Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A Session By Vinod Verma: CEO, Managing Director and founder of Sum Amicus Consultants

It’s a first time that some one from Harvard Business School (HBS) shared his experiences with OCTAVIANs. Many consider HBS as the number one business school in the world. Mr.Verma impressed OCTAIVIANs with his outgoing personality,deep knowledge and great sense of humour. He is a graduate in Electrical Engineering and started his career in Steel Authority india Ltd (SAIL) in 1970. After working with SAIL in various capacities including Head of Plant and Head of HR, he joined Wockhardt as Sr. Vice President HR, IT and Health Care Business in 1996. He founded Sum Amicus Consultants in 2001 and is currently its CEO and Managing Director. He has been a consultant to many leading companies including Bharti group, Vedanta group, Reliance, ONGC, Zee group, Ispat Industries, Capgemini, HCL to name a few.



Since the beginning of the session, Mr. Verma interacted with the students in an open manner and made the session as practical as possible by giving many real life examples. He shared his Work Experience and knowlesge about what is expected from fresh management graduates. He Emphasized the need of Change Management with practical exercise and how Learning and Implementation of knowledge gained in classrooms is important in today’s world.

In his session OCTAVIANs got valuable insight in to what motivates and how to keep yourself
motivated and how positive personality will help you to reach Pinnacle of your carrier. He also shared ways to recognize one’s area of interest and passion, which will help to choose the desired field of specialization.



  • By Nikhil Pote

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Diwali Project

When it comes to learning, the practical way is the most effective. It was on these lines that OCTAVE decided to push their students right into the market to learn business. The ‘Diwali Project’ was one of a kind experience for entire 2010-12 batch on how a firm runs a business.
The project was all about starting a business venture with a capital amount in hand. The meetings of the respective groups, delegation of posts, of selection of products, market research, risk analysis, SWOT analysis, marketing, advertising, sales and a lot more was done within one month. And the results were great in terms of gross profit.
Executing such a project successfully, even before the completion of first semester, definitely boosts up the confidence of pursuing the dream of entrepreneurship in future.
The real earning out of the project was not the profit but the knowledge gained by practical things like working in organization, managing people and conflicts, handling disturbances, surviving in the group and most importantly: convincing customers to buy your product.
A very good learning experience indeed!
  • By Nikhil Pote & Aditi Deodhar


GROUPS AND THEIR PRODUCTS

GROUP 1: H PRYSM

MEMBERS
  1. Harsh Khombhadia
  2. Samyak Jain
  3. Prutha Deshpande
  4. Somesh Mishra
  5. Mohit Mohta
  6. Yashica Singh
PRODUCTS: Rice Lights and Torans




GROUP 2: The Grandeurs

MEMBERS
  1. Mukul Agrawal
  2. Aditi Deodhar
  3. Gaurav Ganvir
  4. Tejaswini Giripunje
  5. Sneha Amte
  6. Gaurav Kakran

PRODUCTS: Designer diyas and candles




Group 3: Sprouts n Roots

Members
  1. Piyush Jugade
  2. Saurabhh Ambaselkar
  3. Amol Dhopte
  4. Ashish Hatwar
  5. N Deepak

Products: Eco-Friendly Paper Bags







Thursday, October 21, 2010

Gaining confidence through public speaking


It was a wonderful experience to address the crowd of career launcher as an Octavian. We were very excited to share our experiences with the other MBA aspirants. We had a head start with Chandani addressing the crowd about her personal experiences at Octave followed by Samyak who gave a wonderful introduction of all our directors. Gaurav Kakran then elaborated in details about the guest lectures we had. My part was to address the crowd about the various committees we have at Octave and the way we carry different projects in groups. It was really encouraging when the crowd listened attentively to each and every word I said. It was a nice experience to explain everyone about the very unique committees we have. Some of them were really worth mentioning like the Industrial relationship committee, Public relationship committee and the entrepreneurship committee. Besides I also told them about the Diwali project we are carrying out.

Being an MBA student it is very important to learn soft skills. It boosts your confidence and you can see the change in yourself when you start developing your interactive skills. We give the credit to Octave to help us develop our personality.
  • By Prutha Deshpande
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It was a nice experience to deliver a small speech in front of a huge crowd.

Initially I was very nervous regarding how should I speak in front of such a huge crowd but later when I started with my part I found that it is not very tough to speak if you are clear in your thoughts and had practiced about it.
  • By Samyak Jain

Monday, October 4, 2010

Ganpati Bappa Moraya


WITH much fervor and enthusiasm OCTAVE celebrated Ganesh Utsav on campus with Directors, faculties and students coming together to mark the occasion.

The sthapana of a beautiful idol of Lord Ganesh was done on Ganesh Chaturthi and all the rituals were performed in a traditional way.

There were colourful rangolis adorning the passage floor which added charm to the event.

The Ganesh Utsav committee comprising Amol (CEO), Deepak (CFO), Mukul (co-ordinator), Saurabh, Piyush A, Sanjay, Tejaswini, Yashica and Gaurav did a wonderful job throughout, arranging Aarti , Prasad and Pooja Samagri.

  • By Aditi Deodhar

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

OCTAVE Business School celebrates its first freshers' party

IT was all a management affair at a city hotel when OCTAVE Business School (OBS) celebrated its first freshers' party recently.

The first batch of OBS literally worked hard and partied harder! As the OCTAVIANS welcomed themselves into the new college, there were quiet a few interesting events lined up for the evening. there was double celebration as OCTAVE celebrated 'Teachers' Day' too, on the same day. The whole event was organised and presented by the students and they presented dance, singing and drama in front of Directors and guests. The future managers were not missing on the fashion part either, as they walked the ramp and showcased some trendy outfits. There was another intriguing part of the show, 'The awards'. These were some humorous tags given to some students.

The work part done, when it was time for the DJ to take over, all thronged the dance floor in no time to distress themselves. The faculty was also not shy of shaking a leg and sharing a light moment with the students and it was one of the best moments of the evening.

As the DJ belted out catchy numbers there was no stopping for Octavians and they danced for hours.

Present on the occasion were Mr Chandra Bhople,Director Operations, Abhijeet Gan, Director Admissions, Akbar Kamal, Director Infrastructure, Zulfiquar Kamal, Director Finance and Audit, Prashant Dupate and Avinash Patil (Teaching faculty).
  • By Aditi Deodhar

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The First Impression



They say, the first impression is the last impression. Of couse the first day at college is all about knowing your institution, your classmates and making impressions. Gives jitters to many (at least me). At OCTAVE Business School, the perspective was changed when the first day orientation session was a way lot different than the usual. It was much of a fun affair, where the students got to know each other in a non-formal way which made everyone in the classroom comfortable and pepped up their interest for the next part.

We were fortunate enough to have Mr. Jay Chopde, CEO Infospectrum India Private Limited as our special guest (chief guest for the session) who addressed us about the industry and spoke about his own experiences. It is not everyday that you get to interact with someone as experienced as Mr. Chopde. That gave an idea on what kind of industry exposure we would be getting at OCTAVE and also get to know people in the industry so closely.

The class was in awe while Mr. Chopde talked about his experiences and gave information regarding industry scenario in the current world.

The next part of the session was the most fun-filled event but also involved seriousness. It was a games session which was going to analyse how we worked in teams. The first one 'Lost at the sea' saw each individual prioritising things on a list for his/her survival until they are rescued. The next part was to prioritise the things as a group. And believe me, after participating in the group activity, I prefer being lost at the sea with my friends and not alone (even if there was little room on the only life boat we would be left with), because in the moment of panic I would want someone to tell me that the map I have selected as the second thing on the list is that of the Pacific and we are lost at the Atlantic!

The next game was the 'Egg Drop Game' wherein the teams were asked to build a structure which would house an egg in it and when dropped from a 10ft height would prevent the egg from breaking. After much of planning on design and finance, (we were given 1000 points as currency to buy specific things and make the best structure from a minimum possible budget.) exchanging of our 'valuable' ideas, my team came up with a structure which.... made the egg ready for an omelet. It broke.

Next part involved briefing us about the college, studies and the campus. It gave an idea that hard work was going to be the most important factor during these two years. The session ended with the screening of a video. It showed a disabled man's determination to stand up again after falling down. Considering that the man in the video was unfortunate not to have his limbs, the video taught us to have faith in ourselves to achieve the goal in our life and always stand up whenever we fall down.

The first impression of OCTAVE on me was of team-work, confidence, hard work and determination. And about my first impression, well, I guess, OCTAVE will surely change 'my first impression' that I would make on the world after two years.
  • By Aditi Deodhar