Business Conclave 2021 is inaugurated by Amitabh Kant
22 SEPTEMBER, 2021: ‘Adapt to emerging trends’ – this was the theme of Business Conclave 2021, an event organised by students of IIM Bangalore’s one-year MBA – the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management, on 19th September. This one-day virtual summit had policymakers, economists, CXOs and startup founders participating in a series of engaging conversations.
In his inaugural address, IIMB Director Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan emphasized the reality of changing times and the uncertainty such flux brings with it and spoke about the critical skills that a manager would need in such a scenario.
In his address, Professor Ashok Thampy, Chairperson, EPGP, spoke about the pace with which new technologies are being adopted. He gave the example of communication technology. “To get to 100 million users, telephone-tech took 75 years, mobile communication was present for 16 years, and high speed internet services took just 170 days,” he said, adding: “Changes are waves in the sea, and we have to be ready for tsunamis”
In his keynote address, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, shed light on the emerging trends that would drive India’s growth story. Listing the potential growth of the digital economy and disruptive tech as key drivers, he said there is a need for good quality tech entrepreneurs.
Shanti Ekambaram, Group President Consumer Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank, spoke on ‘Transformational Leadership’ and focused on employees and customers, technology adoption, talent management, marketing, utilization of data, leadership, health and wellness, partnerships, operational efficiency, and ESG.
The panel discussion on ‘Sustainable Thinking: Why doing good is good for business?’ was moderated by Prof. PD Jose, Chairperson, Strategy area at IIMB. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group, and PS Narayan, Global Head, Sustainability and Social initiative, Wipro Limited, discussed social conduct of businesses, sustainability, circular economy, competencies which future companies shall need and the correct performance metrics.
The panel on ‘Evolving consumer preferences: challenges, innovations and opportunities’ was moderated by Prof. Ashis Mishra, faculty in the Marketing area and Chairperson, Admission and Financial Aid, IIMB. The panellists, Devendra Chawla, MD & CEO, Spencer's Retail & Nature’s Basket; Mohit Kampani, CEO, Hypermarkets, More Retail, and Manish Tiwary, Vice President – India Consumer Business, Amazon, discussed new business models, and future trends.
The session on ‘What it takes to ride a B2B Unicorn?’ was moderated by Prof. K Kumar, faculty in the Entrepreneurship area and Dean of Alumni Relations & Development at IIMB. Nitin Jain, Co-founder, OfBusiness, Souvik Sengupta, Co-Founder, Infra Market, and Rahul Sharma, Co-Founder, Zetwerk, discussed the importance of having the right business model, the need to pivot with changes in the market and the needs that businesses addressed.
The Fireside Conversations had sessions by Arun Maira, Chairman of HelpAge International (also the Ex-Chairman of BCG India) speaking with Prof. MS Sriram from the Public Policy area at IIMB on government policies and growth of the economy; Professor Ananth Narayan, faculty at SPJIMR, and expert on international banking and financial markets discussing financial and monetary policy with Prof. Chetan Subramanian, faculty in the Economics and Social Sciences area at IIMB. The discussion touched on topics such as efficient management of NPAs, the importance of reducing imports, the need for growth in the informal sector, and liquidity issues.