D. Shivakumar, Chairman & CEO, Pepsico India Ltd, addressing students at the Fifth Annual Convocation of the Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli held last week, urged the students to remember five things as they embarked on their corporate journey: focus on learning, invest in the community, keep being curious, listen more than you speak, and not to lose passion in life. “The world has become very fast today and one needs multiple capabilities to get through a career,” he said. He also told the students not to forget the contribution of three sets of people which made them what they are: teachers, classmates and parents, and urged the graduates to keep giving them reasons to brag about them during their career.
Along with Shivakumar, Shivendu Nadkarni, Vice President, Asia/Africa Snacks, Kellogg’s was also a Guest of Honour for the convocation. R. Karunamurthi, Chairman of the Convocation, and Member of the Board of Governors, IIM Tiruchirappalli, awarded the diplomas to 108 graduates of Postgraduate Programme in Management (PGP) and 33 graduates of the PGP in Business Management. Prafulla Agnihotri, Director, IIM Tiruchirappalli, presented the Director’s Report.
Steady growth In his report, the Director highlighted the exceptional placement season of IIM Trichy, in which it witnessed a 56 per cent increase in the highest stipend offered for the summer placements and a 39 per cent increase in the highest CTC offered at the final placements. He said that these achievements were because of the quality of the students and the hard work of the faculty. He congratulated Upendran Vasu and Anirudh Jain for securing the second place in the GSCMI inter-college case study competition held by Purdue University and exhorted the graduating batch of students to take care of their parents, who have been instrumental in their successes. He also advised them to set their own standards and be ethical, honest and responsible managers.
At the end of the report, Dr. Prafulla Agnihotri invited the Guests of Honour and the Chairman to release the special edition of the Institute Newsletter commemorating five years of IIM Trichy. This special edition had been prepared by the faculty and students editorial team. The publication captures the various milestones crossed, the various initiatives implemented and the awards and recognition the institute has achieved. It also highlighted the growth in the placement figures across domains, the business events conducted on campus, the club activities and the achievements of students, research scholars and faculty members.
The 4 Hs Shivendu Nadkarni began his speech with “Success is a journey, not a destination”. He shared four lessons (the 4 Hs) from his personal experience. The first lesson was “ heart greater than head ” and he urged the students to use their heart along with head. “ make trust your second nature, there will be a magical payback ”, he said .
The next lesson was “ fuel your hunger ”. One needs to have a constant hunger to win, succeed and make a difference. Shivendu noted, “The two engines to fuel hunger are passion and hard work”. The third lesson that he shared was “ patrol your health, invest in wellness ”. He stressed that one should focus on work and personal life balance. The final lesson was to “ embrace humility ”, where he appraised the importance of listening to understand rather than to respond. He ended his address by asking the students to enjoy the roller coaster ride of life.
Pepsico’s Shivakumar, in his address, reflected upon how fast the world has become today and how one needs multiple capabilities to get through a career. He further advised the graduates five things: focus on learning, invest in the community, keep being curious, listen more than you speak, and not to lose passion in life . He ended his address by highlighting three sets of people: teachers, classmates, and parents, and urged the graduates to keep giving them reasons to brag about them.
Merit students
~ IIM Tiruchirappalli Chairperson’s Gold Medal for securing the first rank in Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM): Palash Nayak Gaunekar
~ IIM Tiruchirappalli Director’s Gold Medal for securing second rank in PGPM: Nitin Chandra
~ Canara Bank Gold Medal for securing third rank in PGPM: Aritra Banerjee
~ Punjab National Bank Gold Medal for securing first rank among women students in PGPM: Doppani Sravya
~ ICSI Signature Award Gold Medal for securing first rank in PGPM: Palash Nayak Gaunekar
~ HDFC Bank Gold Medal for academic proficiency in Finance and Accounting in PGPM: Nitin Chandra
~ HDFC Bank Gold Medal for academic proficiency in Marketing in PGPM: Venkataramanan S
~ Leela Chandrasekhara Menon Award for the Outstanding Lady Student of the Year in PGPM: Rubal Bagde
~ Kotak Securities Gold Medal for Best All-Round Performance in PGPM: Naveen I
~ IIM Tiruchirappalli Director’s Gold Medal for securing second rank in PGPBM: P Santhanam
~ Punjab National Bank Gold Medal for Best All-Round Performance in PGPBM: Jiby M Isaac
Members of the Board of Governors, faculty members, graduating students, staff, parents, members of the media and other distinguished guests were present at the convocation ceremony.