Special edition Educational Institutions

SPEAKING NEW AGE EDUCATION PHILOSOPHIES…

This special edition is all about educational institutions that have left a glorious legacy behind. A repertoire of outperforming institutions that believe in raising the bars of educational institutions - is what this issue stands for. The focus is on recognizing the contribution of such establishments that have made a huge difference to the student community with their revolutionary teaching techniques. Why is it ‘special’, is indeed a question? Well, it is a ‘read’ that has come with some insights into the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the leaders spearheading these institutions. A booster to your leadership skills accompanied by some extraordinary business management acumen- how we would like to address this publication.

Business Connect strains every nerve to narrate the best-in-class read to its global community of readers and the result is this special edition! Putting high hopes on this issue, we are adamant that our readership will be immensely benefited from it in the most assertive ways. This exceptional edition has a collective of your favorite sections that are enriched with some stimulating content to boost your entrepreneurial spirits. So, look into our extraordinary picks from the business fraternity that have been flagging their names in their respective space while inspiring impassioned entrepreneurs as well as the business community with their optimism, insights, leadership, values and a lot more.

For the cover page, we couldn’t find any profile more worthy than IMS Ghaziabad. The institution has made an exemplary mark in the education space and is being spearheaded by the senior leadership of Shri Naresh Agrawal, Chairman, Shri Nitin Agrawal- Managing Trustee and Dr Urvashi Makkar- Director and Professor. Redefining the industry with its outof-the-box philosophy, the institution has aced the art of delivering education at par to the needy ones. The values with which they are driven towards their core mission resonate with the essence of this edition. To get to know more about the organization and its respective aspects, dive into this exclusively created narrative and share your views on it.

Also, we are sure that the inclusion of some informative articles will keep you glued to this issue for long hours. Business Connect believes that it is doing justice to its vision to seek and publish triumph tales of discerning leaders, energetic doers, pioneers, etc while providing motivational insights on a variety of subjects. Let us know how we are doing with your precious feedback!

Kajal Dobhal

Vol - 5 | Special Edition | October 2022

Publisher & Editor : Abhishek Kumar Dubey

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Allowing the alumni to bask in the glory of academic excellence…

Renu | Business Connect

What is the basic purpose of education? It is to accelerate the insightful development of people that facilitates the flow of critical thoughts and ideas that are based on the common welfare of the overall society. Resonating with the same ideology, IMS, Ghaziabad, was conceptualized in 1990 by an assemblage of visionaries and intellectuals. The journey began with an honest aspiration and human endeavor to impart truly world-class education to standardize and enhance the quality of management education to create an ‘army’ of thought leaders for a radiant tomorrow. IMS Ghaziabad has been known for its glorious legacy of more than 3 decades where the Institute has been facilitating and promoting academics and research in emerging areas of higher education with particular reference to management studies and computer applications.

“Our steadfast objective as a well-acclaimed institution is to persistently reinvent management education with the core objective of creating globally competitive leaders who could sail the wave of ever-evolving business world effectively,” asserted the managing trustee.

On that note, they envision transforming society by dispensing the seed of value-based education with an unwavering focus on management and technology. Driven by their new-age teaching methodologies, they are ensuring an all-round development of human resources in the best possible manner. It goes without saying that the mission statement focuses on cultivating

socially responsive business leaders, empowered with knowledge, innovation and a mind set for entrepreneurship and research. The senior leadership of the institution takes immense pride in its core values of being socially responsive, agile, collaborative, respectful, ethical and diligent.

As we sat down for a virtual conversation with the leadership panel of IMS Ghaziabad, we were amazed with the kind of information they shared with us. Below are the excerpts of the conversation with different luminaries of the institution.

Shri Naresh Agarwal - Chairman Member – Executive Council IMS Group of Institutions

Q. HOW IS THE INSTITUTION INDUCING A RIPPLE EFFECT ACROSS THE EDUCATION SECTOR?

Well, we firmly believe that education is a system consisting of roles and norms. Harnessing the power of knowledge, we strive to commute itransmission of knowledge, values and patterns of behavior from one generation to the next. We never intend to be called just an educational institution but we wish to be termed as a social institution via which the youngsters are empowered with academic knowledge, job skills, and cultural norms. Kothari commission has rightly mentioned that “Destiny of nation is being shaped in her classroom”. What we learn in the classroom should be reflected through our behavior in society. This is what we aspire to provide society with. Our legacy of 32 years is into building a teaching-learning ecosystem that enables students to become prudent enough to deal with any perpetual challenges they may come across throughout their entire lives. And the core focus is to make them attuned to the rapidly changing business scenarios where they could adeptly handle their social, moral and democratic duties.

Q. WHAT IS YOUR CALL ON CONTRIBUTING TO THE HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR ALUMNI?

It would be redundant to claim that education should have a sole responsibility i.e to serve the society at its best. Our motive- value based education to our students- ensuring higher education becomes an apt instrument in stimulating the nation’s socio-economic transformation. Education shouldn’t just be comprehensive, sustainable and outstanding, but should deal with the evolving challenges of the rapidly wavering and unspontaneous world around us. Hence, we claim our contribution to have prepared and in constant pursuit to shape more and more global leaders who could become the trailblazers of national as well as global economic growth.

These are the glimpses of the responses given by the Chairman of IMS Ghaziabad- Naresh Agrawal. Let’s see what he enlightened us with.

These are the excerpts from the responses of the Managing Trustee of IMS- Nitin Agrawal. Let’s dive in-

Q.1. PLEASE SHARE WITH US SOME OF THE UNIQUE DIFFERENTIATORS OF IMS GHAZIABAD THAT HAVE EARNED IT A PREMIER POSITION IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION ACROSS THE NATION?

Ans.1. IMS Ghaziabad has been consistently reinventing management education with the objective of creating global leaders who can navigate the ever-changing business landscape. With a consistent record of excellent International and Domestic Placements since inception; 360° Holistic Development Approach; Scholarships upto 2.7 Crore to Meritorious Students; Competitive Curriculum based on Bloom’s Taxonomy; Experienced and Qualified Faculty; Strategic Location in NCR in the heart of an active corporate community; State of the Art Infrastructure in Campus and Hostel; Highly Equipped Digital Library, IMS Ghaziabad has attained a matchless and elite place amongst the best professional education institutions in India since inception.

The institute has collaborated with reputed National & Global Corporate & Academic organizations and provides remarkable Industry Interface to its budding managers through regular Live Projects, Industrial Visits, Seminars, Conferences, Workshops, Talk Series, Value Added Certification Courses by MSME, Microsoft and many more. All these unique initiatives have made IMS Ghaziabad a choicest destination for enterprising students on the lookout for professional institutes delivering the real world educational experience one needs to succeed in today’s competitive global marketplace. The institute not only provides quality education but also develops values and skills in the young minds to become competent leaders of tomorrow.

Q.2. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THE ROLE & STATUS OF RESEARCH IN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA?

Ans.2. When it comes to quality research, there is no denying the fact that so far India has not done commendably well. This applies not just to the domain of management education in particular; it is almost the same in all professional courses. Due to the segregation of teaching and research in the country, entire generations of students have graduated from the university system without contributing towards quality and original research. However, currently, the time is opportune for India to play a significant role in the global knowledge system and to generate world-class research. Indian professors spread across the globe can contribute to building research capacity by participating in collaborative research and other initiatives. The National Education Policy has also proposed establishing a National Research Foundation which will have significant funds for supporting research in relevant areas.

At IMS Ghaziabad, we promote a strong culture of research both amongst the faculty fraternity as well as the students. To boost research & quality in the system of education, we have signed noteworthy MoUs with national as well as global partners such as MCX, BRICS CCI School of Analysis, CSC Academy, IBM, Northern Illinois University, Fort Hays State University, University of Fredericton, Canada, Jamia Hamdard University, Mata Sundri College of Women, University of Delhi and many more.

Q.3. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR REACHING NEW MILESTONES FOR YOUR INSTITUTE IN THE COMING YEARS?

Ans.3. The utmost responsibility of an educational Institute is to continuously transform its teaching- learning practices and stimulate innovation in order to raise the academic performance index. The past batches of PGDM students have performed exceedingly well and have often crossed unmarked terrain in their journey to achieve personal and

professional excellence for themselves through determination, perseverance and tenacity, making it easy for the future batches to follow in their footsteps.

Recently, we have launched the Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) to harness the entrepreneurial streak of our talented students. An incubation centre to help budding entrepreneurs work on their startups for developing into scalable, profitable and sustainable business is in the pipeline. Corporate Development and Excellence Center (CDEC) is the flagship training and consulting vertical of IMS Ghaziabad with intent to provide world class training and consulting services to the organizations by providing bespoke offerings.

We have signed international MoUs with Humanistic Management Center & Humanistic Management Network, Geneva, Switzerland and Indo Gulf Management Association, Dubai. We have entered into collaboration with organizations like Qualytics Consulting; Habitat, Act 21 for collaborations in critical areas. All these alliances would undoubtedly open the gateway for new vistas of learning for students, faculty, and researchers alike.

Dr. Urvashi Makkar Director & Professor, IMS Ghaziabad

Ans.1. Hailing from the family of academicians, I have been highly privileged that I got the strongest values of integrity from my parents. “Giving back to the society” has been the family value, which I learnt during the formative years of my life. Another value which I learnt during the school days from my father was “Jumping into the well on the word go”. My father instilled in me many life transforming values and would incessantly motivate me to participate in all extracurricular activities, whether it is a debate competition on one side or a badminton tournament or a cycling competition on the other side. Being part of a prestigious college during my graduation years which gave multiple platforms to hone the managerial

acumen and leadership potential of students has had a strong impact on me.

I have been privileged and blessed to be mentored by the best teachers, my mother being one of them, who constantly motivated me to not only excel in academics but to expand the horizon of learning by participating in various national level competitions, youth festivals, symposiums etc. All these learnings transformed me as an individual and helped me imbibe the priceless values of perseverance, resilience, zeal & passion and taught the precious lessons of team spirit, consistency and a ‘never say die’ mindset.

The turning point came during my MBA, when I challenged my potential and got enrolled for the selection of the Women’s Pilot Officers as Short Service Commission of the Indian Air Force in 1992, the first of its kind opportunity offered by

Below are some excerpts from the conversation with the Director of IMS Ghaziabad- Mrs. Urvashi Makkar. We believe her invaluable insights shared here will motivate our audience to make better leaps towards their respective future endeavours.

Q.1. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR EDUCATION AND LIFE AS A STUDENT. WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNT IN YOUR CHILDHOOD/COLLEGE DAYS THAT HELPED YOU BECOME THE LEADER YOU ARE TODAY?

government of India in our country. During those five days of stay at Dehradun, I untapped my hidden potential and got selected, though subsequently, I preferred to continue my career in MBA rather than aviation. All these life lessons had a strong cumulative impact on my life and has phenomenally contributed towards developing my leadership skills and carving me into the individual I am today.

Q.2. WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS INITIATIVES UNDERTAKEN BY IMS GHAZIABAD FOR IMPARTING QUALITY MANAGEMENT EDUCATION?

Ans.2. At IMS Ghaziabad, the focus of the legacy of 32 years is not only on achieving the highest standards of academic excellence, but also to achieve a highly effective corporate interface backed with multi-dimensional development opportunities. A three pronged strategy with an allencompassing comprehensive approach towards achieving Academic Excellence, Corporate Readiness and Global Interface is interwoven throughout the PGDM Program.

We have embedded a number of innovative pedagogical tools in our curriculum for inculcating creativity and imagination in students. Novel initiatives such as program for Pre Placement Preparedness, Competency Mapping, Personal and Professional Skills Program (PPSP), Placement Readiness & Enhancement Program (PREP), Student Peer Learning Initiatives, have been started to enhance the self-belief, confidence, ability & skills of the students in order to make them corporate ready and ace the selection process.

The highly skill-oriented Value-Added Certification Programmes (VA-CPs) and Value-Added Short-Term Training Programs (VA- STTPs) delivered under the umbrella of Skill Enhancement & Corporate Readiness (SECR), impart a distinctiveness to our unique pedagogy. The certifications are provided by expert agencies viz. Microsoft, Global Human Resource Development Centre (GHRDC), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), besides many others. Initiatives like Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE), Language Lab, Versant Training for cracking the Big 4, Public Speaking Modules, Mentoring Program, Mock Interview Series, programs for Students Outreach and Grievance Redressal, Life Skills Training, Psychological Counseling further support us in our endeavor to develop the students for the corporate settings and sharpening their professional and personal skills.

We have recently kick started ‘Peer to Peer Mentoring’ sessions in collaboration with a reputed Institute of Delhi University wherein students of IMS Ghaziabad conducted coaching sessions for their fellow learners. The cumulative wisdom thus generated gave a boost to creativity and learning for students of both the participating Institutes.

Q.3. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF ENHANCING THE INTERFACE BETWEEN INDUSTRY PLAYERS AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS?

Ans.3. We all are living in a tough world characterized by cut-throat merciless competition, where everyone is striving hard for a successful career. If we closely observe the world of business today, we will find that more than theoretical knowledge, a student is required to have a practical orientation and a global mindset. An aspiring management professional may be the topper of his/her class, the theoretical concepts may be sound and well in place, but that’s not enough.

At IMS Ghaziabad, we are not leaving a single stone unturned when it comes to supporting our students in their untiring efforts towards enhancing the career prospects and enabling them in getting their dream jobs. The institute is consistently providing Career Counseling, need based education and organization support to its budding managers. Industry Linkage through Seminars, Conferences, Symposiums, Guest Lectures, Live Projects, Certification and Training Programs, Networking Events, Industry Visits etc. is an essential aspect of our teaching learning pedagogy. A novel initiative- “Special Talk Series” comprising deliberations in five different aspects namely, Global Talk Series, Expert Talk Series, Corporate Talk Series, Alumni Talk Series, Entrepreneurial Talk Series, has also been kick started.

To boost research & quality in the system of education, the institute has signed prestigious MoU with Humanistic Management Network, Switzerland; Northern Illinois University, USA; Fort Hays State University, USA; University of Fredericton, Canada; IGMA, Dubai; BRICS CCI School of Analysis; CSC Academy; IBM; Jamia Hamdard University; MCX; Habitat; Mata Sundri College of Women; Qualytics Consulting, Act 21 Software and many more.

Q.4. IMPARTING GLOBAL EXPOSURE TO LEARNERS

IS THE BUZZWORD IN CURRENT TIMES. HOW IS YOUR INSTITUTION ADDRESSING THIS CRUCIAL ASPECT?

Ans.4. Enhancing the Global exposure of our budding professionals is a very important component of our teaching learning pedagogy. IMS Ghaziabad has signed the prestigious Memorandum of Understanding for Global Collaboration with “Humanistic Management Center, Geneva, Switzerland and Humanistic Management Network, Geneva, Switzerland”. Under this global collaboration, IMS Ghaziabad will be offering a 20 Hours Swiss Certified Course on ‘Ethical Decision Making and Responsible Business Conduct’ to our learners. We are the first Institute in North India to start the pertinent course which will be delivered by experts from Switzerland.

Very recently, we organized our 30 hours flagship Global Talk Series on “Strategic Management” for our PGDM students which was taken by the Managing Director of Morgan Franklin from Washington, USA. We are about to kick start the Global Talk Series on “Management of Change, Innovation and Technology” in order to extend maximum global and corporate exposure to students. A 15 hours Global Talk Series on “Marketing Management” was recently taken up by an expert resource person from Dubai. It is the cumulative result of all these initiatives that our students are inculcating a global mindset necessary to evolve as alert, agile and empathetic global leaders of the future.

Q.5. PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR ELITE PLACEMENTS.

Ans.5. IMS Ghaziabad cherishes the strong associations with its renowned galaxy of recruiters and is proudly accomplishing a stellar record of 100% Placements since inception in A listed organizations like, Deloitte Consulting India, Berger Paints, ITC Ltd, Dabur, EY, S&P Global, DTDC, Square Yards, Prism Johnson Ltd., Uniqlo India, Reliance Digital, Aditya Birla Group, Wipro, Mahindra Logistics, Godrej and Boyce, XL Dynamics, WNS, Zomato, Reliance Jio, Uflex Ltd, DHL Supply Chain India Pvt Ltd, Bisleri, Flipkart, Naukri.com and many more.

The Institute has been consistently offering 100% Summer Internship Projects (SIPs) with stipend in top organizations such as Curate Data Analytics, WhiteHat Jr, Praedico Global Research, Tata AIG, The Capital Box, Insplore Consultants, Career Domain, Sharekhan, 10times, FinSkool, Fooracles, Jaquar, Pathkind Labs, Times of India, Chaayos, Sodexo. IMS Ghaziabad feels honored to be associated with 6000+ Alumni base that are well established at the reputed positions in Industry.

Q. 6. WHAT WILL BE YOUR MESSAGE FOR THE YOUTH OF THE NATION TO SUCCEED IN THESE VOLATILE TIMES?

Ans.6. In the contemporary dynamic and turbulent times, the world is witnessing a sea change in almost all dimensions. New types of jobs are coming up which require different kinds of skill sets. What was hot selling cake in yester years is becoming redundant today. I would advise the young generation of our country to develop in themselves the crucial ability of being agile when it comes to learning and imbibing new information, knowledge and skills.

Students must understand that learning agility is the burning need of the hour. By being agile, they will be competent to figure out a way through a new situation without actually knowing what to do, by intelligently using past and present experiences to make sense of an uncertain situation. It’s also about being open and receptive to new ideas rather than relying on outdated information.

This is very critical in current VUCA times wherein what is applicable and relevant today will very quickly become redundant in a flash of time. When the young professionals are empowered with this agility, they will start preparing for the future challenges in a more focused way.

Who Turned Google Into A Global Tech Giant Eric Schmidt

Schmidt

American entrepreneur and software engineer Eric Emerson Schmidt served as Google CEO from 2001 to 2011. He is known for transforming the company from a Silicon Valley start up into a global tech giant whose market is over $1.8 trillion today. Schmidt remained its executive chairman from 2011 to 2015, Alphabet’s executive chairman from 2015 to 2017, and its technical advisor from 2017 to 2020. Schmidt is the 54th richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of $25.1 billion as of April 2022.

EARLY LIFE Schmidt was raised in Falls Church and Blacksburg, Virginia. However, he was born in Falls Church, Virginia. He is one of the three children of Wilson Emerson Schmidt. His father served as a professor of international economics at Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins University. He served in the Nixon Administration. Schmidt’s mother Eleanor had a master’s degree in psychology. Due to his father’s employment, Schmidt spent a portion of his boyhood in Italy, and he claims that this experience altered his perspective. After receiving eight varsity letter awards in long distance running, Schmidt graduated from Yorktown High School in the Yorktown district of Arlington County, Virginia, in 1972. At Princeton University, he started with architecture major but later switched to electrical engineering. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in 1976.Schmidt lived at the International House Berkeley from 1976 to 1980, where he first met Wendy Boyle who became his wife later. Schmidt got an M.S. degree in 1979 from the University of California, Berkeley for developing the Berknet network, which linked the campus computer centre with the EECS and CS departments. He also received a PhD in EECS from the same institution in 1982, with a dissertation on

the challenges of overseeing distributed software development and the methods available to address them.

CAREER

During his early life, Eric has faced numerous difficulties. He began his professional career by working for numerous technology firms. Eric was affiliated with Bell Labs, Zilog, and other companies early in his career. He served as Sun Microsystems’ first manager of a software engineer. In the year 1983, Eric began working for this software company. Eric began working with Novell as chairman and CEO in 1997. Schmidt joined Google as the Chairman in March 2001. He was given the additional title of CEO less than five months later. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founders, were appointed presidents of products and technology, respectively, at this time. Schmidt was hired as “adult supervision” for the founders, who were still in their twenties, according to a Silicon Valley witticism. In fact, the three were a triumvirate that ruled Google. Schmidt is credited for infusing traditional business structure features into the corporation. In August 2004, he supervised Google’s initial public offering of stock and functioned as a company spokesperson.

During Schmidt’s tenure, Google, already the owner of a popular search engine, launched a slew of new goods and services, including Google News (2002), Blogger (2003), Google Books (2004), Gmail (2004), Google Earth (2005), and Google Maps (2005). Google purchased the video-sharing site YouTube in 2006, followed by the advertising company DoubleClick the following year. Google took on Microsoft with the Chrome Web browser in 2008, and Apple with the Android mobile operating system. In 2011, Page resumed the Google CEO role he had abandoned ten years before, while Schmidt was appointed executive chairman, withdrawing from day-to-day operation of the company. Schmidt was appointed executive chairman of the Alphabet board of directors in 2015, when a new holding company called Alphabet Inc. was founded, including Google as a subsidiary. He held the position until 2018, when he left to become a technical adviser to Alphabet. He departed Google two years later. Eric worked at Apple as a member of the Board of Directors from 2006 until 2009. Apart from these pieces, Eric is linked to some political struggles. But under Barack Obama’s administration, he was a PCAST member.

PERSONAL LIFE

Schmidt wed Wendy Susan Boyle in June 1980 who was born in 1955 in Short Hills, New Jersey. In the 1990s, they resided in Atherton, California. They have a daughter named Sophie. Their second daughter Alison passed away in 2017 due to sickness. Although some of Schmidt’s connections outside of work have garnered media attention, he and his wife continue to support charities.

ACHIEVEMENTS & AWARDS

Eric has received restricted stock worth $100 million from Google. He was also elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006. In 2007, he was additionally admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Books: Eric Schmidt has co-authored several books as well. The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations, and Business, written by Schmidt and Jared Cohen, director of the Google Ideas think tank, was published in 2013 and explores the geopolitical effects of the expanding usage of the Internet and information access.

How Google Works: Schmidt co-wrote How Google Works, a New York Times best-selling book, with Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle in 2014. Rosenberg is a current advisor to Google CEO Larry Page and was previously Senior Vice President of Products at Google.

The Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell- Eric Schmidt wrote this book with Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle in 2019

The Age of AI: He wrote The Age of AI: And Our Human Future, which was co-authored by Henry Kissinger and Daniel Huttenlocher (2021). He made a brief cameo appearance in Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels’ 2014 comedy Dumb and Dumber To. Additionally, he made a brief appearance in the HBO programme Silicon Valley.

FASTEST GROWING EDTECH STARTUP IN INDIA PLACED 3845 CANDIDATES IN 2022

is the key to success. For generations, it has changed people’s lives and paved the path to promising opportunities. But since COVID-19, education as we knew it has evolved and set new benchmarks. It has sped up digital learning, modifying how students absorb information and approach education. Since then, EdTech in India has had a tremendous acceleration. According to a Statista analysis, the Indian EdTech market was worth $2.8 billion last year and is expected to reach $10.4 billion by the end of 2025.

Education

These numbers make it quite evident that innovative companies aiming to reinvent the education sector have entered the Indian market. In this pantheon, Chanakya Uni, an EdTech company from India’s financial hub, is making a significant difference. The company understands that tech-savvy talent will have a competitive edge in this constantly evolving world. As such, it focuses on preparing students for the future by providing them with top-notch educational opportunities in the subjects that will shape them.

Our magazine recently got the chance to speak with Mr. Aditya Kachave and Mr. Ronit Pise, the brains behind this endeavor. They are rebels of the education industry, determined to help every career aspirant by bridging their career dreams. The exquisite read presents our discussion in its entirety.

THE GENESIS

Aditya is a dynamic engineer from the prestigious IIT Kharagpur, which produces hundreds of innovators annually. He had a promising career ahead of him thanks to his convincing academic background. But he wasn’t prepared to settle for a mediocre career. Instead, he was really intrigued by the EdTech industry and how it could reshape Indian academia. He even spent a considerable period working in EdTech companies for strategic experience. Ronit is a serial entrepreneur, having a vast experience of 9 years across 6 companies, 5 of which he co-founded. During their respective tenures, one thing that both of them noticed was the large gap between industry and talent. Aditya explains, “Every year, IITs and other colleges cumulatively produce nearly 1 million engineers, but only 1/10th of the population gets sustainable placements.” Even though there were many industrial training and placement centers, there was still a disparity between what students learned and what the industry needed.

The discovery made them determined to drive change. Not only did they seek to generate career opportunities but also be pivotal in closing the market’s skills gap. Moreover, there was an avalanche of layoffs in 2020, and they aspired to contribute to resolving it. They took their time transforming their thoughts from paper into practice and, in 2020, brought Chanakya Uni into existence. They are providing the Indian talent pool a chance to reach its peak by using the challenge as a steppingstone and also placed over 14,000 students from the inception of the company.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A FULFILLING CAREER

Chanakya Uni is a one-stop-shop to give your career an excellent pitch. From technology to finance, it offers customized courses that can ensure placements in the most promising companies. Broadly speaking, it offers courses on full-stack development, data science, digital marketing & graphics designing, automation testing, AI & ML and cloud computing. On the other hand, it can help learners become “big shots” in the stock and

Ronit Pise

Aditya

financial markets. The courses are created and instructed by a group of brilliant mentors with decades of expertise in shaping professionals out of aspirants. It also offers grooming and personality development courses from international mentors and provides industrial experience and project training as well.

But that’s not all! At the heart of Chanakya Uni lies its motto, “Learn and Get Placed.” So, it handholds the placement process from resume building to final selection. The holistic and transparent framework has earned the company a resounding presence in the EdTech space. The company has placed students in leading industrial giants like Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket, Tata Consultancy Services, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Apple, and many more. Over the last 7 months, it has placed 3,845 candidates, equipping them with the desired skills

and knowledge. Its principles of trust, integrity, and innovation make it a promising choice for Indian students in today’s disruptive market.

A FINE BLEND OF R&D & INNOVATION

R&D has always been a critical element for a company to innovate, address problems, or learn new things. In education, R&D develops a new understanding of learning, teaching, etc. But in EdTech - the focus is to innovate and make education more equitable, agile, relevant, and responsive. In light of that, Chanakya Uni has most of its investment in R&D. It hires prolific engineers from tech magnates like Google, Meta and Apple who thoroughly research associated markets to create a customized curriculum. By following these SOPs, Chanakya Uni conforms to a learner centric process, ensuring every student meets their desired outcomes. Investing in research also helps in keeping up with trends and technologies. All their classes and communication are held using favorable social media technologies. They also use proprietary platforms for placements and have developed their own CRM platform as well.

THE CHANKYA UNI TRIBE

If research and innovation are its mind, people are the heart of all it does. Chanakya Uni employs a techbased operating model to engage with candidates at every stage of their experience lifecycle, but never ignores

the role that people play in the process. Even more intriguing is the fact that women predominately run Chanakya Uni. Ninety percent of the team is made up of strong women with experience in various fields.

The company is also very transparent across its echelons. Both Aditya and Ronit are down to earth and easily accessible for every employee. Their stewardship based on humble leadership fosters transparency, teamwork, and a non-hierarchical culture.

BECOMING A NICHE CREATIVE FORCE

All the innovation and effort is focused on upholding the aim of developing successful professionals through training and placements. After all, enhancing one’s life significantly affects the individuals in the immediate vicinity. This thought process gives Chanakya Uni an edge over its peers. Focusing beyond the bottom line, it strives to make a positive impact on society. Ronit, being its growth engine, understands the responsibility he is holding; he is addressing the unemployment and underemployment challenges in India. During COVID, a substantial proportion of the population was financially drained. As such, the company operated on a “freemium model.” After things became normal, they introduced advanced premium packages for better learning. Since, the strategy paid off, the company saw a chronographical increase in its placements:

• January – 129

• February – 187

• March- 294

• April – 498

• May – 627

• June – 824

• July - 926

As a bootstrapped company, the data reflects a plausible growth at a remarkable pace. Aditya adds, “Many of our peers are raising funds to showcase their profitability.” But, we are proud to say we are growing sustainably with an NPS of 90%, which makes us the fastest growing EdTech startup in India.” Besides these, Aditya, Ronit and their team are associated with many schools to promote the basic education of underprivileged children.

Long story short, Chanakya Uni is growing to become a leading “Digital Pathshala” for advanced industryspecific courses. It is changing lives of people both internally and externally. The company aims to complete employment of 1 million Indians by 2025.

A MESSAGE TO ASPIRERS

“Entrepreneurship is an arduous path with a built-in purpose. It cannot be compared to a typical 9 to 5 work. It will require 24 hours of your time, resources, and possibly even solo action. However, your efforts will be rewarded as you witness the success of your endeavour. After all is said and done, you’ll improve and transform.”

Celebrating Four Decades of Educational Excellence Marching ahead under a Visionary Leadership

indranil Roy | Business Connect

The pioneer in educational excellence, Dayananda Sagar College of Arts, Science, and Commerce (DSCASC) is one of the premier educational institutions located in Karnataka, Bengaluru. The institute was established in 1978 under the aegis of the MGVP trust. Currently, it offers 3 PG programmes (MBA, MCA, and M.Com.) and 4 UG programmes (B. Com, BBA, BCA, and B.Sc.) that are all affiliated with Bangalore University.

Shri R. Dayananda Sagar, a visionary educationist, industry leader, and philanthropist, was the founder and Chairman of this College. He founded Mahatma Gandhi Vidya Peetha (MGVP) trust in early 1960. A series of educational institutions were started under this trust, aptly called Dayananda Sagar Institutions. Today, it is headed by the able successors of the founder Dr D. Hemachandra Sagar, and Dr D. Premachandra Sagar to take it to new heights of Educational Excellence.

The institution has an imposing history of innovative education, with a comprehensive range of programs right from KG to PG to PhD in a broad spectrum of disciplines that include Engineering, Dental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Pharmacy, Health Care, Nursing, Allied Health, Information Technology, Arts, Commerce, Business Management, etc.

THE VISIONARY – DR NAGARAJ SHENOY

Under the leadership of Dr Nagaraj Shenoy, Principal & Director of DSCASC, the institute is honing future leaders and entrepreneurs. He has over 25 years of experience in Engineering and Management colleges. In academics, the visionary did his graduation in Civil Engineering and earned Two Doctorate Degrees for Research Works in the Management domain. He was honoured with the prestigious “Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Award” in 2018 and received fellowships from The Institution of Engineers (India) and the Centre for Education Growth and Research (CEGR).

USPs OF DAYANANDA SAGAR

A unique business incubation centre, called ‘DERBI’ encourages entrepreneurship

among students. Through this centre, many students have started their own businesses and received funding. AIMA Biz Lab - a Business Simulation lab for Commerce and Business Management programs, has been initiated by the institution. In Bengaluru, this is the only second lab of its kind. This would provide the students with a business-like scenario to experiment with. They can access this feature on both their laptop and mobile device.

The “Blacbook Thought Leader Speaker Series” is a unique opportunity for students to meet with young & successful firms, during which entrepreneurs who have been featured in Forbes’ “30 under 30” list, share their experiences and key takeaways with the students. This activity aims to inspire young minds to think creatively, investigate societal issues to offer answers, and find a niche for their business pursuit.

“DSI Insights” - a knowledge portal that features the latest business opinions and thoughts from distinguished experts on the most critical business subjects. Students, professionals worldwide, and managers can use it for free to find solutions to the most recent problems in finance, marketing, strategy, supply chain management, and technology. These initiatives have made DSCASC an Institution of high reputation.

On the campus of Dayananda Sagar Institutions, there are students from several states and different countries. Students from any location or linguistic background can feel at home in this diversified setting. In addition, the institution houses centres to teach a few prominent foreign languages. The institution’s culture has been carefully developed to be one in which individuals can communicate, express themselves creatively, and grow while using a variety of languages.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES IN THE EDUCATION SPACE

To promote higher education, the government is launching several initiatives. This includes providing scholarships to underprivileged student communities and providing particular book banks. Additionally, the government encourages students to enroll in MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) on platforms like NPTEL and Swayam. DSCASC is effectively using all these measures by Government. They have currently become a guiding light for all the underprivileged students to avail various scholarships and make the best use of the books in the library.

SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES IN THE POST-COVID ERA

The education industry has experienced significant disruption due to COVID. Only online classes were an option, and numerous extracurricular and nonacademic activities were carried out via the Zoom meeting platform using the students’ creativity. The primary obstacles in using the online teachinglearning model are maintaining focus and keeping students’ interest. They have been holding several counselling seminars and soft skill training workshops to assist students and staff in comprehending and adjusting to the altered situation.

THE EVOLVING MARKETING TRENDS

Ever since the technological changes started taking unprecedented rapid pace, the whole market situation, flooded with disruptive innovations, created a VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) world. DSCASC encourages students to be highly flexible, multi-skilled, and innovative to survive and excel in this trend. Their main aim is to help students acquire critical thinking abilities, problemsolving skills, and entrepreneurial attitudes to maintain their competency in a relevant and long-lasting manner.

INSIGHTS ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF R&D

The education system primarily performs two functions: disseminating existing knowledge and creating new knowledge. The first one in this is accomplished through classroom lectures, but the second one is achieved only through the conduct of research. Without research, an institution stagnates and could eventually become obsolete. The story of Nokia, the No. 1 brand in the world, which went out of business in 5 years is a classic illustration of the effects of ignoring research.

The faculty members at DSCASC are required to produce research articles routinely. Under the supervision of faculty members, students are also encouraged to present research papers at national and international conferences.

FACILITIES OFFERED BY DSCASC

Located in the heart of the city, on a spacious, green campus. DSCASC has all the student-related amenities within the campus. It has–

• State-of-the-art Digital Library

• e-Learning Resources

• Wi-Fi-enabled campus

• Excellent, unmatched sports facilities

• Environment That Supports Entrepreneurship

• Incredibly diverse, heterogeneous mixture of students

ACHIEVEMENTS AND MILESTONES ON THE WAY

The institution gained the Grant-in-aid status in 1983. New programs were being introduced to meet the demands of the market. The institution received 2F and 12B recognition from the UGC in 2015. The institution successfully finished its third cycle of NAAC accreditation in 2018. It is ranked among the ‘Top 10’ degree colleges and has developed a reputation as one of the most prominent Educational Institutions in Bengaluru.

PAINTING THE CANVAS OF DSCASC’S FUTURE

In the next five years, the institution is planning to attain an Autonomous status. This would pave the way for the college to implement all the ideas for an Institution of Excellence. Then, the college wishes to reach within the ‘Top 50’ in the NIRF ranking. They plan to increase their research output with funded projects, consultancy, and training. They plan to enhance students’ social orientation to make them the assets of society.

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

The institution has established an ISR (Institution Social Responsibility) Cell to educate students about the many societal issues and encourage them to act on them. In accordance with it, students frequently go to Government Schools to learn about their problems and offer solutions. The institution organizes student visits to orphanages and old age homes to donate some needy materials. Additionally, it intends to sensitize the students toward Social Service.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Always keep learning and keep moving throughout your life. This is the only way you can keep growing irrespective of the disruptive changes in the World.

Top 10 BEST CLOTHING BRANDS IN INDIA

Top 10 Best Clothing Brands in India

Over the past few years, India has been seeing significant growth in the fashion Industry, giving rise to new brands. According to statista.com, revenue in the apparel market amounts to $87.6b in 2022. The market is estimated to grow annually by 5.10%(2022-26). The largest segment of the market is the segment women’s apparel, with a market volume of $39.5b in 2022. This number shows how much Indians are fashion-conscious and give attention to their outfit.

With an ever-growing number of fashions offering highquality clothing products, it is challenging to identify which brands are the best ones to go with. After all, in the fashion world, your clothing can make or break your identity! And the quality of fabric, durability, and design play a vital role in how you present yourself in front of others and how confident you feel.

Whether you are seeking to add some new clothing brands to your closet or replace them with new ones, we have picked the top 10 best clothing brands in India based on their popularity and quality.

Before moving forward, let me increase your general knowledge – India is the world’s second-largest textile and apparel producer behind China, as of 2022.

Best clothing brands in India Pepe Jeans

Nitin, Arun, and Milan Shah – three brothers of Indian origins opened the first store in London in 1973, named it Pepe Jeans. It became one of the European best-clothing brands by the 80s. As the name suggests, Pepe jeans is a denim and casual wear jeans brand. This is one of those brands that has been tried and tested by millions of Indians. It has a wide range of choices in clothes for both men and women and represents classical yet contemporary style, with its wide range of tea-shirts, jeans, shirts, and jackets. Pepe jeans have over 440 stores worldwide and only around 200 outlets in India, nearly 50%.

FabIndia

FabIndia is a well-known clothing brand, opened in 1975 by John Bissell. The brand has a wide range of clothes and specializes in the diverse traditional craft of India. Back in the early eighties, the brand used to sell hand-made Women and hand-printed garments. Not just that, it also pushed further its products to non-textile industries like Organic foods, personal care products, and handcrafted jewellery.Speaking of the brand presence, FabIndia operates 327 stores across India and 14 international stores. The brand offers complete ethnic wear for women, men, and kids. Besides that, the brand also makes soft furnishings, rugs, and bed covers. To date, they are exporting Goods to over 40 countries.

• Flying Machine

The very first store was opened in 1980. Flying Machine is a clothing brand, that has been offering fashion-forward clothing to a wide range of Indian customers since 2003. The brand is best known for its homegrown denim band and high-quality streetwear. It is India’s one of the best clothing brands and has massive popularity among youth.

With an attractive design and affordable retail price, the brand collection offer: T-shirt, turtleneck, polo shirts, Jeans, and more. Flying Machine also sells cost-effective accessories like bags, and sunglasses, to complement your fashionable looks.

Peter England

The sound is so much English that you probably end up assuming that’s from England. But there is a surprise! It is actually a part of Madura fashion & lifestyle, a division of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. This is one of the most trusted Indian brands, specializing in men’s clothing, and considered among the best clothing brand In India. It has a collection of everything which require in a men Closet. They have everyday use of clothing as well as casual shirt, Jeans, and trousers. If you are wondering which brand has the best quality t-shirt, you may consider this brand.

Wrangler

Wrangler is an American manufacturer of jeans and other clothing products, founded in 1904. The brand is owned by Kantoor Brand Inc., which also owns Lee. The brand has transformed the landscape of western fashion with its durable, comfy denim. Apart from it, Wrangler also sells fashion accessories like caps, belts, and soaks. This brand has been operating as a manufacturer of one of the best clothing brands in India. The popularity of this brand among Indian teens and working professionals are very impressive. You can also find pairs of trousers and Denim shirts in any Indian men’s closet. The brand offers high-quality clothing at an affordable price.

Van Heusen

The only thing Dutch about is the name of this brand! It is an American brand that operates under license to Madura Fashion & Lifestyle in India and other parts of Asia. The brand owns some of the most luxurious brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Warmer’s, Olga, and others. They specialize in office wear for both men and women and also sells some causal wear options like T-shirt, skirts, trousers, blazers, and accessories.

Allen Solly

Another English name - but it is an Indian brand, launched in India in 1993. With an impressive presence in the field of online and 207 stores across India, Allen Solly is among the top clothing brands in India, owned by India’s giant Fashion & lifestyle organization Madura. The brand is introduced as a premier international label, attracting Indian customers to buy affordable products. They have high-end styles and cater to every age group, for men and women.

Levi’s

The reason denim has been able to stick around with us for so long, because they are so darn comfortable. Wearing jeans can sometimes be like a chic pair of tights, and if you are at work all day, then you know you don’t just want to look great but feel great too. And what could be more perfect denim jeans than Levi’s. Live’s is an American multinational ironic clothing brand. It is trusted by millions of consumers –known for its timeless yet stylish pieces. The reason why Levi’s has captured most of the denim jeans, it is trusted for innovation, quality, performance, durability, style, fit, and more. Whether plain or plaid, cotton or corduroy, Levi’s never fails to offer a wide variety of designs and fabrics. They don’t just have good jeans, but they also sell a T-shirt, jackets, Joggers, Polos, and accessories.

ZARA

If you are a little bit fashionconscious, you don’t need an introduction to this brand.

The brand has been operating for the past 44 years, and it has been in India for almost a decade now. The reason why ZARA is so popular is that their stores get new designs within two weeks. ZARA has its principles – They reduce the quantity manufactured for a particular style. In such cases, people can’t miss those new stylish clothes that can make them look unique and different from others. Zara is a Spanish multi-national clothing brand that cannot have competition with any. The brand’s success has largely been driven by its ability to keep up with rapidly changing fashion trends and offer premium quality clothing, accessories, footwear, and beauty products.

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger is one of those clothing brands In India that comes up with class and elegance. Although the brand was founded in 1985, it took time to enter the Indian market. In India, Tommy Hilfiger’s first store was opened in 2008. Despite such a late entry, they managed to gain popularity among youth. The brand makes high-quality men’s and women’s clothing that carries a sleek, modern-chic vibe. Doesn’t matter if you are choosing classical jeans or one of their colorful button-downs. You’ll instantly find yourself looking stylish.

Conclusion

The list above may help you to decide what apparel companies are the best clothing brands in India. But if these are quite familiar and looking for others, you may choose these –

EDUNGURU : Rendering Quality Education Through A Digital Platform

Kajal Dobhal | Business Connect

The Education sector in India is ascending great heights due to the application of digital technology in the arena. In the present scenario, this amalgamation is of the utmost need for imparting quality education to students. Gone are the days, when children were wholly dependent on the tradi tional methods of teaching in the classroom. In the era of In ternet, the educational domain has undergone a sea- change and a radical transformation. A number of e-learning service providers have created a canopy to help students in shap ing a better future. One of them is Edunguru. Edunguru has brought an incredible revolution with its exemplary e-learn ing services. The organization is led by Romie Dutt, the Chief Executive Officer of this exceptional organization.

INSIGHTS OF ITS OFFERINGS

Edunguru envisions offering excellent quality education to students across the nation. The purpose of this organization is achieved with the help of a competent Governing Council, who represents the elite from the education industry. Edun guru has more than five hundred qualified, experienced and effective teachers in their Academic Excellence Board, and a group of toppers of various competitive exams in their Stu dent Advisory Board. The organization has developed a be hemoth of offerings in the educational arena; it offers three thousand and three hundred forty Courses, which includes K12 Level (CBSE plus ten Hindi Speaking State boards), Gov ernment Exams such as Banking, Railways, SSC, UPSC Civil Services, etc. Management Exams, Medical, Engineering and various other competitive Examinations via online medium such as the web portal and mobile applications, and offline (USBs /Hard drives) modes in two languages like Hindi and English, to reach up to 3 tier cities in India. The organiza tion also provides Spoken English programs, to leverage the communication skills of students.

The Company’s prime focus is to leverage the standards of education in the nation; hence, it uses dynamic and advanced methodologies to offer education. To make learning easy, understandable and enjoyable for the students, the core team of Edunguru has deeply analyzed the entire curriculum, and picked up the quintessential Learning Objectives for the stu dents. The faculty delivers lectures through Concept Based Methods. Each lecture is predefined with Interactive Class Sessions, Animations, Live Demonstrations, Diagrams, and Illustrations to enrich the learning experience. For adding the element of interactivity in the class, Edunguru has added questions and answers for the students. This helps

in making the concepts clearer and provides an opportunity to self-evaluate.

The Student’s foray into e-learning commences with an excellently explained video on a particular concept by the expert teacher in his or her domain, followed by Multiple Choice Questions to check whether the student has under stood the concept along with Tutor Authored eBooks which consist of notes based on Video Lectures, Practice and Mock test papers for the students.

Edunguru also assists each student with a host of services such as a telephone Call or a Video Call with the Teacher, privately or in a group, Live Webinar Sessions, EDUCHAT ROOMS with peers in the city, State or even at the National level, and a few more to be introduced soon such as Physical Doubt Clearing Classes by Visiting Faculties.

PROMINENT REASON BEHIND THE ESTABLISHMENT

The founder of Edunguru has a noble vision behind the es tablishment of this unbeatable organization. It is an unfor tunate, but true fact that children in India are not attaining quality education due to a multitude of reasons. India has the largest and youngest population in the world with peo ple between sixteen to forty years of age, and this group is capable of bringing about a positive and great change. The exemplar of a great vision states, “We have schools, colleg es now in every state, but we can still see that a significant part of our population is not even getting the deserved basic education.”

There were numerous reasons to establish Edunguru, like lack of School Infrastructure, Financial Challenges, Safety and Security of Children, but the foremost was the ‘Quality Of Education.’

To spread the dimensions of Edunguru to the Grass Root Level of Society, Romie Dutt envisaged the company.

THE ROADBLOCKS

The company underwent a host of obstacles in pedagogy, content and deliverables, but the greatest of them was select ing expert faculties and teachers for the Video Shoot, who had a clear understanding of their subject, especially the concepts, their delivery methods, approach, and above all, ensuring that they had a neutral accent, which could easily be understood by students in India.

Moreover, training and enabling the faculties’ video shoot with no prior shooting experience, was a major challenge. Gradu ally, the company coped with all the challenges, and emerged as one of the best organizations in the genre.

GOVERNMENT’S ROLE

The government has successfully launched several programs under the initiatives such as ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill India’ to spread digital literacy, create a knowledge-based society in India, and implement three principles ‘access, equity and quality’ of the Education Policy. The programs are:

• e-Basta: provides school books in digital form

• e-Education: all schools are connected with broadband and free Wi-Fi, and support MOOCs which is Massive Online Open Courses.

• Nand Ghars: digital tools as teaching aids

• SWAYAM: MOOCs based on curriculum taught in classrooms from ninth standard till post-graduation.

• India Skills Online: learning portal for skill training.

• In order to establish digital infrastructure, the government has also launched National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), which aims to expand broadband connectivity and faster network.

The Indian government has pioneered this vertical, and is constantly supporting the e-learning domain. It is very encouraging to know that the Indian government is very interested in developing this vertical.

ASTOUNDING MILESTONES AND FUTURE PLANS

Since the company’s inception, it has carved its name in the list of some amazing and incredible achievements. It has more than forty thousand registrations, more than sixteen thousand paid users, eighty thousand plus mobile application down loads, more than twelve thousand Facebook likes, eight thousand plus Organic You tube Subscribers, etc. All these triumphs were achieved within the last nine months, and the best part is that all this happened without even a proper Pan India Launch or any advertising.

Edunguru, in its first phase, has covered the ten states such as Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Delhi NCR. In addition, it had spread its dimensions to states like Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Chandigarh, Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Nagaland.

With India’s Biggest Employer, as their Strategic Sales and Marketing Partner, with a more than 3,00,000 Sales force, it is quite natural that by the end of 2019, EDUNGURU sees itself as the Leading Digital Education Provider in India, and who knows, The Leading in the World in the next 2 years!

“At Edunguru, we are not just your superficial partners, but Partners throughout the students’ Educational Journey”

Romie Dutt CEO, Edunguru

“The roadmap is crystal clear which aims to keep creating awareness, improving the product and helping more and more students to learn”

~Romie Dutt

In the current era we have a good number of sources that entertain, educate and motivate us. Podcasts have special place among them for being convenient and handy. The easy to listen to advice in the areas of life where you actually need it. These podcasts will help you get motivated and work for your personal objectives by increasing your professional alternatives and offering practical advice on how to live a happy and fulfilling life at home. So put on your headphones, relax on the couch (for the time being), and browse the list of Top 10 best motivational podcasts to pick your new favourite one.

1. THE MINDVALLEY PODCAST

TOP 10 BEST MOTIVATIONAL PODCASTS THAT COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE

While we all are making effort to lead an optimal life, feeling demotivated now and then is a common feeling. None of us wake up everyday with the same fiery willpower to pursue the fixed and planned goals. On top of that there could be some shadow of bad habits that not only make us undisciplined but also drag us behind.

The Mindvalley Podcast focuses on the specifics of personal develop ment. You may overcome limiting thoughts and step into your power with the assistance of this top-rated motivational podcast. It is jampacked with practical tactics and strategies that will enhance your performance, thinking, and beliefs. At present, the Mindvalley Podcast is best motivational podcasts on YouTube Vishen Lakhiani, the company’s creator and founder of Mindvalley, is the podcast’s host. Experts and professors from a range of disciplines, including psychology, physics, business, and spirituality, are included in the episodes. Every 2–7 days, brand-new episodes are made available. They usually last between 30 and 1 hour.

2. THE GARYVEE AUDIO EXPERIENCE

Gary Vaynerchuk is a business owner, CEO, investor, and motivational speaker who hosts his own podcast and is known for his no-bullshit approach to public speaking. The GaryVee Audio Experience, one of the best motivational podcasts on apple, is a great choice for listeners who appreciate high-energy speaking and demanding self-accountability since it combines motivational speaking, dialogues with other experts, and di rect questions and answers. We discovered that a lot of the programmes focused on issues connected to work smarts, life growth, and general self-improvement. The majority of the podcast is made up of straight-talk advice from Vaynerchuk’s own experiences and other tales from his job

and personal life. For in-depth listening, the GaryVee Audio Experience combines short, snappy episodes with longer, more indepth ones. Vaynerchuk frequently promotes a grind culture way of living due to his high energy and direct demeanour. There fore, avoid it if that’s not your thing.

3. HOW TO FAIL

It may not come as a surprise given that one of the few British podcasts here celebrates failure because it isn’t a particularly America n trait. Elizabeth Day, a well-known Northern Irish author who also wrot e the book “Failology” on the same topic, is the author of the book

“How to Fail.” A guest speaker discusses their mistakes and the les sons they learnt from them every week. It’s encouraging to lear n that people like Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Jameela Jamil have erred a nd then changed. However, as the visitors are typically British, i t is also consistently funny and conspicuously devoid of humblebrags.

4. ART OF CHARM

The hosts of the Art of Charm podcast, AJ Harbinger and Johnny Dzu bak, teach us how to master interpersonal dynamics, relationships, and being your best self. This podcast offers a totally distinctive viewpoint from the bulk of entrepreneurial-based broadcasts in addition to being inspirational. The “Art of Charm” places considerably more of an em phasis on the relational component than the majority of self-help books do on self-improvement, high-performance habits, and corporate success strategies. Certainly, this one is among the best motivational podcasts for young adults Because our success is so heavily reliant on our social and emotional intelligence, this podcast teaches us how to simply get better with others. If you apply the lessons from these incidents, they may alter not just the way you view relationships but also the direction in which you choose to go in life.

5. PODCAST BY TONY ROBBINS

There is no need to introduce Tony Robbins. His expertise as “an entre preneur, #1 NY Times bestselling author, philanthropist, and the nation’s #1 life and business strategist” is described on his very own w ebsite. All of that is impressive, yet it almost seems too modest.

The legend that is Tony Robbins. He has been known as a “motiva tion al speaker” for many years, and he does so without actually pre aching to his audience. The podcast covers a variety of topics, includ ing mon ey, happiness, starting a business, and more, all while offerin g insight that can only come from the host. It gives you access to the sa me depth of knowledge available in his books but in a more laid-back and palat able way.

6. TED TALKS DAILY

Yes, it’s true that TED Talks have evolved into a bit of a midd le-class cliche. The readily digestible, 18-minute lectures on a wide ra nge of topics have grown so commonplace in culture that they have even inspired light parody.

They’re not all geniuses. However, there is a tonne of gold to be found, the topics are almost always fascinating, and, to be honest, th ey are frequently really brief. Explore the vast internet history or s ubscribe to Elaine Hu’s daily podcast, which will provide you with a whole new topic every day.

7. THE SCHOOL OF GREATNESS

Lewis Howes, an All-American athlete, author, and entrepreneur, is the host of The School of Greatness. Howes conducts interviews with some of the most accomplished individuals in business, sport, entertainment, science, and other fields. Author Dan Harris, businessman Gary Vayner chuk, and comedian Kevin Hart have all previously appeared as guests. Each episode includes tales, methods, and advice that will spur you on to develop and live a better life. Overcoming fear, managing relationships, love, success, business, and other topics are covered. Every two to three days, Howes releases brand-new episodes that last anywhere from six minutes to an hour.

8. GOAL DIGGER

Jenna Kutcher is an entrepreneur, mother, and business adviser. On her Goal Digger podcast, which frequently features conversations with other local experts, she discusses marketing, social media, money, branding, and more.

The value of taking time off, changing careers, and seasonal Instagram techniques are some recent episode subjects. Goal Digger falls among the best motivational podcasts for women.

9. THE MINIMALIST

A lot of people need to listen to the uplifting podcast that Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus provide. How to live a meaningful life with less is the main focus of The Minimalists. This podcast is like a breath of fresh air in a world filled with excess. The shows on this list are a fantastic source of inspirational sayings and concepts. They also try to pique the interest of the audience, which is really intelligent. The goal of the minimalist movement is to encourage people to be content with their possessions and do without unnecessary items. The episodes are refresh ingly uncomplicated, just like everything else about this podcast, from the website layout to the themes chosen. Each one addresses the major issues and concentrates on a certain topic. They inquire, for instance, “Is there a healthy form of nostalgia or is it intrinsically pointless to grasp onto the past” in an episode named “Nostalgia.” These two regularly appear in the top charts of Apple Podcasts because of their fresh perspectives and eye-opening originality.

10. OPTIMAL LIVING DAILY

This one is the best podcasts for success and motivation. If you wish you had the time to read and take in some of the best blogs’ inspirational content then this one is for you. Because it selects the best internet content and condenses it into a 10-minute clip, pay attention to Optimal Living Daily. Amazing, isn’t it? It is hosted by Justin Malik, who provides daily readings on a variety of subjects, including productivity, minimalism, life-hacking approaches, and much more. There is no way you could miss out on inspirational content to lift your spirits if Optimal Living Daily is on your list of podcasts to listen to. This one is among best motivational podcasts on Spotify.

myCBSEguide

Rendering a Valuable and Phenomenal E-Learning Support to the CBSE Students

myCBSEguide offers complete study support to the CBSE students and evaluation tools to teachers. It pro vides e-learning solutions to K-12 students in the form of downloadable PDFs, online tests, practice sets, videos and homework help. It is one of the most trusted websites among CBSE students and teachers.

It is a complete guide for CBSE students coving all major subjects from class 3 to class 12. It provides sample pa pers, test papers, worksheets, text-book solutions, notes, previous year papers, online tests, videos and homework help to K-12 segment. It provides assessment tools for schools and coaching institutes too. It also provides on line platform where students can put up their queries that can be responded by any available teacher from their wide network of teachers on the platform.

Basant Pandey Founder & CEO

For boosting a child’s individuality and intellect, an academic education has a pivotal role to play. It depends on school to school how they are im parting the knowledge and information to the students. If they are rendering via traditional and con ventional methods, then a paramount shift or change is required for updating their processes.

With a significant advancement in the digital technology, an education system has undergone a radical transforma tion. This incites schools and other educational institutes to encourage the electronic learning.

To eradicate the convolutions whilst studying, and also offering an impeccable support to the students, beaucoup of E-Learning Solution Providers are oozing out in the ed ucational domain so that the students can take manifold benefits of e-learning. Following the same notion, my CBSEguide serves as one of the best E-Learning Solution Providers to the CBSE students.

Consumer awareness and basic infrastructure are the two prominent factors for the growth and expansion of the company. myCBSEguide provides solutions to make life easier for teachers and students. Basant, Founder and CEO, of myCBSEguide says, “We have only grown over the years to today at 7 million registered users organically without any marketing spend. It speaks volumes about the trust that we enjoy with the student community”.

Research and Development activities are quite essential as it embodies the overall process leading to innovation. “Tech innovation has to be way of life, no choice else you will be disrupted by someone else. You have to be dif ferent, innovative and quick to adopt the changes.” Says Vinod Pandey co-founder and CTO of myCBSEguide.

CROSSES IN THE EXCURSION

Without the convolutions and obscurities, there cannot be a notable growth of the company or an individual. There were a number of obstacles, the company had gone through during the initial days of commencement.

The siblings, Basant and Vinod started myCBSEguide in the year 2007 to help school students located in a remote place in India (A & N Islands). The biggest challenge early days was to bring students online as most of them were depended on some offline guides and notes prepared in the classroom. Internet ecosystem was not evolved and

Yashika Sabharwal | Business Connect

students didn’t have devices to access internet. Times have changed dramatically over the years. With 500M in ternet users today, reach has become relatively easier.

As the project was initially started for the students within school, they helped the school students access the website in school computer lab with internet connection. Gradual ly, other schools also opted the same strategy.

India is a well spread out country and the quality of school education is not same across India. There is short age of quality teachers in many small cities and towns. Providing e-learning solutions over the internet helps in reaching out to even remote areas. This was the driving force behind setting up myCBSE guide.

“Our focus is to make good quality content available to all the cities across the country” says Manju Magow, VP & Head Content Team of myCBSEguide.

E-LEARNING PLATFORM

According to a latest report, the Indian e-learning market size was USD247 million, and is expected to witness an 8 times growth to reach USD1.96 billion and the current user base will grow at 44 percent CAGR to 9.6 million us ers by 2021.

In fact, India’s e-learning market is the second largest af ter the US which is forecasted to grow by 15.64 percent and is going to exceed $48 billion by 2020.

E-learning is versatile segment consisting of a number of components. Their core area is assessment of learning. They are the only online platform that is specifically de signed for CBSE students. The assessment tools that they provide, are based on CBSE question paper pattern and marking scheme. Whereas, other players have common learning videos and tutoring services.

Government is promoting e-learning in schools and other educational institutes. KVS is providing tabs loaded with e-content to every student in their schools and building classrooms with smartboards and technical labs. Delhi government is also providing tabs to teachers and plan ning to distribute tablets to every student in the school. Henceforth, government is taking impressive initiatives to create an ecosystem for eLearning service providers.

Undoubtedly, there is a fierce competition in the respec tive sphere. Many new players are entering into e-learn ing space. Some offline players are also trying to expand in e-learning segment. The competition is tough, but the opportunity is big for multiple players in the market.

GREAT ASPIRATIONS

There are great plans for future, the company has made in order to touch the heights of success. They are planning to launch Test Generator dashboard for teachers, schools and coaching centers. This will help them to create on line quiz and conduct online tests for their students along with offline pen-paper tests.

Homework help section is very popular among the stu dents in the app. They are going to implement AI and ML tools to make it more attractive and user’s friendly. They are preparing online test series for entrance and competitive exams such as JEE (main), NEET-UG, CLAT, SSC CGL, Bank PO etc. and launching it soon.

As far as contribution to the Society is con cerned, their focus was to develop the product for the students and the teachers. They are now planning to vis it government schools for helping underpriv ileged students by pro viding them free study material, and encourage them for e-learning.

Hacks to Book Cheap Flight Tickets

Concerned about the cost of the flight tickets? Well, looking for and purchasing inexpensive airline tickets might be tiresome. However, if you use specific tricks, you may potentially save a lot of money on airline tickets. If we’ve piqued your interest, continue reading to get all the advice that will enable you to purchase the cheapest plane tickets.

1. Make Early Reservations For Flights

One of the most common pieces of advice when it comes to booking a flight is to do it in advance. It is supported by some very compelling logic. The demand for the specified location for the specified dates rises as the days draw closer. You should plan your flights at least 6 to 8 weeks in advance, if not more. Booking your flights in advance is absolutely vital if you are considering an international trip. This is one of the most commonly used International Flight Booking Hacks. You also need to organise your visa, travel insurance, and other crucial travel paperwork before going abroad. You must have sufficient time available for the same. As a result, you must schedule your flights in advance. The other travel documentation that will assist you expedite the procedure can be obtained once you have your flight ticket in order.

2. Subscribe To Airline Newsletters

Newsletters on cheap flights are worth the spam. They hunt down the best flight prices on the web and compile them for you! They essentially do the laborious work. Again, flexibility is required to fully benefit from the offers sent through these services because sometimes they are only valid for a short period of time and might not always include deals to your desired location. Yes, 99% of them might not work for your schedule, but paying attention to the discounts will make sure you don’t miss a great one. In addition, frequent flyer bonuses are frequently offered in airline mailings. If you frequently travel, these bonus offers can help you earn some fantastic upgrades and free flights. The Flight Deal, FlyerTalk Mileage Run Deals, Airfarewatchdog, Secret Flying, and Scott’s Cheap Flights are a few of the top airline newsletters you should subscribe to.

3. Plan Your Journey During OffSeason:

Be flexible with the destination and the time of year you wish to travel when making flight reservations. Every travel destination has a certain travel season. During the busiest times of year, everything related to tourism is extremely expensive, including flights, hotels, and other tourist attractions. One of the best times for airlines to profit from flights to a certain location is during peak seasons. Intriguingly, a seasonal airline operates flights from the UK to Goa from October through December because it is the busiest time of year. Even on the global market, there is a great demand for flights to Goa at this time. Similarly, around Dussehra, Kolkata ticket costs increase due to an increase in travellers scheduling trips there.You may need to accept the possibility that you won’t be able to travel to your favourite location during its prime season if you want to avoid overspending. One of the best things about some travel places is that there are numerous times that

are acknowledged as the best seasons for travellers to visit. You can travel to Himachal Pradesh, for instance, both in the summer and the winter. Although the northern state’s summer is often its busiest season, winter is also seen to be a wonderful time to come because of the lower tourist volume. They are friendly and have advantages that will make you happy.

4. Check For Round-Trip & One-Way Flights

It’s a general misconception that round-trip tickets are less expensive than one-way flights, but that may not always be the case. Finding individual one-way tickets has (many times) proved to be significantly less expensive than round-trip prices. For instance, JetBlue and Southwest only charge for one-way tickets; the cost of a round-trip flight is simply the total of the two one-way fares. Finding separate one-ways at the best price is easy using Google Flights.

5. Explore All Of The Travel Search Engines

Another crucial step you should do when booking a flight is to look over all of your possibilities. An airline ticket is an expensive luxury, so finding a cheap bargain would be beneficial to your finances. You must use travel search engines like Inter Miles, Expedia, Skyscanner, etc. for the same. One benefit of using these search engines is that they provide a listicle with all the flight information you need to make a decision. You can compare the ticket costs for your journey destination as indicated by each airline by having a list of all flights in front of you. Also, you can check to see whether any certain airlines outperform the competition in terms of services, advantages, miles, and other things. Also, you may verify that the costs are within your pricing range while buying a flight.

6. Search The Flight In Other Currencies

Have you searched to see whether it would be less expensive to purchase that flight in a different currency before you buy it? Or use the currency of the place you are leaving from or travelling to. Budget airlines frequently, but not always, require that you pay in the currency of the nation from which you are flying.

The majority of airlines will offer a currency change option on the page. Make sure you are incognito and that your device’s location settings are off, or that a VPN is active, before you do this. Booking a flight and paying in a different currency could save you a significant amount of money, but only if you’re using a credit card with no international transaction fees! Otherwise, all of your efforts to save money while doing this will be in vain!

7. Before Buying A Flight, Delete All Of Your Browser’s Cookies.

Here is a useful flight booking tip that will enable you to find a great deal without being discouraged by the internet. Browser cookies frequently keep track of all the online browsing you perform and notify the relevant page.

The travel sites are informed about what you’re looking for over repeated searches on the same subject. Through the process, they end up reflecting to you an inflated price structure. Therefore, it would be preferable to erase the browser cookies in order to prevent obtaining a flight ticket at an inflated price. You’ll then get the best flight ticket costs to use for booking.

8. Go For An Early Or Late Flight.

When making flight reservations, timing is crucial. Your wallet will thank you for booking in advance. But the booking time isn’t the only factor to consider; the flight time is also crucial. You may have observed that some airline flights with strange schedules, such as those that take off very early in the morning or land very late at night, have very inexpensive tickets. Have you ever questioned why airfare prices are so low during such weird hours? It is fairly easy to draw the conclusion. Nobody enjoys travelling at strange times. People decide against booking flights at unusual hours due to the numerous issues that they raise. But if you want to book a cheap flight, this is one of the best tricks you can use. Yes, there are a few potential annoyances. However, keep in mind that you are also reserving a cheap flight for yourself while making significant financial savings. The money you save can be spent in the tourist location

on other enjoyable activities. When travelling abroad, don’t just rely on well-known airlines. Some airlines you probably haven’t heard of often offer the most affordable prices for transatlantic flights. Check out WOW Air, Norwegian, and XL Airways France, advises Keane.

FAQs

Q.1- What Are The Tricks To Book Cheap Flight Tickets In India?

1. Make early reservations for flights

2. Subscribe to airline newsletters

3. Plan Your Journey during Off- Season:

Check for Round-Trip & One-Way Flights

5. Explore all of the travel search engines

6. Search the Flight in Other Currencies

7. Before buying a flight, delete all of your browser’s cookies.

8. Go for an early or late flight.

Q.2- What Are The Flight Ticket Hacks?

1. Before buying a flight, delete all of your browser’s cookies.

2. Subscribe to airline newsletters

3. Follow airlines on social media

4. Buy separate tickets for big groups

5. Avoid booking over the phone

Visit the airline’s website directly

Q.3- How Can I Get Big Discounts On Airline Tickets?

Flexibility of timing is a key factor in order to get big discounts on airline tickets. When making flight reservations, timing is crucial. Your wallet will thank you for booking in advance. But the booking time isn’t the only factor to consider; the flight time is also crucial. You may have observed that some airline flights with strange schedules, such as those that take off very early in the morning or land very late at night, have very inexpensive tickets. Have you ever questioned why airfare prices are so low during such weird hours? It is fairly easy to draw the conclusion. Nobody enjoys travelling at strange times.

SYMBIOSIS SCHOOL OF BANKING AND FINANCE

Building Robust Careers Through Grit

AN OVERVIEW

Connect

The well-known Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance (SSBF) is a strategic answer to the growing demand for a trained workforce in the Banking and Financial Services sector. A constituent of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) (SIU), SSBF was founded in 2010 and offers a two-year full-time residential MBA programme in Banking and Finance.

Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance, was conceptualized by foreseeing the immense opportunities in the Banking, Finance, and Insurance sector.

The goal of the MBA programme that SSBF offers is to prepare students to work as industry-ready professionals in the BFSI sector. SSBF has always kept up with the latest industry developments. To meet the demands of the dynamic financial sector, SSBF fine-tunes its curriculum with input from industry veterans.

As a result, it is not surprising that SSBF has eminent and experienced industry professionals on its advisory board and alumni who provide input to keep our curriculum relevant and up to date with industry demands.

For this whole inside story, we sat down for a virtual meeting with the Director of the company, Dr. Neha Parashar. She happened to walk us through various aspects of the institutions. Let’s dive in-

INCLUSIVE VISION

In the dynamic and complex world of banking and finance SSBF is envisioned to provide the most relevant and to the point practical knowledge with a smooth skill set that can take on the challenges arising with every sun rise. It is focused on promoting international understanding of the sector through quality education.

ROBUST MISSION

The poised management of SSBF is ready to take on the banking and finance sector keeping the following mission statements of SIU in mind:

• To inculcate the spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (the world is one family)

• To contribute towards knowledge generation and dissemination

• To promote ethical and value-based learning

• To foster the spirit of national development

• To inculcate cross cultural sensitization

• To develop global competencies amongst students

• To nurture creativity and encourage entrepreneurship

Dr. Neha Parashar Director

• To enhance employability and contribute to human resource development

•

To promote health and wellness amongst students, staff & community

•

To instill sensitivity amongst the youth towards the community and environment

•

To produce thought provoking leaders for the society

HOW DOES SSBF IMPART KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS?

Banking and finance being a specialised domain, faculty members’ roles become critical for students’ academic and professional advancement. In a classroom, the role of faculty is more of a facilitator, imparting and building the theoretical foundation of the field and encouraging learners to think critically in practice.

The SSBF faculty are UGC-qualified and experienced academics. The majority of the faculty members have also worked in industry and are dedicated to excellence in teaching and research. The theoretical knowledge provided by academicians and the practical aspects disseminated by bankers/industry professionals provide the ideal combination of both.

The classroom environment is interactive, with participatory learning allowing for the free exchange of ideas between faculty and students.

BEING RESOURCEFUL TO THE BUSINESS WORLD

As part of holistic development, SSBF encourages and guides students to pursue industry-recognized certifications such as CFA, FRM, NISM, CCRA, and others. Field trips and financial literacy workshops are organised for people in nearby villages as part of experiential learning.

Platforms such as Bloomberg and Gieom expose students to current trends and accurate data for research. Adding on Future BFSI Leaders

As the banking, financial services, and insurance industries expand at a rapid pace, there is a high demand for skilled and employable human resources. SSBF meets this demand by supplying industry-ready professionals.

The SSBF MBA in Banking and Finance programme is designed to disseminate relevant knowledge and skills to students so that they can function effectively in the challenging environment of the BFSI sector. The curriculum was created by comparing it to similar courses offered by national and international universities/institutions.

One of the core features of the SSBF curriculum and teaching pedagogy is the integration of technology in teaching and learning. Bloomberg enables in real-time data sourcing and analysis, Python and R programming language enables statistical analysis and inferences. Data analysis tools like SPSS and Tableau facilitate data analysis, extract insights, and to draw relevant financial information. All these resources eventually unearth the latest trends in the BFSI purview expediting the decision-making skills.

THE PROMINENCE OF R&D FOR DEVELOPMENT

SSBF’s core competency is research and development. Faculty members at SSBF direct student committees such as the Equity Research Cell, the Bloomberg Cell, and the Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell). Various concepts are developed and implemented. Students benefit from primary and secondary research because it provides them with a practical perspective. Students write and publish research papers in prestigious journals under the mentorship of faculty members.

DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP AT SYMBIOSIS

Dr. Neha Prashar- the Director of SSBF says,

“Leaders inspire others to take the steps necessary for success. To be a great leader, you must first learn and cultivate the necessary skills. Symbiosis International (Deemed University) believes in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and considers the entire world to be our family”.

Further she adds, “Leadership is the art of persuading people to willingly achieve group goals. Every human being desires to lead, inspire, and contribute to the greater good. It can be in your dayto-day roles as a housewife, student, or manager delegating and managing tasks in an organisation. Within each of us is a leader who strives to break down barriers and set examples.”

WORK CULTURE AT SYMBIOSIS

SSBF maintains a safe and healthy work environment and culture. The strongest pillar of Symbiosis is a high level of job satisfaction and skill advancement. Employees receive a competitive salary as well as other benefits. Employees in Symbiosis enjoy work-life balance and look forward to remaining with the organisation for decades.

ACCELERATING SSBF’S GROWTH

Banking, finance, and insurance are all-embracing technology to better and faster serve their customers. Data privacy is a major concern for businesses when providing services through technology. To meet the technological needs of the BFSI sector, SSBF intends to launch certification and executive diploma programs in FinTech, Cyber Security, MSME Finance, and Personal Finance. Companies are looking for tech-savvy candidates, so SSBF is planning a FinTech specialization for MBA students.

MILESTONES & ACHIEVEMENTS

• Collaborated with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and BFSI sector skill council of India to develop content for National University Student’s Skill development, a project initiated by TISS to increase the employability of the university students by imparting knowledge and skills.

• Scholarship of Rs. 1 lac for a needy student based on the academic performance and family’s financial background.

• Conducted training programs for esteemed organizations such as Union Bank of India, YES Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India, Canara Bank.

• Tie up with industry for different kinds of certification and workshops for students like AIWMI, D&B, Bloomberg etc

FUTURE ASPIRATIONS

SSBF excels in corporate training in addition to grooming and developing leaders for the BFSI industry. For both public and private sector banks, SSBF has successfully delivered domainspecific and soft skills training programmes.

SSBF intends to provide more industry-relevant certifications to students, upgrade program structure in response to technological changes and industry needs, and continue to organise sessions with industry experts.

Along with that, the school will develop online resources for aspirants who seek to pursue a career in banking and finance. SSBF is in the process of signing an MOU with the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) and other businesses to train professionals.

THE PEARLS OF WISDOM BY THE LEADERSHIP PANEL

“A good entrepreneur is daring. There is no shame in starting slowly. Just start. Don’t link your success as an entrepreneur to the success of your idea. Your job as an entrepreneur is to iterate through ideas to get to the right one. Part of that process is successfully proving your ideas are no good. Failure is part of making progress. grow your network and Seize Opportunities.”

ONEPLUS

NORD WATCH LAUNCHES

OnePlus Nord Watch has been announced in India and it is priced under INR 5,000. OnePlus Nord Watch is an affordable smartwatch with an AMOLED display, SpO2 monitoring, 105 sports mode, built-in GPS, long battery life, and more.

ONEPLUS Consumer electronics company

• Founded: 16 December 2013, China

CEO: Pete Lau (17 Dec 2013)

• Headquarters location: Shenzhen, China

• Founders: Carl Pei, Pete Lau

• Parent organization: BBK Electronics

OnePlus Nord Watch Price

The newly launched OnePlus Nord Watch price in India is set at INR 4,999. The smartwatch will be available on the OnePlus store, OnePlus Experience stores, and authorized OnePlus partner stores. It comes in Deep Blue and Midnight Black color variants. According to OnePlus, it will start selling on Amazon from October 4 at noon.

OnePlus Nord Watch Specifications

The smartwatch can track your heart rate, sleep, steps, and other activities. OnePlus claims that with the OnePlus Nord Watch, users will get up to 10 days of battery life.

The 1.78-inch HD (368x448 pixel) AMOLED touchscreen display on the OnePlus Nord Watch has a 60Hz refresh rate and a maximum brightness of 500 nits. The smartwatch has a power button that is situated on the right side of the device. It is run on RTOS and is powered by an SF32LB555V4O6 chipset.

The smartwatch features inbuilt GPS support. It is equipped with a 3-axis accelerometer and comes with support for heart rate and stress monitoring, along with SpO2 and sleep tracking. The OnePlus Nord Watch features support for 105 sports modes and can automatically track running and walking.

OnePlus Nord Watch has Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and is compatible with Android smartphones and iPhone models running on Android 6 and iOS 11 and later respectively. It is equipped with a nonlinear vibration motor. The smartwatch ships with a 230mAh battery and a magnetic charging cable.

• Brand - OnePlus

• Model Name - Nord

Weight - 52.4 g

• Shape - Rectangle

Type - Color AMOLED

• Touch - Yes

Size - 1.78 in

• Resolution - 368 x 448 pixels

• PPI - 326 ppi

• Features - 500nit brightness, 2.5D Curved Glass, 60Hz Refresh Rate, 70.7% screen-tobody Ratio

• Inbuilt Memory - 256 MB

• Bluetooth - Yes, 5.2

• Bluetooth Calling - Yes

• GPS - No

• Extra Features - 105 Sports Modes, Multiple Watch Faces, Smart Notifications, Magnetic charger

• OS - Proprietary skin

• Compatible OS - Android and iOS

• Battery Capacity - 230 mAh

• Battery Backup - 10 days

• StandBy Time - 1 month

• Water Resistant - Yes

Water Resistant Certificate - IP68

Dust Proof - Yes

Meters and sensors - Pedometer, Heart Rate Monitor, SpO2 (Blood Oxygen) Monitor, Calorie Count, Step Count, Sleep Monitor

• Extra Features - Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, Timer, Reminder

• Warranty - 1 year, Brand Warranty

LEARNING SANSKRIT AND COMING CLOSE TO OUR RICH TRADITION THROUGH VYOMA LINGUISTIC LABS FOUNDATION

“Vyoma Sanskrit Brothers at MIT, Boston, USA, after a lecture on ‘Computational structure of Panini’s Ashtadhyayi’

De facto, there are numerous platforms or institutes to acquire linguistic proficiency in English or other foreign languages. But, to make the people of India skilled in the primordial language that is Sanskrit, there are limited institutes. Vyoma Linguistic Labs Foundation is bringing a layer of change by providing an in-depth knowledge of Sanskrit through technology.

The Chief Executive Officer is Viswanathan P and COO is Venkatasubramanian P.

Vyoma is a non-profit organization, with a vision to develop ‘Saṁskṛta, Saṁskṛti and Saṁskāra’* (SSS) consciousness in every individual on this planet, which leads to real and ultimate happiness.

To clarify further, *Saṁskṛta is not a mere transactional language, but a universal medicine and tool for the overall holistic wellness and development of an individual. It is a repository of knowledge, which can authenticate all aspects of wellness like Yoga, nutrition, Ayurveda, Astronomy, Vaastu, Meditation, Mindfulness, music, dance, art forms, etc.

*Saṁskṛti is not only limited to art forms. It embraces the entire gamut of rich cultures, which helps to develop holistic human capabilities. It is about understanding the logic and science behind our timeless tradition, and the ethos woven around the cultural fabric.

*Saṁskāra does not cover only rituals and mythological stories. It also includes an understanding of the spirituality within each ritual. It encompasses value education and inherent lifelong virtues. The core vision is achieved through a combination of instructional designed e-learning tools, high impact courses, and thought-provoking and insightful lectures and discourses.

VISWANATHAN P, CEO VENKATASUBRAMANIAN P, COO

Rashi Saral | Business Connect

VYOMA OFFERS TOOLS, COURSES AND DISCOURSES FOR

• All age - Kids, school children, youth, mid-career professionals, retired persons, and others

• All type of learners – Visual, Auditory, Reading/ writing and kinesthetic

• All modes – Computers, Mobile devices, Audio players, Tabs, etc.

• All areas of interest – Language, Grammar, Scriptures, Skills, etc.

INCEPTION STORY

There are three parts to the inception story of this beautiful organization. The first part is called the ‘Value revolution’. During the post-independence era, India witnessed a revolution to fulfill the basic needs of ‘Food-ShelterClothing’. Various Government and Non-Government initiatives helped to fulfill this need to a great extent. This was followed by the agricultural, industrial and technological revolutions. The 21st century is witnessing the need for a unique revolution called – ‘Value & Cultural education’. Various organizations are working to fulfill this need. The founders of Vyoma wanted to fulfill this in a deep-rooted and wide-spread manner. Hence, Vyoma Linguistic Labs Foundation has been established to work in the areas of Samskrta (Ancient Knowledge System), Saṁskṛti (Culture & Heritage) and Saṁskāra (Values and Virtues), and to spread the valuable knowledge through the use of technology.

The second part is called ‘The master platform’. If we see the world around us, people are affected by various problems at individual, social, national and international levels. Typical problems are lack of focus and concentration, memory loss, anger, greed, lust, ego, depression, suicide, stress, lack of values, physical and mental diseases, lack

of purpose in life, atrocities against women and children, theft, corruption, terrorism, etc. People are experiencing solutions to these problems in Yoga, Meditation, Spirituality, Ayurveda, Astrology, Ancient knowledge, Value education, and other avenues. Now, if we see the common master thread amongst all these – It is an ancient knowledge system called ‘SANSKRIT’. Sanskrit is not merely a language – it is a well-structured, most developed, and time-tested knowledge system. Hence, the founders of Vyoma labs, who come with a unique combination of rare traits like hailing from a traditional family, having rich academic qualifications, with deep knowledge of the ancient systems, which they have learned from the authentic sources, possessing a teaching experience of more than 25 years, and sharing an experience of running large projects in Multinational Corporate houses, decided to establish a non-profit organization to spread the benefits of Sanskrit to every individual on this earth.

“Lecture on ‘Leadership & Management Aspects of Sundara Kandam of Ramayanam’

The third part is ‘What customer needs’. Sanskrit students and enthusiasts always want a learning experience, which is deep-rooted yet fun to learn, authentic yet available anytime- anywhere, rich in content yet affordable, has high quality content yet presented in an engaging manner. Vyoma Labs’ innovative pedagogy and instructional design are based on e-learning content, to fulfill all these needs of Sanskrit students, teachers and enthusiasts.

Finally, if we see what would happen if organizations like Vyoma aren’t born, aren’t nurtured and sustained? – Off course, we would have a dearth of knowledge sources that serve as a repository of ancient knowledge. This accumulates the authentic, tacit, invaluable knowledge which is possessed by great scholars into a storage media, which can be accessed worldwide and by generations to come. This is true treasure-building. Vyoma’s vision on bringing the ancient knowledge systems (our śāstras) to the mainstream and making it context-relevant are the works of international and national importance. E.g.: Vyoma Labs want to create learning content so that a person studying hydrology can also study ancient knowledge regarding water sources and rain and apply the combined learning into research or solving problems for future generations.

SYNCHRONIZATION WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Vyoma Labs is into Sanskrit e-learning and requires involves multimedia tools such as audio, video, animations for authoring and LMS framework for pre senting to students. By adopting a layered approach in all the areas, they could mitigate the risk of technological obsolescence and proceed with work. Cloud and web technologies have helped them to a large extent.

For the company, the greatest challenge was to incorporate the language components into the technology, by people who knew Sanskrit and technology. Since this was not achievable at all times, they have done extensive R&D in this area, and they have adopted a federated ecosystem.

The federated framework is an ecosystem of right skilled people, an external vendor system and governance to collaborate and work seamlessly to design and produce effective, engaging and Prayojanaṃ oriented Sanskrit/Indic knowledge-based e-learning courses. The federated ecosystem consists of Ac ademicians, Linguistic Scholars, Technology experts, Quality Assurance team Project management professionals, and animation experts.

SYNCHRONIZING WITH THE TRENDS

They are trying to keep ‘customer experience and learner’s delight at the heart of everything they do’. Hence, as the expectation of the customer changes – they also change according to the needs.

For example- they have different modes for their products. For kids, they have colorful books and various applications. For school children, they have authoring based products, which have games and activities. For mid-age professionals, they have webinars, MOOCs, YouTube sessions, etc.

For elders, they have discourses with new insights. And, these are available even through CDs, Apps, in pen-drives, in web versions, as downloadable, like books, etc.

In continuation of their main principle –‘Tradition with technology’– they are try ing to keep up with both ends of the spec trum.

UNFURLING THE FLAG OF ACHIEVEMENTS

Being the world’s first Non-profit company for structured Sanskrit e-learning, a few milestones are -

• 20+ engaging, effective, instructional designed e-learning tools

• Over 15 engaging apps both in an droid and iOS

• 110+nsightful & knowledge-filled, en gaging courses

• 12,000+ committed and happy learn ers

• 1,20,000 + e-learning man hours

• Focused US Seva tour – with 50+ events in 38 days, outreach to more than 2500 people across 9 states

• Largest repository in the world for structured Sanskrit e-learning content

Above all - Being the ‘thought leader and implementation leader’ in this segment, and motivating a multitude of individu als, groups, organizations to venture into this field of Spreading Sanskrit through e-learning

ASTOUNDING FUTURE PLANS

Proposed big rocks for the future are:

• An integrated Sanskrit language lab for urban educational institutions, for rural/ tribal and government schools, for corporate employee management and finally for children with special needs.

• Sanskrit and Value Education out sourcing: Creating process, products, technology and trained resources for Sanskrit and Value Education subjects – for schools and institutions across the country.

• Continuing to spread Sanskrit in Ru ral, Tribal and Government schools, and Vedic Paathshaalas.

After iPhones, Apple to manufacture AirPods & Beats headphones in India: Reports

Apple has asked its suppliers to shift the AirPods and Beats headphones production to India for the first time. This is anoth er win for the country because it can increase local manufactur ing in India.

Apple Technology company

• CEO: Tim Cook (24 Aug 2011)

• Founded: 1 April 1976, Los Altos, California, United States

• Products: iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Apple TV, iOS, ma cOS, MORE

• Founders: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne

• Subsidiaries: Beats Electronics, Apple Store, Itunes K.K., Beddit, MORE

• Key people - Arthur D. Levinson (chairman), Tim Cook (CEO), Jeff Williams (COO)

Due to China’s new Covid-19 lockdown policy and geopoliti cal issues between the US and China, the company recently be gan producing the new iPhone 14 in India. Nikkei Asia claims that Apple is in talks with several of its suppliers to increase production and is asking them to make Beats headphones and AirPods in the Indian market, a first for the country. Growth in the global supply chain boosts Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s

Majestic Hindu temple opens in Dubai

Here in Jebel Ali Village, a magnificent new Hindu temple with a profound message of tolerance, peace, and harmony has been inaugurated. It merges Indian and Arabic architectural styles. The temple, which is situated in what is known as the emirate’s “worship hamlet,” officially welcomed worshipers from all across the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

“The new Hindu temple in Dubai was inaugurated by Amb. @sunjaysudhir and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence. The 3.5 million-strong Indian diaspora in the UAE was supported by the UAE government, which Ambassador Sunjay Sudhir thanked on the occasion “the tweet from the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

“Make in India” campaign. AirPods are second to the iPhone in terms of shipment volume for Apple. Currently, AirPods are manufactured in Vietnam and China, with the majority of Beats headphones being produced in Vietnam.

According to the report, the iPhone manufacturer’s Chinese supplier, Luxshare Precision Industry, and its companies will also help in the manufacture of Apple’s AirPods in India.

A report from Bloomberg recently claimed that $1 billion iPhones have already been exported from India since April this year. Accord ing to reports, the target is $2.5 billion by the end of March 2023.

The locally- assembled iPhone 14 will go on sale in the nation in the fourth quarter as the company bolsters its local manufac turing/assembling plans by spending billions of dollars. At this rate, industry experts believe that Apple can manufacture the iPhone 15 simultaneously in India and China next year.

The Nikkei report said that Apple’s latest move is part of its gradual diversification from China. Amidst the COVID-related lockdown in China and rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, India and other countries such as Mexico and Viet nam are becoming increasingly important for contract manufac turers to supply American brands.

The official inauguration ceremony was highlighted by a potent message of acceptance, peace, and harmony that brought together individuals of all religions, according to the Khaleej Times newspaper.

As people entered, musicians playing the tabla and dhol, Indian drums, welcomed them with the chant “Om shanti shanti Om” by priests. Nine religious buildings, including seven churches, the Guru Nanak Darbar Sikh Gurudwara, and a new Hindu temple, are currently located in Jebel Ali’s “worship village.”

A ceremony to cut a ribbon was planned for the main prayer hall. Ambassador Sudhir, Dr. Omar Al Muthanna, CEO of the Community Development Authority’s (CDA) social regulating and licencing body, and Raju Shroff, trustee of the Hindu Temple Dubai, were present with Sheikh Nahyan. The Community Development Authority’s director general, Ahmed Abdul Karim Julfar, was also present.

The magnificent opening ceremony was attended by more than 200 luminaries, including the heads of diplomatic missions, leaders of several religions, businesspeople, and Indian community members. The opening of a new Hindu temple in Dubai is good news for the Indian community, according to Mr. Sudhir. The opening of the temple will help the huge Hindu community in the United Arab Emirates fulfil their religious goals. The recently built temple is next to a 2012-opened Gurudwara. We consider it an honour that Sheikh Nahayan opened the brand-new Hindu temple in Dubai. The Dubai

Rupee Hits All Time Low as Major Currencies Crack Against Dollar

According to PTI, the rupee fell 43 paise to an all-time low of 81.52 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday. The currency was pushed down by the rise of the US dollar, while risk-averse investor sentiment impacted on the local unit. The escalation of geopolitical dangers caused by the Ukraine crisis, a poor trend in local equities, and considerable foreign money outflows drained investor interest, according to currency traders. The rupee opened at 81.47 versus the US dollar on the interbank foreign exchange, then slipped to 81.52, a drop of 43 paise from its previous close.

government’s kindness in providing the land for the temple and supporting its construction is acknowledged, the Indian envoy added. The 70,000 square foot place of worship’s construction was first mentioned in 2020, not long after the city was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The temple combines Indian and Arabic architectural styles with fine hand carvings, elaborate pillars, brass spires, and spectacular lattice screens. Following the opening ceremony, Mr. Shroff spoke with Khaleej Times and said the following: “For Indians living around the United Arab Emirates as well as Hindus, the opening of the temple in Dubai is a dream come true. The temple is a perfect illustration of how we view religion as uniting people from different cultural backgrounds.” “Construction schedules weren’t impacted by COVID-19 thanks to the backing of the Dubai government. The Hindu Temple in Dubai is a fantastic example of how open-minded and compassionate Dubai and the United Arab Emirates government are. The Emiratis’ generosity endures, whether it was in 1958 when they opened the nation’s first “temple” or now with the Hindu temple.” Visitors must register in advance to enter the temple, and they can do so online. There will be a huge community centre before the end of the year where Hindu weddings and other events, rituals, and prayers can be performed.

The rupee fell 30 paise to a new lifetime low of 81.09 versus the US dollar on Friday. According to Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, the Indian rupee is likely to remain weaker as investors expect the US Fed to continue raising interest rates aggressively to reduce inflation.

“The focus now switches to the RBI’s meeting this week, with a decision expected on Friday. We expect the RBI to raise rates by 50 basis points to calm stubbornly high inflation and keep the currency from falling further “Iyer stated.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the US currency against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.67 percent to 113.94. Brent crude futures slid 0.58 percent to USD 85.65 a barrel, the global oil benchmark. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 797.73 points, or 1.37 percent, lower at 57,301.19 points, while the wider NSE Nifty slid 260.80 points, or 1.51 percent, to 17,066.55 points. According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,899.68 crore.

The RBI has been deploying dollar reserves to protect the currency, depleting billions of dollars in currency assets in the process. There have also been policy measures to lure more deposits from the diaspora through additional incentives, as well as other attempts to stem the decrease. According to a PTI report, the country’s foreign reserves fell by USD 5.219 billion to USD 545.652 billion for the week ending September 16.