Chemistry graduate Nachiketa Madaan on exploring new career avenues amidst a diverse batch of PGDM students.

Nachiketa Madaan graduated in Chemistry (Hons.) from Miranda House in Delhi. She believes this added considerable value to her knowledge base. Yet Nachiketa also felt she needed to grow further as an individual. She thought a PGDM programme would fill that gap. Thankfully she didn’t have to look far – she got selected for the programme at FORE School of Management, New Delhi. Nachiketa asserts it’s a new start, something she wants to build on. “I believe the path to success through Chemistry is a lot longer than an application-based programme like PGDM. I feel it is the right fit for me, as it will be ideal for my all-round development.”

Why FORE

Once Nachiketa had made the decision to pursue a PGDM programme, the renowned B-School in the National Capital seemed like the obvious choice. She received positive feedback from a relative, an alumnus of FORE School of Management. But she remains clear about the reasons behind enrolling with the institute. “First, the various committees for special interest groups can polish my leadership qualities. Then, the FMG curriculum has a compulsory foreign language course in the second year. The International Immersion Programme, where you get a taste of studying in a foreign environment, was another big attraction.”

 Classroom diversity and its advantages

Nachiketa’s batch comprises students from diverse educational backgrounds. It leads to interesting conversations not only on campus but also in the classroom. She remembers several occasions when her batch mates would have completely unique and fresh takes on case studies in the classroom. It would invariably start a highly stimulating and enriching discussion. “Diversity is crucial for consistent growth of all students. I remember, once we had to create a new augmented product for a Marketing project. Being part of a team of six with completely different backgrounds helped us take care of all aspects of the product launch.”

Focus on future goals

Nachiketa believes her B-School is polishing different aspects of her personality through various initiatives. For her, one of the highlights of the programme so far has been the committee selection process. She admits it was stressful and hectic but that it also helped to bring out her true potential, which might have otherwise remained untapped. “I am learning something new every day. I am also learning things about myself and seeing an all-round change in me. At the end, I feel I will be ready for a strong corporate career. I want to pursue Finance as my major and Marketing as minor, as I see myself as an Investment Banker in future.”

Moving from Guwahati to the National Capital, Mumtazuddin’s journey of hopes and aspirations.

Growing up in Guwahati, Mumtazuddin Fauqani was used to serene surroundings, unpredictable weather, local delicacies, and the company of loved ones. He has traded it all to upgrade his skills and knowledge for the future. That goal has brought him to FORE School of Management, New Delhi where he is pursuing PGDM. Talking about the journey, he says, “In life you have to be open to new experiences. You might have your beliefs and likes, but so do others. To respect them is the biggest lesson moving away from home teaches you.”

Stepping out of comfort zone

Mumtazuddin admits that it isn’t his first stint away from home. He has worked with Yes Bank as Branch Service Partner in the past. However, that experience only bolstered his decision to add more value to his knowledge base and resume. “I want to realize my dream to become a futuristic global business leader. My previous stint taught me to learn through experience and experimentation. I want to bring the same attitude to my B-School, one of the best management institutes in the country, as I get groomed as a professional.”

Why FORE

According to Mumtazuddin, studying in the National Capital has been an icing on the cake as it offers him exciting student life. He has the opportunity to broaden his horizons in the metropolis, get cross-cultural learning, and push himself in a tough environment with intense competition. But the main focus is on his B-School’s reputation. “There is focus on all-round development of students, which I am keen on. The B-School strongly believes in giving practical experience and exposure to the ways of the industry. Moreover I expect to get the best placement opportunities.”

Focused on the future

Given its standing and strategic location, FORE School of Management has a strong industry network. Mumtazuddin believes it will translate into several industry experiences through the duration of the programme, making him ready for the corporate world. He has plans of his own for the future. “Within a few weeks of my programme I got a perspective on subjects and where my interests lie. For me, it is going to be a Dual Major in Finance and Marketing. I will look for middle management jobs in these streams in a socially responsible corporate organization with a global vision for growth. Location doesn’t matter; I am used to changes in location.”

Jevin Kuriakose on moving from Kerala to Delhi for his PGDM and never looking back

Anyone who has ever been to Kerala will know exactly what Jevin Kuriakose means when he says he was used to living in a comfort bubble. God’s own country, as it is often referred to, is stunning, calm, and serene. It represents a sea change from the hustle and bustle of North India, especially the capital city. But Jevin decided to make the transition as he enrolled for the program with FORE School of Management, New Delhi. Today he relishes every experience the change brought him. “I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and experience a different culture and way of life. I knew it would be a tough journey, but it’s going to be worth it.”

A mixed bag of emotions

When Jevin made it through the selection process for the B-School, he knew he wanted to take the plunge. Besides being one of the top B-Schools in the country, FORE School of Management offered the experience of studying in exciting NCR. But letting go of ease and comfort wasn’t easy. “When the realization dawned that I was moving to Delhi, I had mixed feelings. I knew I was going to miss home, my friends and family. But a new place, new life, and the opportunity to make new friends was also exciting. I knew the first couple of months would be difficult because of the language issue, but I wasn’t going to turn back on my decision.”

Exploring his new life to the fullest

Interestingly, it didn’t take long for Jevin to feel welcomed on campus and to open a new chapter in his life. He made friends with his batch mates, several of them being local students. He explored the capital city and surrounding areas with them, living his student life to the hilt. “After the 1st term exams, some of us went to Kasol, Manali and had a great time. I believe everyone changes with the environment they are in – the peer group and the experiences they have. I call it self-development and look forward to that journey.

Ideal preparation for a professional career

At his B-School, Jevin is getting acquainted with different cultures and backgrounds. He is being influenced by a strong peer group with versatile experiences and expertise in individual domains. Through his work with different committees and projects, he has also learned the value of team work, multi-tasking, and other skills which will prove useful in future. “I am interested in branding, positioning, and market research. So I will major in Marketing. I have also focused on Global Systems and Operations because I understand the ongoing technological revolution. I don’t want to limit my career and am open to possibilities.”

Tanvir Singh Virdi on taking things to the next level as Student Council President at FORE School of Management, New Delhi.

Business schools are becoming more student-driven in nature. But what does this add to the student’s MBA experience? For someone pursuing MBA, what better way to demonstrate leadership skills than drive your B-School forward as the student council head. We had a free-wheeling chat with Tanvir Singh Virdi, the newly elected Student Council President at FORE School of Management, New Delhi. Here are excerpts from the interaction.

Q: Tell us a bit about your educational background and your reasons to pursue an MBA?

A: After completing BBA from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, I joined work and continued for almost 3 years. Though there are opportunities for graduates in the corporate world, there comes a point in time where your growth gets saturated and you are not able to move ahead. MBA provides you that push to reach positions from where you can actively participate in crucial decision making, contribute your ideas, and take initiatives along with your team for the growth of the organization.

Q: One current topic that’s been in the news and on which you have a strong opinion – can you share your stance?

A: We all live in constant fear of the unknown. While many of us make peace with it, work hard, and take life as it comes, there are many who look to find the easy way out. In the process they become so gullible that anyone can take advantage of their fear and drag them into the fallacy that they have a solution to all their problems. This is what feeds the popularity, blind faith, and following of God-men like Gurmeet Ram Rahim in our country.

Though it’s easier said than done, I believe we need to realize spirituality is about finding your inner peace. That you yourself need to find ways to bring about change, to counter the turmoil life puts you in, rather than having someone provide you tailor-made gibberish to solve all problems. Be it money, power, fame, or lust, a person who claims to do that would always have an ulterior motive.

Q: How does it feel to be the president of the student council at your business school? Did you work towards it?

A: Realizing your batch mates believe in your vision, ideas, and personality and elect you as their representative, gives you the biggest sense of achievement. Both Karan (Vice-President) and I now feel responsible to live up to the expectations. We try to work as hard as we can to contribute to the sustainable growth of our business school, with initiatives that would not only benefit our batch but also future ones.
Frankly, I won’t say I specifically worked towards it. As part of the Student Council in the first year, I tried to do the work assigned to me to the best of my abilities. But I did not limit myself to that. While working, I also tried to understand the areas where we need to work to take our B-School to the next level and how I can contribute towards it.

Q: We all talk about student driven campuses and activities in business schools. To what extent do these activities help in the growth of students? Can you give examples from your personal experience?

A: While at my job, my supervisor once told me: you may sit down for long hours studying the SOPs we provide you and go on asking for assistance from the people in your team, but unless you get your hands dirty, on-the-job, and start doing things on your own, you would never learn the nuances of the job. This holds true for the activities in business schools. Experiential learning is what helps the growth of students when the campuses and their activities are student driven.

Considering we are all going to be managers soon, these activities help us understand the importance of time, teams, budgets, and resources, and how to work towards optimizing the benefits that you can draw out of them. I say this from my experience as a member, and now the President, of the Student Council, that what we as members have learnt through our experience is more than what any book can teach us.

Q: What is the structure of student clubs at FORE. How many clubs are there? Can you define each one of them in a sentence?

A: All the student clubs which we, at FORE, call committees, have been designed such that each of them has a distinctive work portfolio but can share their resources and knowledge among each other. We have 10 core committees and 4 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that fall under the purview of Student Affairs and form the Student Council, with the President and Vice-President at the helm under the guidance of Chair, Student Affairs.

Committees
Antar: Helps FOREians make a difference, one initiative at a time
CED: Ignites the Entrepreneur in you
CID: Bridges the gap between college and corporate by providing a common platform to interact
FORE Connect: FORE’s Connect to the world beyond its walls
FSCD: All work and no FSCD, would make FOREians dull
FORE Tech: You need not be a geek to be a techie at FORE
FORE Word: Giving wonderful words to all our initiatives
PEC: Gets FOREians career ready
Nexus: The ‘genesis’ of festivity, fun, and frolic at FORE, with a heart full of enthusiasm
Think Tank: Grey matter enthusiasts, always pushing FOREians to keep their thinking caps on

SIGs
FEFF: Makes the complex world of finance and economy easier to fathom
FOSTRA: Strategizes and operates to bring out the nuances of Operations and Strategy
SIG-HR: Through dialogue and participation removes myths surrounding the HR function
SIGMa: Practically implements all things ‘Kotler’ and spreads them across FORE

Interim Placements Report for PGDM Class of 2015-17 at FORE School of Management

New Delhi, 15th December: FORE School of Management (FSM) is cruising towards another successful placement season for its 2015-17 PGDM Program. Blue chip companies, strategy roles, IT sales, BFSI and e-wallet companies make their presence felt.

The current placement season is seeing a strong interest from blue chip companies who have, traditionally, been strong recruiters at FORE. HUL, Reckitt Benckiser, Asian Paints, ITC, Maruti, etc., to name a few.

Banking and Financial Services (BFSI) companies, like ICICI, SBI, CRISIL, Darashaw etc. also showed up in strong numbers. Consulting companies like Deloitte, EY, KPMG showed up and so did the technology consulting companies like Cognizant, Genpact, etc.

And then came the dividends of demonetization. Given that last year, some of the E-Commerce companies had deferred their joining dates, E Commerce companies were not expected to hire in big numbers. However, because of demonetization, companies like Paytm, MobiKwik, Free Charge are hiring in bigger numbers and E-Commerce companies, expecting a brighter outlook going forward, are making a late dash for FORE students.

Another sector that is reaping from demonetization is the BFSI sector and FORE is seeing the recruitment numbers of Banks getting revised. In this sector, the client base is increasing, the quantum of money in bank deposits is increasing, loans are expected to go up, the number of high net worth customers is expected to go up – all this means more recruitment from B Schools. Banks which had already recruited from FORE are evincing interest to come for second round.

Another positive trend is the increase in number of strategy profiles offered on campus. FORE’s academic focus on Strategy is paying dividends. IT Sales is another area that has traditionally attracted a lot of companies to come to FORE. This year even Gartner came for IT Sales.

Last year at FORE had seen a peak salary of 21 Lakhs per annum and an average CTC of 9 Lakhs. This year, given the windfall of demonetization, placements are expected outshine the previous year.

Convocation XXIII

Team Swachh Plastic wins Business Plan competitions one after the other

Have you heard of  ‘Biodegradable Plastic’….?!

Yes…Team Swachh Plastics’ whole idea of business is to provide a range of biodegradable plastic products for both industrial & household consumptionby manufacturing it indigenously!

Now isn’t it in sync with our Prime Minister’s mission of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan  and Make in India campaign….

In fact the idea at its core is inspired by a willingness to change people’s opinion about plastics, as being only a cause of environment degradation. The team wants to take this revolutionary concept of biodegradable plastic  or bio-plastics which can biodegrade easily and thus have minimal environment impact. The growing utilization of plastics in industrial and consumer applications combined with increased consumer awareness has led to an increased demand for bio- plastic products. The biodegradable polymers could be an alternative to the conventional plastic materials. These polymers being biodegradable can be disposed in safe and ecologically sound manner, through disposal processes like composting, soil application and biological waste water treatment.

The business plan of Swachh Plastic has been developed by the first year students of FORE School of Management– Rahul Gupta, Pranay Thakur, KunjGudhka and Pooja Agarwal. The team’s entrepreneurial mind set got activated in the true sense not when the idea came to their minds but when they actually got to put their thoughts into action during the workshop on Business Idea To Business Plan  organized  by Prof. (Dr.) Anita Tripathy  Lal, Prof-In-Charge  Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) FORE.

The team was later motivated by the Intra College B-Plan competition, “Concoct”, held in the Institute on Nov 04, 2016, where  the team ‘Swachh Plastic’ came as winners. The B-Plan competition in reality  helped the team members to shape their Plan as  per the feedback from the judges. The Jury  comprised of an Investor, Entrepreneur and a Faculty Member. Based on the  suggestionsfrom the experts, the team modified their plan and began participating in Inter College B-Plan Competitions

The first competition outside college was “Bizooka 2.0” held at Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB), Pune during December 23-24, 2015. Out of the 80 teams that had applied 8 were called for the final on-campus rounds. After a rigorous two days of presentations and answering questions from an expert panel of judges, the team Swachh Plastic stood second. Incorporating the learnings from their experience at SIIB and refining the idea further they went into the next B-Plan competition “Next Big Venture” at IMT Ghaziabad held on January 16, 2016. In the final on-campus round Team Swachh Plastic was adjudged at first place amongst the  16 invited teams which included IMI Delhi, IIT Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad and Bits Pilani.

Participation in these various B-Plan competitions has not just been about securing a position. The knowledge and the learnings from these events have been immense. The experience of  developing ‘Ideas into a  Business Plan’ and improving the plan further after every competition and feedback has been worth every bit, as it has been enriching and rewarding for all the team members.

As Foreians’ we are extremely grateful to our Institute FORE School of Management and thankful to the team of Centre for Entrepreneurship Development for giving us a wonderful opportunity – The idea that once was a seed, has now grown into a beautiful plant. Hopefully someday, it will be an oak, mightier, majestic and standing the test of times.

                                                                               -TEAM SWACHH PLASTIC

Yet Another Year of Successful Placements at FORE

February28, 2016|New Delhi: FORE School of Management (FSM) has had another successful placement season for its 2014-16 PGDM Program, which had 213 eligible students.

Final Placements this year were both faster and better says Prof. Rajneesh Chauhan, the Chairman Placements. Better was manifested in a higher median CTC, better quality of Companies and multiple job offers for students. The highest domestic offer this year was a Pre Placement Offer with a potential CTC of Rs 21 Lacs.

This year, FSM followed a mantra of ‘The first offer need not be the best offer’. Students who got an offer of less thanRs. 7 Lacs per annum were allowed to sit for subsequent companies so that the students could improve their placements. Consequentially, both the average and median CTC this year are close to touching Rs. 9 Lacs per annum, a substantial improvement over last year.

Apart from higher salary packages, there has been an improvement in diversity of recruiters as well. In terms of roles, Consulting offers represented 40% of the total, Marketing 40% and Finance 10% while in terms of industry sectors, consulting made up 50% of the offers, 20% in BFSI and 10% in E-Commerce.

Bain & Co., Accenture, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, E&Y from the consulting domain have all hired from FORE this year. JP Morgan, Bank of America, SBI, Kotak, HDFC, ICICI are a few of the companies that have recruited for Finance and related profiles. The e-commerce firms like Amazon, Quikr, GroupOn (NEAR BUY) and India Mart, to name a few is also an indication of change in profile of firms hiring this year – reflecting growth of this sector. The hiring traction from traditional recruiters also remains strong. FMCG, Durables and IT have returned year after year to recruit from FORE. Hindustan Unilever has returned to FORE to pick up students for both Sales and Finance profiles. Asian Paints, Hector Beverages, Maruti Udyog and many others, like every year visited the campus and hired students. In fact, encouraged by the performance of FORE students last year, Cognizant and Infosys have hired in bulk.

Some of the other highlights of placement season were:

• FMCG sector is known for offering high salaries. The highest offer this year was a PPO with a FMCG company where the potential CTC is Rs. 21 Lacs per annum.
• HUL undertook not one but two recruitment drives and selected multiple students in a confirmation band of Rs. 15 Lacs plus.
• Cognizant made four offers of Rs. 14 Lacs plus.

“With the relatively low fee at FORE School of Management (compared to peer group), the Return on Investment continues to remain high and the payback period short (payback period = 15 months),” states Prof. Rajneesh Chauhan. Further he says that “Students with diverse backgrounds come to FORE and the final placements trends show that placements are equally good across diverse background. So whether it was the FMG vs. IMG, female vs. male students, or engineers vs. non-engineers, – there was hardly any difference between these groups in terms of CTC.”

TEDxFORESchool’s second edition engages and enthralls

TEDxFORESchool’s second edition with the intriguing theme of “Heads or Tails?” was held on 30 January 2016 at the FORE School of Management, New Delhi. This theme was selected in order to highlight the many facets of a situation or argument. The saying “There are two sides to every coin” perhaps best sums up this theme.

The speakers this year included many luminaries from diverse fields.

• Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who has been conferred with ‘Best Chef of India’ award by the Government of India.
• Gaurav Marya, popularly known as the “Franchise King” of India.
• Pavan Duggal, a practicing advocate at Supreme Court of India with a specialization in Cyber and E-Commerce law.
• Ram Verma, a leading Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) trainer.
• Gaurav Tiwari, India’s most famous paranormal investigator.
• Anish Kohli, a telecom professional with 20 years of experience.

The day began with Gaurav Tiwari, Founder and CEO of Indian Paranormal Society, holding the audience in rapt attention with his talk about the nether world. Mr. Tiwari shared his experiences, notably his time investigating paranormal activity in a morgue. And of his experience researching the “nether world”, he said,”A spirit is nothing but an entity that survives in this physical world”

The artistic interludes were also something to look forward to. The Indian Jam Project not only performed but also shared some of their experiences. Members Tushar and Samay believe that fame and money should not hinder the process of making art.Discussing their experience in the formation of The Indian Jam Project, they mentioned that there are two elements to success:one is to find what sustains your living, and the second is being true to yourself. Overall, they stressed the importance of maintaining harmony between these disparate parts.

Next, Ram Verma emphasized the importance of communication in his quest for bringing about change and helping people.”Once communication is defined for oneself, it defines the quality of life. A better ability in healing leads to a better quality of life”, he explained.

Gaurav Marya talked about his entrepreneurship experience. He enlightened the audience about the two essential elements behind a successful enterprise: one is the right idea, and second is the execution team. In addition, he sees optimism as vital in the execution of an idea. Ultimately, he says, it comes down to how a business approaches its operations: “Businesses that are built to sell don’t sell, the ones that are built to run, do”.

The audience was on its feet with Mohnaa Shrivastava’s performance of ‘Raqs Sharqi’ and tribal improvisation forms of ‎Belly Dancing. After her performance, she stressed that passion and will power will aid you in pursuing what you love.In her thirst to learn belly dancing, she says, “Though I’m studying law, it is because of my will power that I find the energy and strength to practice belly dancing. When I dance, I feel like the most powerful being in the world.”

Anish Kohli, Director of Telstra India, talked about the need for balance. Addressing the theme of the day he said, “Control is very important and the heart of control is balance.”The ‎Yoga enthusiast also trained the audience to experience the awakening of the Kundalini.

Nitish Bharti, world-famous Indian sand animation artist and a finalist at ‎India’s Got Talent-2012 and semifinalist at ‎Asia’s Got Talent 2015, showcased some of his brilliance and dedicated his performance to the late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Sanjeev Kapoor – Best ‎Chef of India – talked about his journey as a Chef. He said, “It takes courage to be different, when one can do so many conventional things.” The Khana Khazana magic-maker finds sharing knowledge the most valuable gift. He feels it is his responsibility to teach everyone in a way that makes them successful. At the end of his talk, he left everyone with the thought that “In their success lies my success.”

True to its theme, the conference instilled attendees with the belief that taking the uncharted road by seeing beyond the obvious is what is often needed for success.

TEDxFORESchool’s second edition engages and enthralls

TEDxFORESchool’s second edition with the intriguing theme of “Heads or Tails?” was held on 30 January 2016 at the FORE School of Management, New Delhi. This theme was selected in order to highlight the many facets of a situation or argument. The saying “There are two sides to every coin” perhaps best sums up this theme.

The speakers this year included many luminaries from diverse fields.

• Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who has been conferred with ‘Best Chef of India’ award by the Government of India.
• Gaurav Marya, popularly known as the “Franchise King” of India.
• Pavan Duggal, a practicing advocate at Supreme Court of India with a specialization in Cyber and E-Commerce law.
• Ram Verma, a leading Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) trainer.
• Gaurav Tiwari, India’s most famous paranormal investigator.
• Anish Kohli, a telecom professional with 20 years of experience.

The day began with Gaurav Tiwari, Founder and CEO of Indian Paranormal Society, holding the audience in rapt attention with his talk about the nether world. Mr. Tiwari shared his experiences, notably his time investigating paranormal activity in a morgue. And of his experience researching the “nether world”, he said,”A spirit is nothing but an entity that survives in this physical world”

The artistic interludes were also something to look forward to. The Indian Jam Project not only performed but also shared some of their experiences. Members Tushar and Samay believe that fame and money should not hinder the process of making art. Discussing their experience in the formation of The Indian Jam Project, they mentioned that there are two elements to success: one is to find what sustains your living, and the second is being true to yourself. Overall, they stressed the importance of maintaining harmony between these disparate parts.

Next, Ram Verma emphasized the importance of communication in his quest for bringing about change and helping people.”Once communication is defined for oneself, it defines the quality of life. A better ability in healing leads to a better quality of life”, he explained.

Gaurav Marya talked about his entrepreneurship experience. He enlightened the audience about the two essential elements behind a successful enterprise: one is the right idea, and second is the execution team. In addition, he sees optimism as vital in the execution of an idea. Ultimately, he says, it comes down to how a business approaches its operations: “Businesses that are built to sell don’t sell, the ones that are built to run, do”.

The audience was on its feet with Mohnaa Shrivastava’s performance of ‘Raqs Sharqi’and tribal improvisation forms of ‎Belly Dancing. After her performance, she stressed that passion and will power will aid you in pursuing what you love.In her thirst to learn belly dancing, she says, “Though I’m studying law, it is because of my will power that I find the energy and strength to practice belly dancing. When I dance, I feel like the most powerful being in the world.”

Anish Kohli, Director of Telstra India, talked about the need for balance. Addressing the theme of the day he said, “Control is very important and the heart of control is balance.”The ‎Yoga enthusiast also trained the audience to experience the awakening of the Kundalini.

Nitish Bharti, world-famous Indian sand animation artist and a finalist at ‎India’s Got Talent-2012 and semifinalist at ‎Asia’s Got Talent 2015,showcased some of his brilliance and dedicated his performance to the late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Sanjeev Kapoor- Best ‎Chef of India – talked about his journey as a Chef. He said, “It takes courage to be different, when one can do so many conventional things.” The Khana Khazana magic-maker finds sharing knowledge the most valuable gift.He feels it is his responsibility to teach everyone in a way that makes them successful. At the end of his talk, he left everyone with the thought that “In their success lies my success.”

True to its theme, the conference instilled attendees with the belief that taking the uncharted road by seeing beyond the obvious is what is often needed for success.