Bengaluru: The IIM Calcutta Alumni Association (IIMCAA) Bangalore Chapter organised a business meet titled 'IIMConnect 1.0' for IIM Calcutta alumni at the Hotel Lalit Ashok in Bangalore on Saturday. The event featured star IIM Calcutta alumni business leaders, including entrepreneurs, enterprise leaders, founders and VCs, and senior government functionaries. It was attended by over 175 alumni and 2 professors from the Institute.
Meena Ganesh, cofounder and chairperson of Portea Medical, delivered the keynote address on 'Building for India’s $5tn economy'. The Fireside Chat with Ajay Bisaria, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Canada hosted by K Ganesh, serial entrepreneur and promoter of several Indian unicorn startups, provided first-hand insights and enjoyable anecdotes about the intricacies of geopolitics, diplomatic relations, and international business particularly with respect to Pakistan and Canada.
The first Panel Discussion on 'Tech Disruptions' shed light on the challenges and opportunities faced by software and technology businesses due to the rapid disruption and rise of emerging technologies like Generative AI and Machine Learning. The panel consisted of Sanjeev Singh, Principal Commissioner, Income Tax Dept; Rajan Sethuraman, CEO of LatentView Analytics; Arvind Singhal, COO of Vedantu. Srikar Reddy, Executive Vice Chairman of Sonata Software, hosted this panel discussion.
The next Panel Discussion on 'Scaling non-tech businesses' was about the rhythm, challenges, and best-practices of experimenting, learning, and scaling non-software businesses. The panel consisted of U Sekhar, founder of Galaxy Surfactants; Ajoy Chawla, CEO of Jewellery Division, Titan; Sunay Bhasin, CEO of MTR Foods. Pratap T P, founder of Qwikcilver, hosted the discussion.
The 8 breakout sessions in the afternoon focused on topics of interest such as VC Financing, Building a Personal Brand, Exploring Whitespaces in the Indian Economy, Sustainability and ESG and Thriving in a VUCA world. These sessions fostered a free-flowing exchange of ideas and helped individuals connect for further conversation. Tanishq by Titan was the title sponsor of the event. This was the first event of its kind in the IIMCAA community.