Participants of ISB’s youngest and the first off-campus postgraduate management programme for working professionals, PGPpro, organised their inaugural leadership summit, ‘Abhyudaya – An Awakening’, on May 4, 2019, in New Delhi. Abhyudaya was conceptualised and executed by students of PGPpro Class of 2019. The word Abhyudaya means sunrise or a new beginning, and the conference commences a series of leadership conclave that will be organised by the PGPpro cohort going forward.

The conclave was inaugurated by Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises in the presence of Dean Rajendra Srivastava. 

Being associated with ISB for several years as a member of the Executive Board, Rakesh Bharti Mittal reiterated the vision of ISB and the importance of giving back to society – Rashtra Dakshina. In his keynote address, Mittal advised the students to have a social agenda, while making sure that we are ready to contribute to an advanced world in the future. 

Dean Srivastava, in his address, commended the efforts of PGPpro participants and welcomed industry speakers and ISB community. He said, “ISB’s PGPpro combines learning rigour with the ease of setting the pace of one’s learning. Today with Abhyudaya, PGPpro participants have demonstrated their determination and conviction to excel, yet again. By assembling unique panels, they have made this conclave a success.”

The conclave saw three insightful panel discussions. Professor Philip Zerrillo, Deputy Dean - Corporate and International Relations, moderated the first panel discussion on ‘Marketing to Millennials’ with Shubhradeep Guha, Director – Google; Somnath Datta, Managing Director – Johnson & Johnson; Siddhartha Bindra, Franchise Head – BIBA; Sandeep Singh Arora, Vice President – Samsung. The panel discussed ways to make oneself or one’s brand available to the millennials. The panel opined that businesses today need to strike harder to make themselves stay relevant to the millennials and curating engaging content is the way forward.

The second panel had an enriching discussion on ‘Startup Ecosystem in India’. The panellists Pankaj Bansal, Cofounder and CEO – People Strong; Deepshikha Anand, Founder – SpeakIn; Rohit Kapoor, CEO – OYO Real Estate; Ankur Warikoo, Founder – Nearbuy.com spoke about how the concept of a startup has become ambiguous in today’s world. The panel unanimously agreed that while the ecosystem is encouraging and supporting, one should always be prepared for the failure and have a plan B. The panel emphasised on the importance of networking and that along the way the team one builds is of utmost cruciality.

The concluding panel discussion on ‘People, Planet and Profit: The Triple Bottom-line’ revealed that firms need to create more worth and not more jobs. Ester Martinez, CEO and Editor-in-chief – People Matters, moderated the discussion with Harjeet Khanduja, Vice President – Human Resources – Reliance Jio; Palash Srivastava, Deputy CEO – IIFCL Projects; Shilpa Ajwani, CEO – Unomantra; Sunil Bajaj, Partner – Risk Management and Assurance – E&Y on the panel. The Dias pointed out the need for accountability at the firms’ end towards its people and that the systems need to become sustainable, inside and out.

The day-long conclave concluded on a retrospective note for the audience and Falguni Jha, PGPpro Class of 2019, delivered the vote of thanks.

PGPpro is an Executive MBA-equivalent programme for mid-career professionals who want to elevate in life, enhance their leadership and managerial skills but are not in a position to leave their jobs. 

More on PGPpro, here.