VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur To Launch The Second Online Edition Of Its B-School Fest, Purvodaya’22

The world we live in is continually changing at such a lightning pace that it is challenging to keep up. As a result, organizations feel burned out, which encourages leaders to steer the organizations on a new path to lead through the turbulence that defines the modern world. Approaching these difficulties traditionally will not yield the expected results. One can only make changes and create a competitive advantage by breaking the paradigms. Effective leaders always inspire and lead their people to challenge their paradigms. Breaking paradigms and thinking "outside the box" is critical for producing breakthrough results. By encapsulating these concepts, the stage is now set for the Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, to launch the online adaptation of the institute's annual B-school fest- Purvodaya for the second time. The central theme – "Breaking the Paradigms," sets a perfect tone for the event as the companies are undergoing transformational changes to reinvent their processes to emerge as leaders in this revolutionary period.

The three-day affair is an amalgamation of brain-wracking events spread across the domains of consulting, analytics, finance, supply chain management, and marketing. The event is set to roll out on 4th February 2022. The event will be graced by the esteemed presence of our Chief Guest, Mr. Sanjiv Bajaj, Jt. Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Capital, and our Guest of Honour, Mr. Randeep Guleria, Director at AIIMS. It provides an ideal platform for aspiring leaders to sharpen their skills as top B-school talent across the country come together to test their mettle against their peers. Last year when we had conducted the online adaptation of the event for the first time, we received record-breaking participation from various B-school students, and we expect this year's competitions to be of even greater grandeur.

The Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, will be hosting the Leadership Summit, 2022, held under Purvodaya. Our world is transitioning from a VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) World to a RUPT (Rapid, Unpredictable, Paradoxical, and Tangled) World as it progresses from a complicated to a more complex state. Keeping the significant lessons learned from the Covid outbreak in mind, the topic of this year's Leadership Summit is "Leading Paradigm Shifts-Achieving Breakthroughs in a disRUPTed World." With this context in place, the new generation of leaders gradually realizes that, while performance is required, it is impossible to lead unless one can disengage on a regular basis. Academic-corporate collaboration has been a significant focus area for the institute by inculcating this awareness to educate and develop innovative and transformational leaders. 

The Leadership Summit brings together eminent business leaders on a common platform to share insights with young minds that carve out new thought processes and perspectives. The 3-day business festival also includes a myriad of activities ranging from Samvaad, the pre-inaugural event when entrepreneurs and business leaders begin the ball rolling with their unique ideas and experiences, to Reminiscence, a platform where distinguished guests from the vast alumni base stroll down memory lane to their alma mater and relive their memories.

Purvodaya also includes a variety of inter-B-school contests, such as the Leader's Challenge conducted by the Marketing and Advertising Club, Sumantran and Guesstimates organized by the Consulting Club, Mulyankan hosted by Finterest, and many more, which give students with unique opportunity to demonstrate their mettle in diverse business sectors. To foster participants' creative flair, our photography club, Flash, hosts two intriguing events: Phoson, a photography competition on a few exciting themes, and Veloce, a videography challenge on "Macro Videography." Aalekh, an essay writing competition concentrating on current social issues, and Parishram, a live social empowerment case study challenge, are organized by the CSR Club of VGSoM, Saamanjasya. Competitions such as Modus Operandi by the ScOpe club (Supply Chain and Operations club) and Synergy by Drishtee Capital (Investment club) assess participants' ability to develop creative and feasible solutions on real-life scenarios in the domains of Supply Chain & Operations and share market. Apart from these, events such as Srijan and Vichaar conducted by the Entrepreneurship Cell and Quizzard hosted by the Quiz Club contribute to the innovative quotient. Though in a virtual format, the conversations and contests conducted at this stage will help students better comprehend real-life challenges and propose solutions. It will also help them conceptualize leadership changes by viewing seemingly insurmountable challenges as polarities to be leveraged rather than problems to be addressed — moving their perspective, thinking, and decision-making skills from a black & white world to a greyish one.