The Foundation Day Lecture of Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar was held on December 7, 2015 marking the successful collaboration between the Odisha State Government and the Jesuit Society which was embarked upon thirteen years ago. Every year, eminent speakers and personalities from the industry are invited to deliver the ‘Foundation Day Lecture’ and share their knowledge, thoughts, experiences and insights, which are very useful for the aspiring Managers of the Institute. In the past, business connoisseurs like Ms. Vinita Bali, Madhur Bajaj, Lalite Gupte, Ashok Soota, Dr. Preetha Reddy and Dr.B.Muthuraman have delivered lectures on the Foundation Day. This year XIMB had an opportunity to host ShriD Shivakumar, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. The event was presided over byMr. RajiveKaul, Chairman, XUB, XIMB and Dr. Prof. Fr. Paul Fernandes, S.J., Vice Chancellor & Director, XUB, XIMB.
Mr. Shivakumar is an illustrious alumnus of IIM Calcutta. He was the Managing Director at Nokia India and Senior Vice-President, Middle East and Africa in 2011, before joining PepsiCo. He is essentially a Marketer and a General Manager who has run more than 34 brands in his career over two decades. Mr. Shivkumar writes regularly for the business press on emerging markets, on brands, on consumers and leadership, followership. He is on the board of Godrej Consumer Products and was the President of the All India Management Association(2012-13). He has received numerous awards which include one of the top five Marketers in India in 2003, Brand Builder of the year in 2008, Best CEO in 2009 and recently his alma mater awarded him the most distinguished alumnus award in November 2011 during their golden jubilee celebrations. His pioneering work in telecom has become case studies in Harvard, Ivy and ISB.
Mr. Shivakumar talked about the importance of education and the role it plays in nurturing the next crop of citizens. Stressing on the point that there is a significant need to upgrade primary education, he said, “What unites us is knowledge, what causes disagreement is the lack of it”. He stressed upon the continuously changing business environment and the growth of entrepreneurship among the youth a lot of which has been possible due to the technological advances. While emphasizing was on the budding startup culture and the big businesses he said that there should be “Big with Small, not a Big vs. Small” environment. To attain this he said that primary focus must be given to the quality of teachers, teaching soft skills to people & building a bouquet of capabilities in future managers. Mr. Shivakumar laid emphasis on holistic approach of doing business and the importance on sustainability. He pointed that the role of a company would get tougher & tougher in the future as the needs of the fast changing society shift continuously mentioning that “Only if the society wins does the business win, not the other way round”.
The event was attended by all the students, the faculty and the staff members. The audience had an impactful speaker and got to learn a lot from Mr.Shivakumar as he shared experiences from his journey and discussed few important lessons that could make monumental differences in the choices one made. The audience also got the opportunity to interact with him through a question and answer session which was very interesting and reflected upon key issues in today’s business scenario. Dr. Prof Fr. Paul Fernandes. S.J., Vice Chancellor &Director, XUB – XIMB concluded the evening with a vote of thanks reflecting upon the institute’s 28 year old legacy.
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