IIM Calcutta’s International Business Festival
Intaglio 2011
The hallowed gates of IIM Calcutta will be open to aspiring managers from around the world, as its annual B-school meet, Intaglio, kicks off on the 6th January. This year’s edition sees Citibank as title sponsors for the meet, along with a host of other big names like Microsoft, ONGC, ITC, Wildstone and McKinsey & Co. roped in as event sponsors.
Mr. Mallikarjuna Rao, CTO, Aircel, will address participants in the inaugural ceremony on Thursday. Manoj Dugar, Director & Head, Treasury & Trade Solutions Product, Citibank India will also be attending the ceremony. This will be followed by a show on handshadowgraphy and sand art by renowned artist Mr. Amar Sen, who has performed at various national and international events.
Intaglio 2011 will see a host of speakers sharing their experiences among students, including award-winning director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Dr. Pronab Sen (Principal Advisor, Planning Commission of India), Mr. Shantanu Khosla (MD & CEO, P&G India). Intaglio has also sought to bring to light the two most exciting new developments in the India story, that of women leaders and social entrepreneurship. Speaking about these topics are Delhi Chief Minister Mrs. Sheila Dikshit, Ms. Vini Mahajan (Joint Secretary to PMO), Mr. Solomon Prakash (Country Director (India), Ashoka Foundation), Mr. Jay V. Sutaria (Founder & Chairman, Bhookh.com) and other giants in these spheres.
This year, Intaglio sees a unique array of events, starting off with Antyodaya, in which Indian and foreign students working in the social sector get an opportunity to showcase their ideas to improve the lives of the less fortunate population of the country. A panel of Corporates, Experts and Academicians will judge the ideas for feasibility and vision, and provide valuable insights. This truly global event sees competition among candidates including a Harvard and UC Berkeley alum who was an early volunteer of Barack Obama’s campaign, a former Former White House intern & Project Manager, a student who has worked with Chicago Climate Exchange & the UN Foundation and current research fellows at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). The event is being supported by ITC which has plans to incorporate worthy projects in its CSR initiatives. The four day fest is set to see greater participation from students abroad with Mr. Peter H. Brooks, a graduate from Harvard University who has also served in the US Marine Corps, coming down to participate in the public policy making event 'Chanakya'.
Through another initiative towards a better society - ‘Sunehra Kal’ (also part of ‘Intaglio Cares’), Intaglio has chosen to set aside a corpus of INR 4 lakhs for providing primary education to the girl children of rural families in backward areas. In its golden jubilee year, this will be IIM-C’s tribute to the cause of education for all and women empowerment.
Another event sure to grab eyeballs is ‘The Assignment’, a business reality show sponsored by UTV Bloomberg where participants have to perform in unconventional business scenarios, right from managing a taxi service to manning a fast food centre on a busy evening. The event will be televised by Bloomberg UTV in a special edition of their hot new series eponymously called “The Assignment”.
The list of innovative and exciting event goes on with 'The Empires of the Mind', which is a strategy based game involving concepts of game theory. Best teams from across the nation will be pitted against each other as they try to maximize the effectiveness of election campaign, efficiently utilize their funds, plan their campaign strategies and decide their strongholds. At stake - the ultimate prize of victory in the national elections and showing the leaders of our country how it’s done.
One of the major attractions in the fest is the Corporate dinner to be held in Taj Bengal. The gala dinner will have top officials from Citibank who will interact with students and share their experience with the budding managers. The dinner would also be an opportunity for the finalists of 'Olympus' – one of the flagship leadership events of Intaglio – to talk about why they deserve to be the international champion in the hunt for business leaders. Finalists include representatives from CEIBS, China, XLRI, Jamshedpur and the six IIMs.
The festival also gives the opportunity to students in and around Kolkata to get a flavour of the various talks and workshops being held under the banner Student Leadership Programme and the Intaglio Experience aimed at B-school and undergraduate students respectively.
After the jam-packed events, talks and competitions over the duration of the fest, Intaglio'11 gives the participants a reason to let their hair down and celebrate with the grand finale of the fest being a performance by renowned bollywood singer Kunal Ganjawala, making it a night to cherish for a long time.