ICccR & HRM, JU organized Industrial Tour to Accelerator and Startup Parks at NASSCOM, WTC & EDCIL, Noida for MBA (International Business) Students

International Centre for Cross Cultural Research and Human Resource Management (ICccR & HRM), University of Jammu organised a four day industrial tour of MBA-IB (Semester IV) students to India’s noted Accelerator and Startup Parks. Keeping the objective of bridging gap between academia and industry and with intent to give real time entrepreneurial exposure to MBA (International Business) students, the industrial tour was organized to NASSCOM-Noida, World Trade Centre-Noida, EDCIL-Noida (Miniratna Company), VIVO-Noida and Shri Vishwakarma Skill University-Gurugram. 

The objective of the tour was to provide exposure to students with reference to the entrepreneurship and start-Ups by understanding and interacting with mentors and investors that groom high potential startups through the best of breed mentoring, global market exposure, industry connects and international market access. The tour was an inclusive experience for the students of MBA (International Business) as it enabled them to explore deep corporate engagement, see directly open innovation and co-creation opportunities at incubation centres and how to develop an extensive network of corporates and consulting partners that are key determinants of Start-Up success.

The visit to 10,000 Start-Up Warehouse at NASSCOM-Noida facility, that is placed with more than 10,000 startups helped students to understand how to kickstart the entrepreneurial journey with identification of critical success factors, undergo diagnostic test and be part of curated training sessions with support from NASSCOM mentors. The mentor sessions were conducted by Ms. Nidhi Gupta, Deputy Director, Global Trade Development, NASSCOM, Mr. Yudhisther Yadav, Deputy Manager, Sector Skills Council, NASSCOM and Dr Sunil Shekhawat, Deputy Manager, Startups, NASSCOM. Further the students underwent inhouse visit to NASSCOM Startup Warehouse facility where they interacted with incubates from various academic institutions like IIM-Lucknow, Michigan University and IIT-Roorkee.

The visit of students to Espark Viridian Accelerator Center at World Trade Centre, Noida which is a premium co-working space for tech startups supported and funded by the industry to create a micro-ecosystem where startup founders can work together, share their learning and best practices with each other, instigated amongst students the awareness regarding the access to deep and wide-reaching network of investors, mentors, industry experts, and enterprises, which the startups can leverage to fast-track their growth and advancement. The Incubation-accelerator sessions was organized under the guidance of Khair-Ull-Nissa, Executive Director- WTC Services and Mr. Malik Nisar Hamid, Senior Manager-Espark Incubation Facility at WTC-Noida. The students also visited the VIVO-Company stationed at the WTC-Facility at Noida to navigate across the Chinese Manufacturing Systems and People management under the supervision of Mr. Rishab Jaiswal, Business Development Head, WTC-Noida.

EdCIL, India Limited, a Mini Ratna Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Human Resource Development offered an interactive panel discussion to the students of MBA (International Business) with regard to career opportunities in the area of project management and consultancy services in all verticals of education and human resource development, both within India and overseas. The panel discussion was steered by Mr. Sandeep Goel, Chief General Manger (Finance), a seasoned finance professional with over 24 years of experience in various business verticals and Mr. Kuljinder Sahni, Head ‘Study Abroad India’ Program’ at EDCIL-Noida. 

The allied objective of industrial visit was also to address the skill gap and employability issues faced by the young professionals. The visit of MBA (International Business) students to Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Gurugram, enabled them to align their vision with national skilling framework. The students were deliberated on the core HRD areas of organisations namely, conflict management, workplace climate mapping, industrial arbitration, people intelligence networking and OD interventions. The session also helped students to assess the industry sectors that are relevant for employment and career advancement opportunities with reference to the area of international business. The discussion was headed by Dr. Ritu Bajaj, Registrar, Shri Vishwarakma Skill University, Prof. Randhir Singh Rathore, Dean Academic Affairs, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University and Mr. Ravi Sinha, Deputy Director, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University (Ex- General Manager Hero Honda Motor Corporation). 

The University also offered academic collaborations and joint workshops for pitching and offering industry-integrated dual-education programmes for the students of MBA (InternationalBusiness). 

Professor Deepak Raj Gupta, Director, ICccR & HRM, expressed satisfaction and urgency on part of academic stakeholders for creating academic interfaces with industry and Startup facilities across India so that students can make concrete career choices at nascent stages of professional development and endorsed that measures like industrial tours is an important developmental activity for creation of sustainable industry-academia interfaces.

Dr. Isha Sharma, Assistant Professor, ICccR & HRM, led the Industrial Tour of students to Accelerator and Start-Up Parks.