11 Jun 2010
Students use Indian trip to challenge Silicon Valley entrepreneurship models and to learn how to succeed in emerging markets
On 19-26 June 2010, 15 of Cambridge Judge Business School's MBAs will embark on the School's inaugural Cambridge India Enterprise Tour as part of the programme's Capstone Project which they're undertaking. The students will meet with founders and CEOs of India's leading companies in order to learn what unique aspects these entrepreneurs and their business models have, allowing them to succeed in one of the most important emerging economies of the 21st Century.
Spending four days in New Delhi and three days in Mumbai, the tour will enable the students to understand and experience firsthand the way entrepreneurship is really done in emerging economies. Traditional case studies of entrepreneurial businesses founded in the Silicon Valley are no longer recognised as the only applicable model for business, particularly in emerging economies such as India.
Integral to their learning experience will be one-on-one interactions with the CEOs and leading business men and women who have all been on the frontier of leading India's economy to global success. They have been carefully selected from nine different industries using a set of strict criteria such as being leaders in their field, highly innovative and having played a leading role in addressing India's challenges. They will also represent a range of companies formed at different points over the last four decades to provide insight into the context of leadership and decision-making as the size of the firm has grown, and within the expanding business environment of India.
The founding CEOs and their companies include:
- Sona Group, Dr Surinder Kapur, Chairman & Managing Director
- Lemon Tree Hotels, Patu Keswani, Founder & Chairman
- Indus Age Advisors, Sudhir Rao, Founder & CEO
- YES Bank, Rana Kapoor, Founder & Managing Director
- Mid-Day, Manajit Ghoshal, Founder CEO
- Evalueserve, Vikram Saraswat, Head of Sales & Marketing
- Enam Securities, Akash Bhanshali, Founder CEO
- Katha, Geeta Dharmarajan, Founder & Executive Director
- Fab India, William Bissell, CEO
- NDTV, Dr Prannoy Roy, Chairman
By identifying what can be learnt from businesses which have started and succeeded in India, the Cambridge MBA students will develop a best practice network for success in other emerging markets. Among the group are students from Nigeria, South Africa and China who plan to set up businesses in their own countries after they've completed their Cambridge MBAs, using the synergistic business models found in India.
The Capstone Project culminates in a presentation which will be given by the group upon their return to the School and will provide a blueprint for future entrepreneurship trips to other emerging economies.
The photo shows students from the Cambridge India Enterprise Tour 2010 with the Economics Minister from the India High Commission and Dr Shai Vyakarnam from Cambridge Judge Business School's Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning.