The phone rang and it jolted me out of my state of fanciful musing. I looked at the name of the caller. “Ohh……my good ol’ pal from yesteryears…”. The conversation started of with the usual ‘wassup’ bit, and then I told him that I was working for Ahvan. “And what is that? I thought your management fest was called IRIS!”, said he. And then I told him how IRIS had transformed to ‘Ahvan – a call to the nation’ this year. “Oh! So you are working for Ashwamedha are you?!” came the question from the other side. “You know Ashwamedha do you?!” was my surprised reply to the question. And then he told me how every Indian MBA worth his salt has dreamt of being ‘the one’ at Ashwamedha for the last seven years of Ashwa’s existence.

For an event enjoying popularity of that magnitude, Ashwa started out as a brand new concept and has become a trendsetter, pioneering a whole new genre of events across B-Schools. Obviously, the event team is not talking about what it plans to do this year since they re-invent themselves every year. All they say about Ashwa is that ‘The event places the participants in a series of simulated real life scenarios where the participants have to use all their wits, knowledge and passion to prove their mettle.’

The event will be launched on the 24^th of October with prize money of Rs.150000 (tentatively). The initial elimination process of online rounds will bring down the numbers from 1000+ applicants to ‘30 potential winners’. From then on, each one watches the others’ moves and out of this stiff competition, emerges the winner. Meanwhile, sponsors are vying for Ashwamedha, jostling for the eyeballs that Ashwa grabs. The buzz on the campus is that Ashwa in its new avatar is going to be one of Ahvan’s biggest successes. The personal interview round which promises to be nothing short of dramatic will decide ‘the real leader’. The focus is primarily going to be Ahvan’s theme ‘Imagining India’, where we look for leadership that is not restricted to corporate houses but makes a meaningful difference to this nation.

Kalpavriksha has begun with a BANG. The Kalpa team is ecstatic about the overwhelming response that it has received this year! The gruelling task of selecting the top 20 teams from the 131 Social Business plans has been accomplished and the results have been declared on the website on 18^th October. Visit http://ahvan.in/ahvan09/index.html to know your whether your team has been one of the fortunate ones or not.

With international tie-up with Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) of Foster School of Business and association with FINO as ‘Knowledge Partner’ and Cognizant as Sponsor, Kalpavriksha’09 promises to be bigger and better this year. Kalpavriksha moves a step ahead in assessing the social impact brought about by the business plans by introducing a new factor of “Social Impact Assessment”. Concurring with Ahvan’s theme of “Imagining India”, Kalpavriksha continues to be the torch-bearer of self-sustainable social entrepreneurship.

Testimonials from last year’s finalists speak tons about the success of Kalpavriksha.

“Kalpavriksha happens to be one of the most gruelling and testing B-plan competitions in India. Unlike other B-plan competitions whereby you can impress the judges with a 10 minute presentation to walk away with a prize, Kalpavriksha is almost a month long journey which ensures that only the best and genuine entrepreneurial minds manage to make the cut …”

“We have won many competitions, but the Kalpavriksha experience has been one of the most rewarding, even though we did not win anything! It tested our mettle in strategy, our team cohesiveness, the practicality of the plan among other things … Finally, we would like to say that if you want to rub shoulders with the likes of London School of Economics, Princeton University etc., Kalpavriksha is the shortest way to do it for an Indian team. So go for it!”

Team Kalpavriksha is looking forward to provide a platform to the path-breaking ideas of the nation’s young entrepreneurs and leave a lasting impact.

Just a month to go for Ahvan… a lot of excitement can be seen on the campus… Back after Diwali celebrations, the following posts will take you through some of the biggest and challenging events  that  are a part of Ahvan.

Entrepid is a full time stimulation-strategy game, a first of its kind in B-School history.  The interesting part of the event is that it tests the real time holistic-challenges faced by a firm, and in the end, it’s not the team with the sharpest minds in finance, strategy, operations & marketing that wins, but the team that collaborates most effectively who will emerge as the winners. The game is spread across different sectors and the value chain of an industry and where players would fight it out amongst themselves. There would be government regulations, dispute resolution cell, market forces and the concept of ‘GOD’, i.e. participants can expect literally anything from earthquakes, strikes, forest fires to terrorist attack on their companies! The preliminary round will be conducted online and the top 6 teams will be part of the final battle! …So be ready to fight it out!

The Finance League is the biggest finance event @ Planet-I & will take you through the life cycle of Finance. This event will have 3 phases consisting of 7 rounds and the winners will be decided on the cumulative scores, with different weights assigned to each of the rounds. This year the Finance League brings with it lots of media coverage, quizzes, debates, Equity research reports, Portfolio management game , role play of a editor(newspaper), banking stimulation game and a First time entrant – a game inspired from ‘Monopoly’ where teams will move on the board &  trade companies to capture maximum market share! It is going to be a battle field of Finance Gurus, so even if you think you have it in you, it is recommended that you start sharpening your fin skills… cause in the end it’s all about being crowned the Ultimate-Finance League Champion!

The last event that I will talk about will take you back to the nostalgic days of ring trading and the open outcry. It is the largest spot event of Ahvan and is characterized by the excitement and the frenzy of activity that can only be generated by the best minds of the country continuously trying to outwit each other as they react to news and try to master the whims of the market. The event, aptly titled Bulls and Bears, would be one in which you are expected to literally shout to find takers for your trades and promises the participants a journey of their lifetime (for their experience & their throats, as well)!

So, be ready to experience this epic management fest @ IIM Indore, from 19^th-21^st November, 2009!

…Just a Month to Go!