Over 25,000 students from across the country participated in the Annual Business Festival, Backwaters, organised by the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K) this week.
The 2019 edition of Backwaters, touted as the biggest management festival of South India, registered an increase of 3,000 attendees as compared to last year. The 23rd edition of the festival focussed on the theme ‘Redefining Excellence-the Indi-Genius Way’ and revolved around achieving excellence in business and industry through revolutionising processes in the Indian context.
The event featured two panel discussions, four inspiration speaker series, five workshops, 19 management competitions, and three ‘Pronites’.
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The Business Conclave’2019 featured eminent speakers like Harish Pillai (president, Aster India), Anil Bhasin (president, Havells India) and Vartul Mittal (Digital Transformation and Innovation Leader) addressing students on the theme ‘Reinvent to Regenerate.’
The first-ever Healthcare Summit, organised as part of the Business Conclave, had resounding response from the student community and keynote speakers Saji Mathew (COO, Baby Memorial Hospital) and Ambili Vijayaraghavan (General Manager, Columbia Asia Hospitals) addressed the convention on the theme of ‘Reinventing Healthcare for the Underserved’.
The panel discussion featured speakers representing stakeholders in the healthcare industry. The sessions were moderated by Prof. Shovan Chowdhury (Associate Prof. OM&QM area, IIM-Kozhikode) and Prof. Venkat Raman (Associate Professor, Strategic Management, IIM-Kozhikode).
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The other highlight of Backwaters 2019 were workshops which were conducted by Google, Walmart Labs, Neilsen, Zerodha and Dazzle Dust aimed at improving knowledge and skills of students for their holistic development.
Further, the Inspiration Speaker series this year saw Dharamveer Singh Chouhan (Zostel CEO and co-founder), Chahat Dalal (Femina Miss India World 2015 finalist, pilot and social media influencer), Satyarth Priyedarshi (Digital Head, TATA AIA) and Dr. Shankar Venugopal (VP, Mahindra & Mahindra) speak about their experiences.
Shiksha, a CSR initiative started by the Backwaters community, was held this year too witnessing participation of more than 120 students from various colleges. The ‘Pronites’ saw unprecedented participation from the audience and featured renowned stand-up comedian Kenny Sebastian, and IIM-K students performing on stage and a performance by musical band The Local Train .