As the legend goes, since times immemorial, trade winds have driven commerce, trade and most importantly ideas, across frontiers. For the better part of two decades now, IIFT’s flagship business summit, Trade Winds has channelled much the same spirit, bringing you the latest ideas, trends and fostering the spirit of curiosity across the many domains of business. We were spell bound for 3 days, as a galaxy of corporate leaders descended upon the lush environs of South Delhi for Trade Winds 2015, to discuss varied themes, exchange ground breaking idea and showcase the latest from the corporate world with full time MBA students of IIFT. And as much as we would love sharing each of those priceless talks with you, reader, the sheer volume of those jewels would be overwhelming. Hence, to whet your appetite, as gradually release videos from each of these talks, we bring to you a selection of the choicest quotes from the sessions. 

"The format you have organized and revised for this event is very content rich and will only to lend value to any business that we discuss or topic that we discuss because it goes deep into HR, finance, operations and different specializations that there are"

"You are at a particular position in the economy and in a position globally which sets you for a growth which could be a limitless growth. "

"We are all fortunate that we are stepping into and environment where we can be entrepreneurs or be close to entrepreneurship if you were to get into any start up environment in the country. India has a long way to go. I read it somewhere that there were 31000 start ups in India, but this is also the number of startups that started in Silicon Valley alone during the same period of time"

"You are born in a world, where you are depriving yourself by only thinking local"

- Sanjay Kapoor, Chairman, Micromax speaking at the Inaugural Session of Trade Winds 2015

“

"Be in permanent Beta. Fail fast if you want to succeed even faster!”

“The 200 students sitting here are some of the brightest in the country, so please never chase the small fish, the 20-30% incremental growth, look for the 2x, the 10x. And you cannot achieve this alone. As a leader you should always look for creating such moments that can help you follow the dreams that you set for yourself.”

- Nishant Rao, CEO, LinkedIn India, speaking at the Inaugural Session of Trade Winds 2015  

 

"SEM will be an integrated company-wide effort instead of just content team putting tags"

 

 

"Being an entrepreneur is like being a mom, you have to experience it yourself!"

 

 

"Either you succeed or you learn; there's nothing called failure"

  -Neeru Sharma, Co-founder and Director, Infibeam.Com, Speaking at National Marketing Summit,Trade Winds 2015

"Doing now what customers need next' is the mantra for success in marketing" "Leveraging advocacy to drive SoV(Share of Voice) and generating new insights is the new Pharma Marketing"

-Ashish Talele, Associate Director - Marketing & Sales at Roche Pharmaceuticals, Speaking at National Marketing Summit,Trade Winds 2015  

"80 campaigns every quarter for 1.81 customers! Micro segmentation is the way to go in hospitality"

-Deepali Naair, Chief Marketing Officer, Mahindra Holidays & Resort India Limited, Speaking at National Marketing Summit,Trade Winds 2015

"Customer satisfaction should always be the first step in the value system"

-Manohar Hotchandani, Director Business Development, Microsoft India, Speaking at National Leadership Summit,Trade Winds 2015

 

“Internet has the power to change policies & perceptions. We all can help in rebranding India!"

  -Sudhanshu Jangir, Head India Operations, Group Axereal,Speaking at National Leadership Summit ,Trade Winds 2015

"Talent acquisition is just the 1st step in building diversity"

"Refrain from using culturally biased competencies in Leadership Development models"

"You won't have diversity at the top if you don't have diversity throughout the hierarchy"

-Adwaith Naimpally, Talent Acquisition Specialist, Mondelez International, Speaking at National HR Summit,Trade Winds 2015

"We tend to limit Workplace Diversity to gender, which we, at GM do not second. There is more to diversity"

-Pritpal Kular, Vice President, Human Resources, General Motors, Speaking at National HR Summit,Trade Winds 2015

"My business should deal with how many people I take, not how many types of people I take"

"When it comes to diversity, the Indian context is a deep-rooted irony"

"Don't just fill up Excel sheets on diversity, feel that you've included everyone in your stride"

-Abhishek Tiwary, Director, Director, Human Resources, KPMG, Speaking at National HR Summit,Trade Winds 2015

"Sophisticated technology, robust contract management & sector design spell success in Food Delivery"

-Himanshu Ratnoo, Head of Delivery, Food Panda, Speaking at National Operations Summit ,Trade Winds 2015

 

"The power of digital is immense! India is all about digital dynamism & media SCM agility"

-Siddharth Zarabi,Editor,Bloomberg TV India, Speaking at National Operations Summit ,Trade Winds 2015

"The reason for beeline in Microfinance is not social impact, rather the returns involved"

- Atreya Rayaprolu, Executive Director, New Initiatives and Intellecap Africa, Speaking at National Finance Summit ,Trade Winds 2015

“Commercially there is little difference between returns from Venture Capital & Impact Investing “

-Amit Bhatia, Chief Executive Officer, Impact Investors Council, Speaking at National Finance Summit ,Trade Winds 2015

“Impact Investing in education sector ensures access to everyone Khan Academy & Coursera are trailblazers !”

  -Raj Shastri, Principal Investment manager, KaizenPrivate Equity, Speaking at National Finance Summit ,Trade Winds 2015   We hope you you enjoyed these nuggets as much as we enjoyed bringing them to you. Stay tuned for more!