Guest Lecture 2324

Mr. Dharma Prasad delivered an inspiring talk about unlocking leadership potential on July 13, 2023. He eloquently expressed that while automation may replace many tasks, leading and inspiring people will always remain a distinctly human endeavor and be in high demand. According to him, everyone possesses inherent leadership potential, regardless of their specialization or industry affiliation. However, the key lies in polishing this potential to let it shine brightly.

 

Drawing from a wealth of wisdom and personal experiences, he underscored the significance of family, friends, knowledge, and skills in navigating the journey of life. As he shared numerous insightful nuggets, he emphasized the pursuit of richness in various dimensions - be it financial wealth, meaningful relationships, purposeful actions, time management, or physical well-being. He rightly emphasized that finding the right balance in these different dimensions of richness can lead to genuine happiness and contentment in life.

 

To the students in the audience, he stressed the criticality of networking and building connections with others as an essential ingredient for success. 

Mr. Kumarpal M Jain, Katariya Consultancy India LLP, Mysore, member of “Institute of Chartered, Accountants of India”, delivered a talk for first-year students of PGDM 2023–25 batch, held on July 11, 2023, as part of the Orientation Program 2023.

 

He set the tone of the speech by providing a glimpse of what a startup firm's motto needs to be. The interactive session continued with the importance of investing in start-up firms and how to identify a suitable start-up business. Mr.Jain gave a hint that a firm that can earn 16% and above on its capital employed can be considered worth investing in. He threw light on the sustainability of businesses, saying that a start-up that wants to survive and sustain the industry must focus on expanding the customer base and retaining them by providing what exactly they want within the scope of the business by customising the services as per their needs and expectations. He concluded that, at the end of the day, a business can survive only if it is consistently profitable and focused.  

Students of SDMIMD were introduced to the world of Venture Capitalists (VCs) and Private Equity (PEs) for established businesses and in the start-up environment by Nagi Rao, Founder-Chairman of Austin, USA-based EqualizeRCM, on Jun 16 at the SDMIMD Auditorium. 

 

Highly informative talk centered around the structure of VC and PE funds, workings of VCs and PEs, their focus and expected returns while investing in a business, risk-reward expectations, different stages of the company when these institutions are ready to jump in with their investments, time lines of their investments, and aspects related to the nature of businesses and start-ups that are funded by the VCs and the PEs. He highlighted the High Risk – High Reward nature of these investments as well as how one big return on one investment can easily offset the losses incurred in investments made in other startups.

 

The talk was well received by the student audience with several questions to Nagi Rao. EqualizeRCM-India Chairman Bhaskar Kalale, Dr. NR Parasuraman, Director Emeritus of SDMIMD,  MD of EqualizeRCM-India Ashok Balaram, Dr. Prasad SN, Director of SDMIMD and Prof. Mohamed Minhaj, Chairman of Academic Programs were present during the talk.