The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) held its Annual Business Summit under the aegis of Trade Winds 2016 from 10
th to 12
th August, 2016 at New Delhi. The summit was inaugurated by the Chief Guest of the event, Mr. Mohit Malhotra, CEO of Dabur International, the Guest of Honor, Mr. Gautam Sinha, CEO of Times Internet and Dr. Surajit Mitra, Director and Vice Chancellor of IIFT.
The theme of the Inaugural Summit was ‘
How Transformational Leadership can Bring About Disruptive Leadership’ and Mr. Gautam Sinha was the first to share his view that if businesses do not learn how to disrupt, they will cease to exist in the market. The chief guest Mr. Mohit Malhotra enlightened the students with his corporate wisdom and inspirational words. He quoted, “
It is important to fail as it makes you wiser”.
The afternoon session was dedicated to the National Marketing Summit, the first half of which concentrated on the theme of ‘Culture Specific Marketing’. The discussion took off in many directions under the mentorship of stalwarts from RB India, Reebok India, DS Group, Marico, etc. The opinions were varied and diverse, but the panel was at a common consensus when it came to the rising brand of Indian culture.
The second half of the Marketing Summit was specific to the Pharmaceuticals and the Health Care sector, with the topic of ‘
Leveraging Digital Technology for Enhancing Customer Connect in Pharmaceuticals, Health Care and Medical Devices’. The guests were from many sectors of the industry such as Eli Lilly, Merck Sharpe and Dohme, etc. and they were all unanimous in their opinion that technology can contribute a lot to the healthcare industry and that there is still a long way to go.
Day two of Trade Winds was started off with the National HR Summit which had the theme of ‘
Talent Acquisition strategies for a culturally diverse workplace’. The speakers shared many instances of successful implementation of a diverse workforce in companies like Aon Hewitt, RIL, Lava Mobile, etc.
The afternoon witnessed the National Finance Summit which had the theme of ‘
Start-up Valuation- Reality or Fiction’. The panel consisted of founders and CEOs from various Private Equity and Venture Capital funds such as Altius Ventures, First Gulf Bank, Ivy Cap Ventures, etc. who shared their parameters for judging prospective entrepreneurs.
The last day of Trade Winds saw two diverse summits, the first of which was the National Leadership Summit. The topic for the discussion was ‘
Strategic Ability for Growth and Competitiveness’ and the panelists were people with leadership roles in organizations like Videocon, JLL India, Everest Group, etc. In order to succeed in business, the speakers advised the students to work for their passion.
The last summit of the event was the National Operations Summit, under the banner of ‘
Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain: Innovations and Integral Solutions’. The speakers were logistics leaders from corporates such as Coca-Cola, Hindalco, Siemens, Airbus, etc. who shared insights into the areas important for supply chain management: customer service, quality, security and costs.