IMI-Kolkata Hosts its 4th Annual B-School Fest Confero 4.0
Saturday 13th February, 2016 saw much buzz and excitement at the IMI-Kolkata Campus as the B-School prepared itself to host its 4th Annual Pan-India Fest Confero 4.0. The event saw active participations from famed institutions across the country such as NMIMS Mumbai, IIFT Kolkata, Welingkar Mumbai, Army Institute of Management Kolkata, among others. Confero 4.0 2016 boasted of numerous flagship as well as filler events, where all the competing teams participated with much enthusiasm and gusto.
Confero 4.0 commenced with the lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest for the day, Mr. Sanjeev Nandwani, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India. The other dignitaries present on the dais included Dr. Arindam Banik, Director IMI-Kolkata, Dr. Paramita Mukherjee, Dean IMI-Kolkata, Dr. Chanchal Chaterjee, Faculty and Student Relations IMI-Kolkata. The Chief Guest for the day Mr. Nandwani in his inaugural address took the audience on an insightful journey where he touched upon several economic and political factors post the liberalization era that has changed the dynamics of our nation. He spoke on the essentials of having a competitive spirit and how it can do wonders to change our nation. In his inspiring words, Mr. Nandwani challenged the audience, especially the youth push their boundaries and in doing so create a legacy for themselves. With these influential words, he declared Confer 4.0 2016 open.
The first event for the day was a panel discussion on the topic ‘Vision 2025’, led by an eminent panel of distinguished judges from diverse backgrounds tha included the likes of Sujoy Roy- senior Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather, Nitu Jaiswal- Head – Marketing, Membership and Insights at Wal-Mart India Pvt. Ltd, Aditya Shastri- Head of Filmed Entertainment at B4U, Abhishek Sharma- Commercial Director, Strategic Business Leader, Consumer Goods/FMCG.
Dr. Mohua Bannerjee, the moderator for the discussion set the tone for the discussion by quoting Tagore’s, “…where the mind is without fear…” as she introduced the topic to the gathering present. Mr. Abhishek Sharma spoke on his perspective on Vision 2025, bringing with him his wealth of experience in the FMCG sector as he spoke of its futuristic implications in the next few decades.
Mr. Aditya Shastri, Head of Filmed Entertainment, B4U with his discussion on Singularity and its ability to change life as we know it, challenged and enthralled the audience. Nitu Jaiswal spoke from her experience in the retail sector and shared her insights on how charming the customers would be key to success even in 2025.
Mr. Sujoy Roy shared his insights on the changing face of advertising with its implications in the future. Advertising would become redundant in 2025 and instead Communications would be the mantra.
Vision 2025 called for an enlightening session that left the audience enthralled as well as entertained.
The panel discussion was followed by a plethora of management events from across various disciplines such as Marketing, Finance, Entrepreneurship and the likes. The Flagship events included Markathon– marketing event, Leadership Quest– HR event, Rann Kaushal– Strategy event, Next Business Idea– Entrepreneurship. Confero 4.0 also proudly hosted its first set of cultural events which included, Ostinato– Band Competion, Xprance– Dance, Haute-Couture– Fashion Show. Apart from these there were numerous filler events that brought in much excitement and fun to all the participants. The winners of all the events laid claim to exciting prizes upto Rs. 20000. After a gruelling yet exciting day of intense of competitions, the students finally let their hair down, dancing to popular music numbers and thoroughly enjoying themselves at the DJ night that followed.
Confero 4.0, 2016 provided the students, both participants and organisers not only the opportunity to prove their mettle but also a hands-on experience in the field of Management.
