The first India Alumni Chapter of the NUS (National University of Singapore) Business School was launched on February 24 in Bengaluru. Rahul Tadimalla, Founding Partner at RSVP Capital Advisors, who did a full-time MBA at the Business School from 2005-2007, was elected President of the Bengaluru Chapter by the Chapter Committee and the Global Alumni Network Office (GANO) of NUS.
“Over the last seven years, every February, we have had an India Alumni reunion in Bengaluru, where we are addressed by a prominent Indian speaker, and moderated by a senior faculty member of the Business School. Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata are other cities where alumni meets are organised by GANO. This year’s reunion in Bangalore is special, as we launched the first official Alumni Chapter of NUS Business School in India" Tadimalla told BusinessLine.
The next 200 million
Globally, NUS Business School has over 34,000 alumni, of which over 200 are in India, with the majority in Bengaluru, added Tadimalla.
Since Bengaluru is a global hub for start-ups, serial entrepreneur K Ganesh was invited to talk about the entrepreneurial landscape and investment opportunities in India.
“Despite all the glamour, hype and euphoria around start-ups and their valuations, the maximum impact of the Internet and tech start-ups has been felt in the top metros by about 30-40 million Internet-savvy people. However, the time is right, for entrepreneurs to cash in on the real opportunity, which lies in addressing the needs of the next 200 million people who live in ‘Bharat’ — in Tier 3,4,5 towns” Ganesh told BusinessLine .
Voice-based solutions
Pointing out that entrepreneurs cannot address these people in the same manner as those in the metros, Ganesh said “Solutions for the next 200 million who live in Tier 3,4,5 towns have to be addressed in the vernacular language using chat as a medium, as this population is more comfortable with SMS rather than with apps. More important, the commerce solutions should be voice-based, in order to be inclusive.”
As Bengaluru Chapter President, Tadimalla will be responsible for fostering professional and social networking among Bengaluru and India-based alumni, and cultural exchanges between alumni in India and global alumni of the Business School. “One of my responsibilities is to be an advocate of the Business School in India and the link between GANO (and, therefore, NUS Business School) and India based alumni” said Tadimalla.