The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Managemantra identifies budding business tycoons

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 06, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Managemantra identifies budding business tycoons

Special Correspondent

Xavier Institute of Management students sparkle Students of Xavier Institute of Management sparkle

TALENT SPOTTING: J. Arjun of XMIE, Bangalore, being awarded the first prize in the individual category at Managementra 2005 held in Chennai on Saturday. Also seen (from left) are P.K. Mohapatra, chairman, CII's Education Sub-committee; L. Ganesh, vic e-chairman, Rane Group; ParasuRaman R, chairman, CII Southern Region; and Rajesh Menon, regional director, CII-SRR. — Photo: S.R.Raghunathan

CHENNAI: Do coconuts spell fortune?

A group of young business brains from the Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XMIE), Bangalore, believes they do.

More so after their Rs. 11 crore-worth start-up plan, INCOCO (which outlined how every part of the coconut tree can be commercially harnessed), earned them the Dream Team award and the first prize at Managemantra 2005, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (Southern Region) here on Saturday.

The XMIE also notched up another first place, with J. Arjun walking away with the best individual award at the end of the two-day fest for spotting potential managerial talent. Vishal Khatavkar of T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal, Karnataka, and Achith V.S, ICFAI Business School, Chennai, came second and third.

310 letters of interest

The fourth edition of the event saw 310 letters of interest issued to 300 participants, "the first time the LoIs surpassed the number of participants," as P.K. Mohapatra, chairman of the Education Sub-committee of CII (SR), put it. One of the participants was offered a job by Sify with a Rs 3.2-lakh per annum package.

In all, 300 participants from 50 institutions in the four southern States and Pondicherry vied for the attention of recruiters from 22 top-line firms in information technology and manufacturing such as Hexaware, Scope International, Pepsico, Novar India, NEG Mikon, HLL, Ma Foi and Office Tiger.

The day began with 21 short-listed participants presenting their business plans, followed by a session on business etiquette, in which the participants were given tips on interviews and personal grooming.

"This year's edition is different from the previous year, as there were value-added sessions plus free personality assessment profiles.

Apart from providing a platform for recruitment, students were given an understanding of soft skills,'' Rajesh Menon, regional director, CII-SR, told The Hindu .

Most participants impressed the corporate headhunters well enough to figure in their databases for future references.

The response overwhelmed the organisers who plan to go national next year.

This year's selection process that lasted for two days tested the participants' Intelligence Quotient and their Emotional Quotient, management principles and business fundamentals.

Among the panel of judges for Saturday's events were S.V. Ramesh, director, Arteri Consulting; Kalavathy of Bodhi Consultants; Anuradha Venkatesh of Tapas; G. Murali, head (finance), RPG Retail; Jothi Thomas, director, CAN Consultants; Radhika Ramesh, head (training), Airtel; Anita Ramachandran, CEO, Cerebrus Consultants; Ganesh Chella, managing director, Totus Consulting; Ravi Santhanam, managing director, Hindustan Motors; and Sreeram Iyer, group head, Scope International.

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