Guest Lecture 2324

Talk on Innovation for Growth by Mr. Lokesh Venkataswamy

Mr. Lokesh Venkataswamy, a seasoned Design Thinker, CEO, and Managing Director at Innomantra, delivered an insightful presentation to incoming students on the topic of Innovation, held on July 12, 2023. During his engaging talk, he delved into the concept of "Innovation for Growth" as a strategic approach that organizations embrace to foster continuous growth and success. Drawing upon numerous illustrations, Mr. Lokesh effectively elucidated how fostering innovations enables organizations to uncover new opportunities, optimize operations, and create unique products or services that cater to evolving customer needs.

Invited Talk by Mr. Kumarpal M Jain

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.

Invited Talk on Positive Thinking

Prof. Parashiva Murthy, Professor & Counsellor, Mysore delivered a talk on 'Positive Thinking' to the newly joined students of the PGDM 2023-25 batch as a part of the orientation program on July 11. 2023. He narrated that positive thinking would make people successful in their chosen fields. "Hurdles in life are normal and one should not be deterred by failure as it is the stepping stone to success", said the speaker. He advised the students to adhere to values and build self-confidence as it is going to be pivotal in personal and family life. Prof.Murthy concluded by saying, "Winners make it happen, Losers let it happen".

Talk on Corporate Finance by Mr. Nagi Rao

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.