Bhubaneswar: Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB)’s 4th edition of the annual Business Excellence Summit was inaugurated on Thursday. The theme of the three-day event is ‘Transcending Boundaries’.

The inaugural ceremony was presided over by vice-chancellor Rev. Father Antony R. Uvari SJ, registrar Father S. Antony Raj SJ, deputy registrar, and CFO Father V. Arokiya Dass SJ, dean academics Biswa Swarup Mishra, and the keynote speaker, Group Captain Atanu Guru.

Vice chancellor Rev. Father Antony R. Uvari SJ declared the Business Excellence Summit 2022, open. Dean of academics, Biswa Swarup Mishra delivered a thought-provoking speech. CFO, Father Arokiya took the opportunity to introduce the keynote speaker.

Group captain Atanu Guru, took center stage to deliver a powerful speech to the young leaders of tomorrow and motivated the students to transcend boundaries, search beyond the ordinary, question the status quo, appealed to balance between our emotional quotient and intelligence quotient, rely on intuition, plan for contingencies, and aim to achieve things beyond one’s perceived potential.

A. L. Jaganath, the head of marketing, ThoughtWorks, an alumnus of XIMB, delivered a speech on the topic ‘Customer Centricity’, “See the world’s problems through customers’ point of view. This cannot be achieved by sitting in offices. You have to go to the ground and collect information about what the customers require. Only then will you have insights into the actual customer needs”.

Col. Rajeev Bharwan, the youngest officer in the Assam Rifles shared his experiences from his academy days, providing insights on how tough the life of any soldier can be. He shared a piece of his life, including his days at the academy, Cambrian patrol, and the Sudan Innings. He ended his talk with two keynotes: life is not a business and we should not gauge it by just profits and losses and the fact that the best investments are the ones we make on ourselves.

Shefali Vijaywargiya, brand manager, Amul spoke about her journey and talked about the importance of symphony and vision, “Brand management is something that requires all stakeholders to come together and give their best. It’s like a train where all wheels need to work in a perfect symphony just like all parts of a company.”

Debendra Narayan Kar, chief commissioner of Income Tax in Chennai, shared his views on how future leaders should be prepared to work hard before entering the corporate world. He mentioned, “Those of you who are new to various subjects, work hard. For the ones who know it, don’t be complacent”. Throughout his speech, he kept the audience’s spirits high by giving various examples of tax applications laying major emphasis on the importance of being compliant with taxes and ethical in business.

A Forbes 30 under 30 panel was organized at the campus which was presided by Shefali Vijaywargi, brand manager, Amul Kool; Nishita Baliarsingh, co-founder and CEO of Nexus Power and Sahithi Devi, director of Mohanam. The topic before the panel was “Prism of Possibilities.”

Shefali Vijaywargi, elaborated that with the advent of technology, product innovation and leveraging technology to create products are necessary to have a competitive advantage. “It is not just the customers expecting things from the companies. It is the brands coming up with innovative practices”.

Nishita Baliarsingh, co-founder and CEO of Nexus Power. talked about the power of good ideas and backing these ideas, “Angel investors and venture capitalists have a higher degree of trust in India. Previously we could see only 2-3 unicorns. Today we have 100+ already. Byjus can raise a billion dollars in a single round which was not possible previously”.

The Sahithi Devi, director of Mohanam elaborated on her journey to becoming the director of Mohanam. She spoke on the misconceptions about social enterprise that exist in India. “When I went to the village, I saw that every woman was working. In the city not many are. The only time rural women do not work is when they sleep”.