: Inspiring Positive Changeoffered by Case Western Reserve University

Senthil Prakash P, completed an online course�

in Leading Successfully through Challengesand Obstacles

� Senthil Prakash P, completed Diploma inHuman Resources and Diploma in Psychologyoffered by Alison

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A Faculty Development Program on ResearchWriting and Publishing was organized on August 4,2015. The primary objective of the program was toenrich the teaching community on research writingand publication in nternational journals.i

Dr. K.Ravichandran, Associate Professor, School ofManagement & Director for Experiential Learning atNew York Institute of Technology, Abu Dhabicampus was the resource person. The topics fordiscussion were Research problem identification,collaborative research writing and ournal electionj sfor publication. 18 faculty members from variousinstitutions and KCT Business School attended theprogram.

Faculty Development Program onResearch Writing and Publishing

FDP/Workshops Organized by KCT BS

KCT Business School, organized a FacultyD e v e l o p m e n t P r o g r a m o n B u i l d i n g a nEntrepreneurial Ecosystem in EducationalInstitutions on August 7, 2015. The primaryobjective of the program was to enrich the teachingcommunity in the domain of entrepreneurship. Theprogram was open for all college faculty and EDCCoordinators, 28 faculty members from variouscolleges in Coimbatore, faculties of KCT and KCTBusiness School participated in the program.

Dr. Gadi Ariav, Head Max Perlman, Centre for GlobalBusiness, Tel Aviv University, Israel explained theneed for experiential learning and discussed onmethods, pedagogy and assessment for experientiallearning. Participants also debated on the possibilityof including experiential learning modules in theacademic curriculum.

Faculty Development Program on BuildingEntrepreneurial Ecosystem in

Educational Institution

Session on SYSTAT

A session on SYSTAT was organized onSeptember 21, 2015 for the faculty members ofKCT BS. SYSTAT is a high value, integrated desktopstatistics and graphics software package withfeatures from basic to advanced statistics. SYSTATbrings to you an experience of over 28 years inmaking analysis simpler and more meaningful forresearchers worldwide. The demo session on the

most comprehensive statistical software packageSYSTAT 13 which very useful in research andisanalysis of data, enabled faculty in understandingthe different options of analysis available in SYSTATin comparison with SPSS. Mr. Gokul Talele, Dataand Statistical Analyst was the facilitator for thesession.

34

Demo campaign on PASSPORT

A emo campaign of 'PASSPORT'- an internationaldreference multi-disciplinary database was launchedfor KCT BS faculty and students. The offer wassolicited from M/s. Euro Monitor InternationalBangalore. The first demo session was initiated andapproved through video conferenc ing onOctober 7, 2015. The database, as it is shall behandy for new age researchers and serves as analternative solution for Google search. The packageis also expected to reflect research data, articles andtweets about industry, global landscapes,economics and consumers across 80 countries.

Demo session on Satellite Based Courses

A demo session on "Satellite Based Courses" wasorganized for KCTBS faculty on October 20, 2015.Mr. Nishant of Live Tutor gave a live demo explainingthe technical requisites and conduct of on-linecourses. The demo included how to best connectteachers and students, in a two way interactiveplatform sing internet, Integrate Black Board,UPowerPoint, Audio, Video Teaching, Monitored,Measured evaluation using analytics model, Learnmultiple courses from a single location, Learnanytime (Video on Demand Solutions).

Workshop on Quality Systems

A workshop on Quality Systems was conducted onOctober 12, 2015 for the faculty of KCT BS byDr. Roji George, Professor & Associate Dean,Saintgits Institute of Management, Saintgits Collegeof Engineering, Kottayam, Kerala & Subject Expert -National Board of Accreditation. The purpose of theworkshop was to orient the faculty members onquality systems with special focus on NBAaccreditation. He highlighted that among thedifferent accrediting agencies, NBA and AACSB -Association to Advance Collegiate Schools ofBusiness are vital at national and international level,

Faculty Development Program on on December 2, 2015Disruptive Innovation

KCT Business School organized a one day FacultyDevelopment Program on Disruptive Innovation onDecember 2, 2015. 20 aculty members from KCT,fKCTBS and many engineering and usiness choolsb sparticipated in the program. The program introducedfaculties to the concept of disruptive innovation andhow to coach students to create disruptiveinnovation. The inimum viable business modelmwas introduced to the participants to help themmentor students from developing innovative ideasinto disruptive innovations.

35

Faculty lend their expertise to the outside worldDr. Mary Cherian, Professor Centre of Marketing,

Dr. Mary Cherian, was the session facilitator for Case Analysis for the orientation program for IIPGDM students (Textile/Apparel/Retail) of Sardar Vallabhai Patel International School ofTextiles & Management, Coimbatore on July 15, 2015.

Dr.P. Nalini, Assistant Professor, Centre of Marketing

Dr. P. Nalini was the resource person for the session on Creativity and usiness - the behavioralBscientist's approach in the Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp for final year students funded byEntrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmadabad Gujarat organized by theDepartment of Textile Technology, K , Coimbatore on July 31, 2015.CT

Dr. B Poongodi, Assistant Professor, Centre of Marketing

Deepa Manickam, Assistant Professor, Centre of HR

Deepa Manickam, was one of the hair person for KendriyaVidyalaya Air Force Station Sulur'scVidyalaya Management Committee Meeting on September 15 , 2015.

Dr Poongodi, trained the rural youth on Goal setting and Motivation jointly organized byBReliance Foundation and Nehru Yuva Kendra Dindigul on August 20, 2015.

Dr. Vijila Kennedy, Director

Dr. Vijila Kennedy was a member of the panel and speaker on “ Technology as an enabler inTeacher Empowerment “ in the National Summit on Quality in Education at CII Institute of Qualityat Bangalore on September 22-23, 2015

S Sangeetha Assistant Professor, Centre of Finance

S g lSangeetha, delivered a uest ecture on the topic Cost Output Relation at The Tips GlobalInstitute on September 28, 2015.

36

Dr. Poongodi, addressed 450 HSC students of PSGR Krishnammal Hr. Secondary School,BCoimbatore on Indian Economy - Then and Now on September 3, 2015.

Dr. S Jaisankar, Associate Professor, Centre of Operations

Dr. S Jaisankar facilitated a guest lecture on Application of Statistics in Business for PG Degreestudents of Dept. of Textiles and Apparel Design at Bharathiar Univ on October 1, 2015ersity

Dr.P. Nalini, Assistant Professor, Centre of Marketing

Dr. P. Nalini addressed 120 students of Department of Management Studies, K.S.RangasamyCollege of Arts and Science (Autonomous), Thiruchengode for a special lecture on the topicBusiness -Off- Line Vs On-Line on October 1, 2015

Dr.V Kannan, Professor, Centre of Operations

Dr.V.Kannan, was the hairperson for the Operations sessions during the '6th InternationalcConference on Banking, Finance, Business & Technology for Sustaining EconomicDevelopment in Global Market' conducted by Sairam Institute of Management Studies, Chennaion October 10, 2015

B. L . Lakshmi Meera, Assistant Professor, Centre of Entrepreneurship

B.L. Lakshmi Meera, was invited as jury at PSG CAS for an event organized by NativeleadFoundation. Nativelead Foundation, a non-profit organization for promoting new-age innovationorganized a business plan presentation for students as part of an entrepreneurial capacitybuilding program on October 10, 2015

B.L.Lakshmi Meera, was the guest speaker for the session on Entrepreneurship for WomenEmpowerment commemorating Women Entrepreneur's Day on November 20, 2015.

B.L.Lakshmi Meera, was the resource person for two technical sessions at Tamil NaduAgricultural University, Coimbatore on Business Model canvas for 25 agribusinessentrepreneurs on December 18, 2015.

B.L.Lakshmi Meera, chaired the monthly meeting of the Women Entrepreneurs, CoimbatoreChapter at Siema Hall, Race Course on December 19, 2015.

V.Kaarthiekheyan, Associate Professor, Centre of Marketing

V Kaarthiekheyan, delivered a lecture on the topic entitled Traditional Medicines in theInternational Arena – Interests and Conflicts at Coimbatore Management Association onDecember 21, 2015.

37

B L Lakshmi Meera, addressed the students at GVG Vishalakshi College for Women, Udumalpeton Supply Chain - the Competitive ool. The program was organized by the Department ofTEconomics with Logistics & Freight Management on July 27, 2015.

B L Lakshmi Meera was the resource person on the topic Business Plan Preparation for the EACseminar in KCT campus on July 29, 2015.

Faculty Club InitiativesKnowledge & Information Sharing Session (KISS)

� Mary Cherian facilitated a Knowledge andI n f o r m a t i o n S h a r i n g s e s s i o n o nAugust 18, 2015 on "Case Teaching &Analysis".

� Senthil Kumar A facilitated a Knowledge andI n f o r m a t i o n S h a r i n g s e s s i o n o nDecember 13, 2015, on “Extracting Citationsfrom Research Databases”.

� Goki lavani R faci l i tated a KnowledgeI n f o r m a t i o n S h a r i n g S e s s i o n o nDecember 18, 2015 on British EnglishCertification.

RESEARCH

Ph.D Viva-voce

Ph.D viva voce examination was conducted onDecember 18, 2015 at KCTBS; Mr.Karthikeyan RResearch Scholar of Dr.V.R.Neduchezhian,Professor & Centre Head, Centre of Financepresented his thesis titled “ A study on Problems &Challenges of Contract Farming in Poultry Industrywith reference to Western Tamil Nadu” to anelp

members Dr.Jabir Ali, Associate Professor andChairman, Centre for Food and Agri BusinessManagement, IIM-Lucknow and Dr.D.Geetha,Associate Professor, Avinashilingam Institute forHome Science, Coimbatore. General Public, acultyfmembers from KCTBS, other institutions andstudents of KCTBS were also present.

Research Scholars MeetThe research forum of KCT Business School meetsregularly every month on the third Saturday. Theobjective of the research scholars meeting aims atsharing of information and ideologies. This year the

forum has launched b:ok (bytes of knowledge)where knowledge relating to research areas isdisseminated for half an hour on varied topicsrelating to research

Date Topic Facilitator

Dr.RavichandranDirector of Experiential education, School of Management,

New York Institute of Technology, Abu Dhabi Campus, UAE

Research writingand Publishing

August 4, 2015

September 19, 2015

October 17, 2015

November 21, 2015

Using VPLS for thePath Analysis

G Power Analysis

Model Building usingAMOS

Dr.RamkumarPSG Institute of Management, Coimbatore

Dr.Poongodi BAssistant Professor, CoM, KCTBS

Dr.Sampath NagiDoctoral Scholar from BSMED

38

Funded Research Project� Dr. Poongodi B , Assistant Professor CoM is

one of the Co-Investigators under PrincipalInvestigator Dr. G.Ramakrishnan, TIFAC-CORE for the DST - SEED recommendedproject titled "Enhancing Livelihood of

Handloom Weavers through TechnologyUpgradation and Training in Samathur Block,Pollachi in Tamil Nadu". A funded project thetotune of INR. 11 lakhs.

Funded Project Proposal� Dr. Poongodi Assistant Professor, Centre ofB,

Marketing submitted a proposal to UGC forMinor esearch rants seeking funds to theR Gtune of Rs.2,95,300/=. The proposed research

work is on Social Media and InformationDissemination - A study among the paddyfarmers in the state of Tamil Nadu

� Dr. Nalini P, Assistant Professor, Centre ofMarketing submitted a Minor Research Project(MRP) proposal for UGC seeking funds to thetune of Rs 1,05,000/-. The proposed research

is on the topic Consumer Attitude on Impactof Plastic Bags usage and their Preferencestowards their Own Shopping Bags

Publications by Faculty1. M.Deepa and Premlatha.D(2015) published a

research article titled " A study on EmployeeEngagement in anufacturing ndustry withM Ireference to Coimbatore" in InternationalJourna l o f Current Research, Vol 7 ,Issue,06,pp.17070-17073, June 2015.

Impact Factor 5.349.

2. Dr.S.Jaisankar (2015) has published a Book

t i t led “Lean Techniques for QualityProduction” (in Tamil) ublished by VijayapPathipagam, Coimbatore in July 2015

3. Dr. Nalini and Dr. Jaisankar(2015) published a

paper titled "Moodle As An EducationEnabler Model For 21st Century Students”C Nat iona lon ference proceed ings ofConference on Emerging Education Models for21st Century Learner organised by Associationof Principals of College, Bharathiar niversity,UCoimbatore.

4. Dr. Nedunchezhian V R and SivaraamDuraisamy (2015)publish a paper titleded

“A study on the Impact of Technological

Readiness on Global CompetitivenessI n d e x ” i n t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a lo f E n g i n e e r i n g a n d M a n a g e m e n tResearch.Vol:5,Issue:4,pg: 18-26,August2 0 1 5 , I S S N ( O n l i n e ) : 2 2 5 0 -0758,ISSN(Print):2394-6962

5. Dr. Nedunchezhian VR and Hemalatha K

(2015) published a paper titled “An Analysis ofWeak Form Efficiency in Sectoral Indices:Astudy with reference to National StockExchange” in Global Journal for ResearchAnalysis. ol:4,Issue:7,July2015,pg41-V

44,ISSN:2277-8160. Impact factor-3.1218

6. Lakshmi Meera BL (2015) published an article

titled "Relationship between Lean Adoption,L e a n S C M p r a c t i c e s , I S O 1 4 0 0 1certification, Green SCM practices andOrganizational Performance An ExploratoryStudy in Manufacturing Industries” in theIndian Railways Institute of Logistics andMaterials management Journal - Year 2015,Vol XVIII, Issue - 01

39

7. Dr.V.Kannan (2015) published a paper titled

'A Study on Manufacturing ProcessImprovement in a Foundry Based atCoimbatore' in the Annamalai Journal ofManagement - Special Issue, October 2015 -page numbers 20 - 27 with ISSN 0974- 0406.

8. Senthil Kumar A & Dr.V.Srividya (2015),

published a paper titled "Are the EmergingEconomy Stock Markets Inter-linked?”, inthe conference proceedings of the 8th NationalCon fe rence on Bus iness Resea rch ,

PSG Institute of Management, Coimbatoreduring November 20 & 21, 2015, p8.

9. Senthil Prakash. P and Dr. Anitha J (2015)

published a paper titled ”Job Embeddedness– A study on Existence and difference in thelevel of Fit, Link and Sacrifice” in theAcademia: An International MultidisciplinaryResearch Journal. Published by South AsianAcademic Research Journals. Vol.5, Issue.8,A u g u s t 2 0 1 5 ; I S S N : 2 2 4 9 - 7 1 3 7 .

Impact Factor: SJIF2013=5.099

Research Paper Presentations in Conferences� Dr. Nalini and Dr. Jaisankar (2015) presentedS

a paper entitled "Moodle s n Educationa aEnabler Model For 21st Century Students”in National Conference on EmergingEducation Models for 21st Century Learner.organised by Association of Principals ofCollege, Bharathiar niversity, CoimbatoreU onAugust 1, 2015

� Dr.V.Kannan, presented a paper entitled 'AS t u d y o n M a n u f a c t u r i n g P r o c e s sImprovement in a Foundry Based atCoimbatore' which has been adjudged as theB R Pest esearch aper at the 6th International

Conference on Banking, Finance, Business &Technology for Susta in ing EconomicDevelopment in Global Market' conducted bySairam Institute of Management Studies,Chennai on October 9, 2015.

� Senthil Kumar A , and Dr Srividya V, PSGIMauthored and presented a research paper titled

"Are the Emerging Economy Stock MarketsInter-linked?” at the 8th National Conferenceon Business Research, PSG Institute ofManagement, PSG College of Technology,Coimbatore on November 20 & 21, 2015.

Research Presentation by faculty� A. Senthil Kumar, presented his doctoral

research work progress proceedings in theFaculty Forum for Research at PSG Institute ofManagement, Coimbatore on October 16, 2015

� Lakshmi Subbramani, presented a project onthe topic “Need for creative approach usingmodern technology for improving financialliteracy” at the 7th BRICS Students' Meet andInternational research conference organizedby Association of BRICS Business Schools(ABBS) along with Federal Financia l

Monitoring Service, November 11 -13, 2015 atNational Research Nuclear University “MEPhI”,Moscow

Dr. Vijila Kennedy, attended the pre-forum�

workshop on November 26, 2015 at the SixthUnited Nations supported PRME (Principles forResponsible Management Education) AsiaForum on November 27-28 at Goa, 2015Institute of Management and presented a paperon how social responsibility is embedded inKCT.BS curriculum.

40

COLLABORATIONWe Connect with the Industry

Consultancy

As a part of strategic imperatives, KCT BusinessSchool has undertaken a consultancy assignmentfor Ramesh Marketing authorized distributor forExxon Mobil Lubricant oil Pvt. Ltd. India (a Fortune500 company listed in top 3). Ramesh Marketing isone of the leading strategic distribution partner forExxonMobil's automotive lubricants in this part of thecountry. Ramesh & Co group has a legacy of over 40years in automobile financing in Mettupalayam,Coimbatore; it is also known for its strong presencein retail of tyres, batteries and wheel alignment andwheel balancing services with its subsidiarycompany Ramesh Agencies.

The company approached KCT Business School fora consultancy to identify and suggest suitable andpotential automobile spare-parts retailers those whosatisfy the expectations of Mobil Lubricant oil andtheir interest towards Mobil dealership. Spare partretailers located in 49 major and minor cities acrossthe state surveyed.was

The assignment included a survey to identify theretailers. 30 students re involved in the process ofwedata collection and analysis which help them toedgain real-time learning experience. Based on theoutcome of the survey, a report submitted to thewascompany.

Exxon Mobil Lubricant il Pvt. Ltd. IndiaO

A consulting assignment on Designing andDeveloping HR Systems for Synetics AutomationSolutions Pvt Ltd, a Robotics and Automationstartup was initiated on September 15, 2015. Theassignment carried out in three phases till mid ofwasNovember 2015. The first phase was to understandthe company's current business, their functioningand their processes followed. The next agenda wasin helping the company to evolve their strategicplans. A Visioning Exercise was held onOctober 7, 2015 where the directors of the companyand a team of employees jointly with the guidance ofthe KCT BS faculty team worked together to identify

the vision, mission, values and strategic thrust areasfor their company. The session was facilitated byProf. S. Swaminathan, Head CoCR. The outcome ofthe visioning exercise will be used as the foundationon which the ensuing phases of the consultingassignment to be structured.was

Visioning for Synetics Automation Solutions Pvt Ltd

41

Executive Development Program

The Executive Development Program forAries Agro Limited on Management andLeadership, Level 3 commenced onOctober 26, 2015. Level-3 of the EDP focusedon Management and Leadership - AdvancedLevel, which include project presentation,dimplementat ion of new managementtechniques and br inging changes &t rans format ion in the organ iza t ion .T h e p r o g r a m w a s i n a u g u r a t e d b yDr. Vijila Kennedy, Director, KCT BusinessSchool on October 26, 2015. The programended on November 7, 2015 with agraduation ceremony. On successfulcompletion of the 6 months program theparticipants were given certificates at a formalCertificate Award Ceremony on November 7,2015 at KCT Business School, Coimbatore.Dr. B. K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairmanof KCT, presided over the ceremony andDr. Rahul Mirchandani, Executive Director ofAries Agro Pvt Ltd,Mumbai was the ChiefGuest.

Management & Leadership forAries Agro Limited, Mumbai,

Management DevelopmentProgramBuilding Excellence at Workplace forCameron Manufacturing (India) Pvt Ltd

The Fifth edition of the ManagementDeve lopmen t Prog ram on Bu i l d ingExcellence at Workplace was organized fromJuly 29 to August 5, 2015 for middle levelmanagers of Cameron Manufacturing (India)Pvt Ltd. It was a weeklong comprehensiveprogram to build the behavioral skills of theparticipants. The inaugural session hadguests f rom Cameron, Mr.Ni ran jan,Executive Director and Mr.Nasser Ali Khan,Head HR Cameron Manufacturing (India) PvtLtd.There were 21 sessions that were

42

covered in the week long ManagementDevelopment Program which included twodays of outbound training. The program hadthree different orientations of self, team andorganization. The program brought togetherboth internal and external facilitators whohelped the participants to make the most ofthe . TheManagement Development Programfeedback from the participants proved that theprogram was effect ive in bringing atransformation in their attitude, behaviour andpeople approach at the workplace.

Agri Business Models and Market Analysis for Agripreneurs

Directorate of AgriBusiness Development,Tamil Nadu Agricultural University andKCT Business School, Kumaraguru Collegeof Technology joined hands and organized aManagement Development Program onDecember 18, 2015 at TNAU. Around 30start–up entrepreneurs who have venturedinto Food and Agribusiness were trainedon success fu l and v iab le bus inessmodels and market analysis by experts.Lakshmi Meera BL, Assistant Professor &Center Head – Centre for Entrepreneurshipexposed the participants to viable businessmodels. Dr. Jabir Ali, Associate Professor atIndian Institute of Management, Lucknow,Center for Food and Agri BusinessManagement deliberated on the potential inagribusiness sector and ways to reach themarket. his program w sponsored by GOIT as– DST Technology Business Incubatorscheme being operated in the Directorate ofAgr i Business Development, TNAU,Coimbatore

43

Training Program

Training program on Lean Management was conductedfor the suppliers and service providers of Indoshell CastPrivate Limited, Coimbatore on August 08, 2015 at IIFhall, Coimbatore. During the inaugural address,Mr.Ganesh Jagadeesan, Joint Managing Director ofIndoshell reiterated the importance of Lean Managementand explained how it is being practiced in Japaneseindustries. The program focused on the usage of leantools which increases productivity, improves quality,eliminates waste, reduces cost and enhances customersatisfaction. Through the training program, theparticipants were able to learn and apply lean tools suchas 5S, Poke-Yoke, JIT, Visual Controls, Cellular Layout,VSM, SMED in their workplace and the methods ofidentifying and eliminating non-value added activities forreducing cost and increasing efficiency.

Appropriate pedagogy was designed by the Operationsteam comprising of Dr.V.Kannan, Dr.S.Jaisankar andMr. R.Vinayagasundara The 45 participants whom.attended the program felt that it was highly useful andinformative to implement lean tools in their organizationfor achieving process and productivity improvement.Certificates were distributed to the participants by Mr.Ganesh Jagadeesan, Joint Managing Director, IndoshellCast Private Limited and Professor Swaminathan Head –Corporate Relations of KCT Business School

Lean Management

Soft skill Training for Marketing Executives of India Post

Centre of Marketing, conducted a one day trainingfor the Marketing Executives of India Post. Thetraining program was inaugurated by Prof. S.Swaminathan, Head onCorporate RelationsOctober 9, 2015. The training program was carriedout with an objective of equipping the participants toface the present dynamic market trend with newselling techniques. The training platform educatedthe participants on various tools to manage thecustomers & services confidently. The workshophad four modules which included ProductPositioning and Marketing Strategies, TransactionAnalysis, and Social Media Marketing. The course

content was developed by KCT Business School inconsultation with the India Post Authorities. Thetraining sessions were conducted by the facultyteam of Dr. Mary CherianCentre of Marketing.Professor & Centre Head, Dr.B.Poongodi, Ms.Latha.A, and Dr. P. Nalini , Assistant Professors',Centre of Marketing assisted by the students.

44

Industry Experts Share Knowledge with Students

Date Facilitator Topic

Dr.ThamaraiselvanAssociate Professor, Department of Management Studies

NIT-Trichy

Saravanan RamdossCo-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Tricely

Shobhana MadhavanAssociate Professor, Amrita School of Business and

Author of Cross Cultural Management- Concepts & Cases

K. ThangarajTrainer,Lotus Knowlwealth Pvt. Ltd.Mumbai

Kapilan Chakravarthy(HR&Admin) Greeno Tech Solutions, Coimbatore

Sarath NairCluster Head - HDFC Bank Ltd

Agri Business Credit- Working Capital Financing, Tamil Nadu

D. EregamaniAsst General Manager & Head – TQM,

Carborundum Universal Ltd., (Murugappa Group), Hosur

Vikas ChawlaFounder CEO-@socialbeat India

K Badri NarayananChartered Accountant , Partner M/s. Badri & Vijay

N.R.R.VijayakumarExpert-generalist, ounder of Aequitas Global, BangaloreF

R.V AnandSenior Manager (Sales & Imports) Lily Enterprises Pvt, Ltd

Soundararajan.VHead - L&D

Maria AntonyDeputy Manager

Learning and Development of Elgi Equipments Ltd, Coimbatore

Basavaraj DhulappanavarDirector of Operations (India energy) and Director of ontinuousC

mprovement (Corporate), Circor Energy Ltd, CoimbatoreI

Dr. J. ShanmuganathanChief Manager of Kotak Life Insurance co. Ltd

Dr. B.K. Krishnaraj VanavarayarChairman, KCT, Coimbatore

V. NandhagopalSenior Manager – Production,

Indoshell Cast Private Limited, Coimbatore

Aravind ThangamPartner, Paul & Aravind Chartered Accountants, Coimbatore

August 13, 2015

August 14, 2015

September 1, 2015

September 10, 2015

September 12, 2015

September 14, 2015

September 21, 2015

September 23, 2015

October 19, 2015

November 14, 2015

November 14, 2015

November 14, 2015

November 17, 2015

November 20, 2015

November 21, 2015

November 21, 2015

December 8, 2015

December 16, 2015

December 18, 2015 Mr. Srinivas SastriChief Human Resource Officer at Sakthi Group, Coimbatore

Prof. AyyaswamyFormer Director, RBI

Basics of Digital Marketing

Marketing Metrics and Analytics

Corporate Strategy -Concept to Execution

Business Across Cultures

Capital Markets & Mutual Funds

Employee Outsourcing throughJob Portals

Institutional and Trade Credits

Supply Chain Management

IFRS & Indian Accounting System

Personal and Professional Ethics

International Consumer Behavior

Measuring Training Effectiveness

Management Practices in theGlobal Scenario

National income and its' Relation withConsumption, Investment & Savings

Eternal Values for a Changing Society

Production Planning and ControlStrategies

Cost Accounting in ManufacturingFirmsMonetary Policy and its implicationon Indian economy

Change Management

45

We Connect Across the Globe…� Dr. Vijila Kennedy participated in the 5th Euro-

BRICS conference and the Euro-BRICS YoungLeaders Summit organized by LEAP/E2020.The onference titled “Regional Integration as acModel for XXIst Century MultiPolar GlobalGovernance” held in June 8 9, inwas - 2015Helsinki, Finland. She presented a paper on“Student Mobility and Multicultural GlobalCitizenship”. She also visited St. Petersburg,Russia along with the summit delegates.

� To establ ish an associat ion wi th theTel Aviv University, Dr. Vijila Kennedy visitedTel Aviv University in June 2015 and haddiscussions with the Deans and Heads of theDepartments

� Prof. Gadi Ariav, Head-Max Perlman Centre forGlobal Business, Tel Aviv University Israel wasin the campus on August 6-7, 2015. His visitfocused on promoting & encouraging theentrepreneurial spirit and ideas of the students.He inaugurated LEED the entrepreneurial clubof KCT on August 6, 2015 and also facilitated aF a c u l t y D e v e l o p m e n t P r o g r a m o nEntrepreneurship on August 7, 2015

� 7th BRICS Students' Meet and Internationalresearch conference organized by Associationof BRICS Business Schools (ABBS) along withFederal Financial Monitoring Service, held fromNovember 11-13 , 2015 at National ResearchNuclear University “MEPhI”, Moscow wasattended by 2 faculty and 5 students of II MBA(Batch 2014-16).The core objective of theevent, was to invite students and faculty ofB- schools from BRICS countries to join handsin furthering business education. Theconference also focused on the followingobjective

� Exchanges of students� Exchanges of faculties� Joint academic programmes� Joint management and entrepreneurship

development programmes.

� Seminars, workshops and conferencescomprising participants from BRICS

The conference started with an inauguralprogram followed by project presentation bystudents from different colleges on topicsconnected to the risks and threats forthe BRICS economics. On day two scientists,a c a d e m i c p r o f e s s o r s , b u s i n e s srepresentatives presented their various viewsand ideas in seven different sessions alongwith two moderators for each session.Representatives from India got a chanceto visit the Embassy of India and metMr. P. S.Raghavan, Ambassador of India andMs. Anjali Pandey, Ministry, Embassy of India.

46

ALUMNI

Alumni interaction with Students

Around 12 alumni were invited to address thestudents of Batch 2014-16. Each batch was orientedby two alumn to prepare the students for the newiacademic year on August 1, 2015 as part of thePlacement Assessment Camp. They oriented themregarding the placement preparation and variousskills they will have to develop during this semesterperiod.

Recharge program for Batch 2014

Five alumni interacted with students of new batch2015-2017, initiating them to the KCT.BS way of lifeand life after MBA.

Orientation Program for Batch 2015

As part of Global Alumni meet , KCTBShad an interaction session with Alumni onDecember 20, 2015. The faculty and students joinedthe discussion forum. The alumni shared their views

and experiences with the students. The alumnimembers contributed on industry expectation,activities to be included in the courses, thoughts oncontinuous improvements etc.

Alumni Meet

ENTREPRENEURIAL INITIATIVES

Transforming Engineers into Entrepreneurs - TheWay Ahead for a Developed India, at the CII -India@75 Confab was held on August 3, 2015,Coimbatore. The esteemed delegates of theconclave were KrishnarajVanavarayar,Dr. B KChairman Mr. M Manickam, Vice Chairman and,E x e c u t i v e C h a i r m a n , S a k t h i S u g a r s ,Mr Shankar Vanavarayar, Joint Correspondent,Dr. R S Kumar, Principal Kumaraguru College ofTechnology, Mr.Ashok Bakthavathsalam, ManagingDirector, KG Information Systems Private Ltd. Theconclave was attended by hundreds of students,alumni, delegates from educational institutions,industry and faculty of Kumaraguru College ofTechnology.

Mr.KrisGopalakrishnan, Past President of CII,Member Trustee, India@75 foundation and theCo-founder and Former Vice Chairman Infosys Ltdaddressed the students on change and the bigtransformation including fundamental changes in theindustries like Automobile, Health Care because of“Information Technology . He also reiterated that”through these changes new business innovationsare created, new jobs are created and existingbusinesses are transformed.

CII - India@75 Confab:Transforming Engineers into Entrepreneurs - The Way Ahead for a Developed India

LEED Club Inaugural

LEED club of Kumaraguru College of Technologywas inaugura ted on August 6 , 2015, byProf. Gadi Ariav Head of Max Perlman Centre ofGlobal Business, Tel Aviv University, Israel. Hedelivered an inspiring speech on innovation andentrepreneurship.

The Presidential address was delivered by JointCorrespondent invoking the students to utilize theplatform to launch startups. Akila Murali, ClubPresident in her address expressed the pastachievements and efforts of the club, and presentedthe future plans. She also introduced her team to the

forum. JayaKrishna. A. Club Coordinator deliveredthe vote of thanks.

48

A Technopreneur Mr.Gopal Koratana, FounderYR Report from the Great Atlanta Area, USA hasacquired a unique blend of technological,operational, entrepreneurial experience. He sharedhis journey with 30 students from KCT andKCT Business School and motivated them to createan impact to our society on August 18, 2015. Heshared his experience in conceptualizing the visionto resolve the social issues of the country and histravel back to India to launch Y Report. HeRprovided the students with the opportunity to launchthe app in the college campus as a case study.

Session On Make A Difference

Seminar on ENACTUS

Ms. Anitha, Program Manager – Enactus south zoneaddressed 180 I MBA students ( atch 2015-17) ofBKCT Business School on August 20, 2015 She.introduced the forum to the audience. Founded in1975, the Enactus organization began in theUnited States. Enactus India operates as asubsidiary of Enactus Worldwide and is one of 36countries around the world that comprises Enactus'spremier business and higher education network.

Enactus India works with leaders in business andhigher education to mobilize university students tomake a difference in their communities whiledeveloping their skills to become socially responsiblebusiness leaders.

Young Inspiring Talkby Mr.Santosh Karnananda

T h e s p e a k e r f o r t h e d a y w a sMr.Santosh Karnananda, founder and director ofmeraenglish.com. 200 students and facultymembers of KCT and KCTBS participated in theevent. The talk was on how one should choose his orher career and how to bridge the gap betweeneducation and employability. The biggest mythsabout career-earning money or drawing a fixedmonthly salary were discussed. The basic definitionof career was then explained briefly with the help ofthe Maxwell's Hierarchy which comprised of thebasic needs, safety needs, social needs, esteemneeds and self-actualization.

49

Another new initiative of KCT.BS, en-talk - a weekly talk series, spearheaded by Lakshmi Meera was launched from September 16, 2015.Mr. Gopala Krishnan, CEO Visual Marketers, shared his entrepreneurialexperiences with the aspiring entrepreneurs of andKCT Business SchoolKumaraguru College of Technology. 23 engineering and managementstudents actively participated in the same. Mr.Gopala Krishnan energizedthe audience with his experience and journey as an entrepreneur. From aschool boy who couldn't draw his biology records to an introvert in collegeinto a visual marketer and motivational trainer.

en-talk: real people, real stories

The Centre for Entrepreneurshipo r g a n i z e d a w e b i n a r b yP r o f . R a j e e v R o y o nOctober 10, 2015. The topic forthe session was “Should I worryabout my business model orbusiness plan?” 50 students fromKCT Bus iness Schoo l andE n g i n e e r i n g a t t e n d e d t h ewebinar . The webinar wasorganized for the students tointroduce them to Business Model/ plan and its importance for aStartup. It was a great opportunityfor s tudents to l is ten to ar e n o w n e d p r o f e s s o r i nEntrepreneurship education.S tuden ts l ea rn t t he bas i ccomponents of a business planand steps to develop one for theiridea.

Webinar on Entrepreneurship

KCT Business school, in association withwomen entrepreneurs - Coimbatore chapter,o rgan ized a workshop on Bus inessMantra's or Women Entrepreneurs onfOctober 29, 2015.Dr.Radhika MeenakshiShankar, Startup Consultant for MSME's fromHyderabad deliberated a intensive workshopon various business challenges faced bywomen entrepreneurs and provided tactics togrow their business by product, process andbusiness model reengineering. Womenentrepreneurs from various industries liketechnology, education, retail, fashion,manufacturing, cosmetics participated in theworkshop.

Business Mantra's for Women Entrepreneurs

The objective of the Blue Ocean Dialogue was to get thestudents to identify “Blue Oceans” (Untapped/UnexploredWhite Spaces in a Market/ Sector) it could be a product or aservice, something they feel should be there but isnonexistent. It then gives the 'Students' the basic skills totake 'Ideas' or 'Desirables' and get them filtered into Do-ables. The focus of this session was on “SocialEntrepreneurship”. The event was organized on November17, 2015 in partnership with CII YI and the session facilitatedby Mr B Krishnamurthy, Founder and Managing Director,Best Known Methods & Solutions Pvt Ltd. Sixty I MBAstudents (Batch 2015-17) participated in the session andparticipated with good interaction and innovative thinking.

Session on Blue Ocean Dialogue

KCT Business School in partnership with Forgeorganized MVB PRIMER Workshop for KCT Alumnion December 12, 2015 at FORGE.FACTORY, KCTTech Park. With a strong commitment toc o n t i n u o u s l y e n h a n c e a n d d e v e l o p t h eentrepreneurial skills of our engineering andmanagement alumni, this workshop was organized.20 KCT Alumni participated in the workshop atFORGE - the innovation accelerator and learnt the

Startup CEO Tool Kit developed using the MVB(Min imum Viable Business) methodologychampioned by FORGE. The workshop offeredeffective methods and tools to help aspiring first-genand family business entrepreneurs build InvestableStartups. The workshop was mentored byVishwanathan Sahasranamam, Vice President-FORGE.

MVB PRIMER Workshop

STUDENT WORLD

Orientation Program of Batch 2015

The 11th batch of KCT Business School wasinaugurated on August 17, 2015 at the RamanandhaAdigalar Auditorium. 180 privileged students ofBatch 2015-17 attended the welcome program alongwith their parents. The program started with awelcome address by Mr.Gowtham K, CEO, StudentAssoc ia t i on KCT Bus iness Schoo l . Theoverview of KCT was addressed by Dr. R S Kumar,Principal, KCT.Mr. Shankar Vanavarayar, JointCorrespondent, ,Kumaraguru College of Technologygave the inaugural address, followed by KCTBusiness School 2015-16 Blue Prints by Dr. VijilaKennedy, Director, The wordKCT Business School

'15-Fresher's Learning & Immersion Program

of gratitude was given by Mr. Surabi C, COO,Student Association, . heKCT Business School Tparents and students had a one-on-one meetingwith the faculty mentors at KCT Business Schoolfacility. This was followed by an orientation programwith the seniors on Life @KCT Business School andBuddy mentoring, followed by Alumni talk.

Preparatory courses were conducted for students ofbatch 2015 from August 20- 29, 2015. The objective

of the courses to bridge the gap in learningwere theprocess of MBA curriculum. There were four basicpreparatory courses like Basics of Accounting,Basics of Computer skills, Case Analysis and Basicsof Statistics. The four courses covered the basicconcepts and it was done in an applied mode. Thestudents were prepared to exhibit the learning'sacross various courses they undergo in MBA.

Student Association 2015

The Student Association Body of KCT BusinessSchool aims at fostering leadership and theorganizational skills of the students. The SAsupports student collectives and clubs in theirinitiatives. The selection of the new members of theStudent Association body involves submission of

resumes along with a plan to be achieved for therespective post. This was followed by a panelinterview with the faculty on August 11-12, 2015.The new members of the Students Association fromII MBA (Batch 214-16) forming the primary cabinetare as follows

Position Name Roll. No.

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Officer – KCT Campus Collaborations

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Placement Officer

Placement Committee Member (Training)

Competency Enhancement Coordinator

Buddy Mentoring Coordinator

Academic &Forum Executives

Human Resource

Marketing

Finance

Operations

Systems

League Executives

Quiz

Community

Environment

Adventure & Photography

Cultural

Gowtham. K

Praveen Kumar. M

Surabi. C

Hari Vimalesh. D

Syed Parvez. S

Divya. K

Abinaya. N

Gitanjali. G

Manikandan. E

Pavithra Vanshi. S

Ramesh Babu. E

Abinaya. G

Aravind Kumar.J

Sarumathi. N

Vichitra. U

Shiva Pragash. V.K

Sowmiya.S

14MBA101

14MBA013

14MBA085

14MBA102

14MBA136

14MBA006

14MBA064

14MBA041

14MBA126

14MBA129

14MBA054

14MBA091

14MBA093

14MBA056

14MBA028

14MBA025

14MBA059

52

Sl.No. Position Name Roll. No.

The list of SA Office Bearers from Batch 2015-17 are as follows

Chief Communication Officer

Placement Committee Member

KCT Collaboration Coordinator

Alumni Coordinator

Official Designer

Batch Manager- J1

Batch Manager- J2

Batch Manager- J3

Batch Manager- J4

Batch Manager- J5

Batch Manager-J6

Community

Environment

Adventure & Photography

Cultural

Sports

1

2

3

4

5

Batch Coordinators

6

7

8

9

10

11

League Coordinators

12

13

14

15

16

SreeKumar.S

SaranyaDevi.R.A

Snegha.V.R

Vishnu Sakravarthy.N

Agnel Sujin.A

Shangeetha.R

Dharsha.K.S

Vinothini.V

Abirami.M

LinkshaVeni.S

Pradeep.S

Roselin.G

Abinaya.M

Aravind.M.S

Adheena Mohamed

Nirmal Harindiran

15MBA077

15MBA004

15MBA155

15MBA090

15MBA094

15MBA186

15MBA112

15MBA126

15MBA172

15MBA174

15MBA053

15MBA019

15MBA091

15MBA115

15MBA160

15MBA049

Student Association Inaugural

The mission of StudentKCT Business SchoolAssociation is to provide opportunities for studentsto pursue their personal, professional and academicgoals. To enhance their educational experience,students are encouraged to participate in groupactivities that allow them to develop their inter-personal and professional skills, learn leadershipand organizing skills, and also serve the community.The premier antecedent of our student association isto involve and evolve in all aspects.

The Student Association inaugural ceremony washeld on October 13, 2015. It was an honor to haveShri. T. Rajkumar, Executive Director, Sakthi GroupTextile Division as our chief guest. The presidentialaddress by Shri. Shankar Vanavarayar and our chiefguest address reinstated the above mentionedmission.

SeminarMarketing to the Millennials

The seminar on “Marketing to the Millennials” wasorganized on November, 02, 2015 for faculty andstudents of Management specializing in Marketing.Prof. Dr. Anandakuttan B Unnithan, Associate

Professor from IIM Kozhikode was theresource person for the first session on

“Social Influence on Consumers” where hedeliberated on various points pertaining to consumerbehaviour in the prevailing society citing examplesfrom the leading brands and business houses. Heinteracted with the participants in identifying thevalued customer in the current competitive marketarena. The second session was deliberated by

Mr . Venka ta raman i on “Unders tand ingConsumers”. Mr. Venkatramani is the ChiefMarketing Officer from ABT Foods, Coimbatore.Video cases were screened and the resource persondeliberated on the importance of understanding,earning and retaining the Consumers. The session

continued with Mr.Venkataramani taking theparticipants through many existing and relevant

industrial examples and initiatives taken by

the leading companies. A video case on theevolution of Mobile Phones and Tooth Powder wasinteresting. The resource person threw light onsegmentation and targeting strategies adopted bythe top companies. The session came to a close withthe uestion and nswer ession. Around 60q a sparticipants that included MBA students specializingin Marketing from KCT Business School, Sri KrishnaCollege of Technology, SNS College of Engineering,SNR Sons College of Arts and Science, CMSAcademy of Management &Technology, RathinamInstitute of Management, Sasi Creative School ofBusiness, Coimbatore and Kongu EngineeringCollege, Erode participated the seminar.in

TRAINING & PLACEMENTThe Placement Competency Assessment Camp forstudents of Batch 2014-16 was conducted onJuly 31, 2015. 144 students attended the meetingalong with their parents, which was a welcomemeeting for the II MBA students. The meetingcommenced wi th a welcome address by

Mr.Praveen Kumar, Chief- KCT CampusCollaborations KCTfollowed by pening emarks &o rBusiness School achievements 2014-15 byDr.Vijila Kennedy, Director. She briefed about thevarious activities of the B school and the efforts takento bring about all-round development in students.

54

Prof. Swaminathan, Head-Corporate Relationsspoke about the importance of Training &Placements and the role that each stakeholderneeds to play for achieving the objective.

Dr.Gokilavani, Lead-Trainer briefed about rainingtplans and highlighted the World Bank Report aboutthe employability skills.The meeting concluded withv o t e o f t h a n k s f r o m M r . H a r i V i m a l e s h ,Chief Placement Officer. Parents met the mentors oftheir wards to sign Placement Undertaking & Anti-Ragging Affidavit; they were briefed about theacademic performance of their ward.

The Assessment camp on August 1, 2015 startedwith an objective to assess the competencies of thestudent in the area of Aptitude, Business & DomainAwareness evel, Effective riting, GroupL WDiscussion and Extempore Talk, so that they canset their SMART goals and work towards it. Theentire day was scheduled for the assessment andfaculty experts in each domain assessed thestudents based on the pre- irculated ubrics of eachc ractivity

TRAININGWorkshop on Employability

Employability training program was conducted for154 students of IIMBA batch 2014-16 by Mr.Krishna,CEO, Match Point on August 19-20, 2015 toincrease the employment opportunities for thestudents of . The sessionKCT Business Schoolfocused on various hurdles faced by the studentsduring the interview process and how one shouldovercome it. Common interview questions werediscussed and orientation was given to answereffectively.

On day two, orientation was given to students ofHuman esource and inance domain, to increaseR Ftheir chance of getting selected in their respectivedomains. The speaker shared his experiences toinculcate various best practices to be followed during

the interview process and in the work place.

55

Workshop on Resume Writing

Center of Corporate Relations organized a sessionon Resume Writing on August 26, 2015 for 146Students of II MBA (Batch 2014-16). The sessionwas to address the students about the placementactivities and esume writing skills. The speakerrMr. Saravana Prasad Lead Corporate Relations,spoke to the students on the process of lacementsPand Placement uidelines, the importance of theGCareer Guidance Centre and on Resume riting &WResume Format.

Company Specific TrainingApart from the regular training mock interview was,conducted on September 16 & 19, 2015 to preparethe students for Colgate Palmolive campus hiring.Company specific training for Colgate Palmolive wasinitiated by the Career Guidance Cell andDr. Mary Cherian Professor & Centre Head, , Centreof Marketing, conducted the training for 77 II MBAstudents who had registered for the ColgatePalmolive campus hiring

Company specific training was also conducted forJaro and Redington in terv iewEducat ionprocess . Cen t re fo r a reer ounse l l i ngC Cinitiated student driven training headed bySyed Parvez II MBA (Batch 2014-16) and theactivities conducted were roup discussion andgdebate on October 26 & 28, 2015

Career GuidanceA placement meeting for the students of IIMBA( B a t c h 2 0 1 4 - 1 6 ) w a s c o n d u c t e d o nDecember 3, 2015. The eeting was to update themstudents about the upcoming companies forthe ensuing month and their participation towardsthe same. The meet ing was cha i red byProf. Swaminathan, Head Centre of CorporateR e l a t i o n s , f o l l o w e d b y C e n t e r H e a d s ,M r . S a r a v a n a P r a s a d , L e a d C o C R a n dDr. Gokilavani R, Lead Trainer. 76 students of Batch2014-16 participated in this meeting

Mock GDPI for batch 2014-16Centre of Corporate Relations conducted a MockGDPI on(Group Discussion & Personal Interview)November 21-22, 2015 for II MBA Students. Around152 students attended the 2 days session and got lotof inputs from industry experts. Mock GDPI includesa session on Business News nalysis, GroupAD iiscussion and Personal Interview by ndustryexperts. Following were the industry expertsinvolved in Personal Interview: Mr. Mohan Raj –Head, ROTN- SME-Assets, Hero Fin Corp( Unit ofHero Motors) ;Mr.Yoganandan – Sr. Manager andProcess Head, Operations, DELL ;Mr. Ganesan –HR Manager, L&T Valves; Mr.Shanmugam- AGM-HR, Labour and Industry Law, Premier Mills;Mr.Muralidharan- Manager- Finance; Casa GrandeLtd ;Mr.Muthukumar-MD,Launchpad. This sessionwas conducted by external partners Launchpad.

InternshipReliance foundation recruited 2 students of II MBAbatch 2014, Sabarish and Sivaganesh for aninternship program. The company was very

appreciative of these students who executed andcompleted their intern study within the stipulatedtime.

Student AchievementsPaper Presentation by students

The II MBA students of Batch 2014-16 participatedand presented papers in the InternationalConference on "Innovative HR Practices inCorporate World" organised by Rathinam College ofArts and Science on August 19, 2015.

� Abinaya.N (14MBA064) presented a paper on"HR Practices in Mahindra",

� Bhuvanachandriga.S (14MBA035) presented apaper on "Perception of Freshers' onEmployer's Branding",

� Madhumitha.B (14MBA071) & Monisha Uma .A(14MBA047) presented a paper on "GreenHRM - A growing Partner For Sustainability".

Student Forums

Finance Forum October 12, 2015

October 16-17, 2015

October 19, 2015

December 12, 2015.

IPO

Save Smart Finance Expo

“Financeopedia” an Accounting Word hunt

IPL bidding game

HR Forum November 25 December 2, 2015& Group Dynamics

Operations Forum November 18 & 19, 2015 5 S Game

Beer Game

System Forum December 12, 2015. Technology or Business nd Lifef a

Leagues & Clubs

An awareness program on Organ and Blooddonation was conducted on September 12, 2015Mr. Pradeep Krishnaraj, Co-Chairman - HealthVertical, Yi Coimbatore Chapter &Director, GeneralMotor Products and Mr. Saran S, Executive MemberYi Coimbatore Chapter facilitated the program. 135

students of KCT BS attended the session. Thefacilitators enlightened the students on the myths &benefits and the process of rgan donation.oStudents also volunteered to donate organs andregistered for the same.

The student Leagues and Clubs of KCT.BS active during the semesterwere

Community League

56

Cultural League

The inauguration of the Cultural League was held onSeptember 12, 2015. The objective of this event wasto bring out the talents of the new batch of students.16 contestants from I MBA (Batch 2015-17) took partin the event, which included solo & group singing,dance and games.

Rhythm '15 was held on December 4, 2015 by thecultural league. The objective of this program was togive a platform to the students of I MBA(Batch 2015-17), to exhibit their talents. Theprogram included competitions in Solo ong, Groupssong, Solo dance, Group dance, Spot dance andskit. The event had special jury members -

Choreographer's Vivek Nair Reality Show, Movies,and Anish Owner Studio 8 Dance Company,

Sports League

The ports League ofS KCT Business Schoolorganized a Chess and Carrom competitionbetween I & II MBA students on September 19,2015. The winners of Chess re Mansoor – J5 (IweMBA) and the runner up was Vignesh R (II MBA).The winners of the Carrom competition reweSanthosh and Samuel-J5 (I MBA) followed bySreekumar S-J6 and Aravind M S-J4 (I MBA).

T e a m K N I G H T Z , t h e s p o r t s l e a g u e o fKCT conducted a series of CricketBusiness SchoolLeague matches between the seniors and juniorsfrom November 26 – December 7, 2015.There weretotally 8 teams, 6 teams from I MBA(Batch 2015-17)and 2 teams from II MBA(Batch 2014-16). From thejunior’s batch, teams were formed on the basis oftheir batches. Fixtures were decided on the basis oflots. There were 9 members in each team and it wasa 50 balls (8.2 overs) match. Four teams wereselected to play the semi-finals after the preliminaryround matches. The final match was between J1 andS2. .S2 were the winners of the cricket league match

Letz football' was a 5's Football played amongstMBA students in which there were 8 teams, 6 teamsfrom I MBA (Batch 2015-17) and 2 teams fromII MBA (Batch 2014-16). There were 4 matches inthe preliminary round out of which the 4 teams whowon were selected for the semi finals and then thefinals. The final match was played on November 15,2015 between J5 and J6 of batch 2015, in which J5were the winners.

57

Environmental League

The nvironmental eague activity was conductedE Lon September 12, 2015. A "Drawing competition" onfour different themes related to environment wasorganized. The themes included topics such asDeforestation, Beauty of Nature, Verge of Extinctionand Future 2050.The participants brought out theirpiece of art based on the themes which they hadchosen. The best drawing was displayed on thenotice board. 18 students of I MBA participated in theevent.

A workshop on “Basic Digital Photography " wasorganized on September 12, 2015. The workshopwas facilitated by Mr. Ganesh Iyer, a CommercialPhotographer, and Mr. Prakash Ramakrishnan andMr. Krishnamurthy, Freelance Photographers.Around 65 students of KCT Business Schoolattended the session. Mr. Ganesh Iyer educated thephotograph enthusiasts on iso, flashlight, shutterspeed; types of photography like wedding, aerial,wildlife, etc.

Photography League

Special DaysONAM CelebrationStudents of in an effortKCT Business Schoolto make the exis t ing cul ture susta inablecelebrat Onam with all aesthetic sense onedSeptember 1, 2015. Students began the day withPookolam. This was followed by various culturalevents like song, skits and dance in the traditionalKerala way.

Teachers' DayOn September 4, 2015 students of KCT BusinessSchool celebrated Teachers Day by showing theirappreciation to the teaching &non-teaching staff witha small token of appreciation

58

Engineer's Day

The Centre for Operations of KCT Business Schoolce leb ra ted the 48 th Eng inee r ' s Day onSeptember 15, 2015 in association with IQUBE andKCT. Various events were conducted for thestudents to showcase their talent and this year eachdepartment conducted events for students based ontheir specialisation.

KCT students participated in Solve-Business Schoolit event. The event consisted of presenting abusiness case and arriving at a solution. Theparticipants found the event interesting andchallenging. 30 students of 2015- 17 batchparticipated in the event .

World Standards Day

As part of the World Standards Day Celebrations,operations specialization students of 2014-16 batchvisited industries and service organizationsof repute in Coimbatore (IndoShel l Cast,Texmo Precision Castings, Best Engineers,Mc Donalds, Sri Kannapiram Mills, to name a few) onOctober 13, 2015 with an objective to understand theproduct / process standards being adopted by themand to acquire practical insights of the variousstandards applicable to the industry. During the visit,students had an opportunity to study standards likeISO/ DIN/ BIS/ QMS/ EMS being followed for theirproduct / process and their relevance. A presentationon the various standards being followed by theindustry visited was made on October 14, 2015. Itwas a great practical experience for the students tovisit industries and learn about the standards andtheir importance.

On October 19, 2015, “Financeopedia” anAccounting Word hunt event was organized byfinance forum to celebrate the InternationalAccounting Day 2015. As a part of it, 19 studentteams from Batch 2015-17 participated andexhibited their talent. There were 4 rounds of eventsnamely Bug finder; rack the chit; rack the trick andC CHide and Seek. Students of Batch 2015-17, Vinothini& Sasirekha were the winners and Sowbarnika &Subashini were the runners of the event. Sabarish,Padhmanabhan, Rajkumar, Nancy Backiya of Batch2014-16, coordinated this event.

International Accounting Day