Moochhi's Class Act

[note: I had saved this news as draft, and posted it today, just to find that it has gone into archives... so am potsing it again]

I had been trying, but I could not locate the URL of this news item, which was published in Bangalore Time, July 10th, 2004. So I did the next best thing; I am posting the scanned item itself:

[Mustafa Moochhala, as many know, is from the 85PMIR batch, is a Prinicipal Consultant with Ma Foi Management Consultants... Currently, however, he is on a sabbatical]

Founders of Bangalore Wine Club

If something named XYZ Wine Club is founded, there has to be an XLer around!! :0)

The Bangalore Wine Club site reads:

The Bangalore Wine Club was formed in September by a Group of wine aficionados – and as such is really a collection of friends (and friends of friends). Founding members were Alok Chandra (President), Nina Kanjirath (Treasurer), Kalyan Ganguly, Chippy Gangjee, Sunil Chainani, and Rekha & Vijayan Menon.

Actually there are 3 XLers here!!!

Kalyan Ganguly (73BMD) is President, UB Group Beer Division
Rekha Menon (81PMIR) is Head, Geographical Services, Accenture (India)
Vijayan Menon (80BMD) is Director, FCB-Ulka Advertising, Bangalore

Murali Moves

24/7 gets a New Chief People Officer
Hindu Buisnessline, August 18, 2004
Our Bureau

[Murali Swaminathan is from 86PMIR, and used to be the Chief People Officer with SPIC]

BANGALORE: Provider of BPO services to Global 500 companies, 24/7Customer.com, announced on Tuesday the appointment of Mr V.C. Murali Swaminathan as Chief People Officer.

He will be responsible for the entire HR operations of 24/7 Customer — including recruitment and employee relations

What They Don't Teach at XLRI...

...but still having been at XL, it helped in becoming an entrepreneur...



Read this article by Gautam Sinha (1994 PMIR) on No B-school teaches you to become an entrepreneur

Some quotes:

Less than 15 or 20 per cent of what I learned from my MBA is still relevant.... What those two years did give me, though, was a chance to interact with some really sharp people from across the country.

...most work is done in groups. This was a occasion to understand group dynamics, when to lead, when to disrupt... Such a learning can be crucial because little about organisations is about the individual.

Also, unlike B-schools that are located in metros... XLRI, where I completed my MBA, is in Jamshedpur, a sleepy little town with few avenues for entertainment.

The positive fall-out of that, though, was that students spent most of their time with each other. Consequently, the XLRI alumni network is exceptionally strong. And, as has been proved again and again, the old boys’ network is necessary for success in corporate life.

But no B-school teaches you to become an entrepreneur. At no time is the emphasis on starting something on your own. Almost everybody who graduates from B-school joins a company.

Look Out, Google!!!

This is a few month old article, but still worth reporting.

An article in Business Week (May 6, 2004), entitled Look Out Google, Web Search For Tomorrow notes:

"....The average search query contains 2.5 words, leaving plenty of room for interpretation. As a result, searches typically turn up hundreds of links, many of them irrelevant. A handful of startups, from Vivisimo to iXmatch Inc., are using so-called clustering technology that organizes several hundred search results into subject-specific folders.... As they hit the market, the new technologies will likely make search even more indispensable to our lives"

ixMatch Inc..!!!... well, this is a Minnesota-based company founded and managed by Prakash "P.V.R" Puram of 78BMD



Earlier this year, PVR's company also entered into a tie-up with the US Department of Defense for data-mining...

...way to go!!! :0)

Tracking the Employment 2010 Trends

The current issue of Business India (July 19 - Aug 1, 2004) carries a 2-page coverage of an interesting future survey of the Employment Trends in India.

The survey, based on Future-Search Conference methodology, was conducted by Chennai-based, Totus Consulting, and identifies 3 influencing factors and seven trends which will change the nature of employment in the country.

Ganesh Chella (84PMIR batch), the Founder & CEO of Chennai-based Totus Consulting, says, "We wanted to take a hard look at future macro-trends, not at current best practices. The whole exercise was to seek, not critique..."

Unfortunately, the article is not available online - but you can read the earlier coverage by clicking here and in The Hindu Businessline

ps: incidentally, in the same issue of Business India, on page 50, you can also have a look at the photograph of Rajiv Kaul (Managing Director of Microsoft India) of the 92BMD batch