IIM B expands its mentoring initiative ‘Shikshu’

MUMBAI: Last October, Vijaydeep Nadkarni and Abhilash Patri, students from the One year full time MBA (Executive post graduate programme, class of 2013-14 from IIM Bangalore (IIM B), got a first-hand experience of a typical day in the office of Bhargav Dasgupta, MD and CEO, ICICI Lombard. Both Nadkarni and Patri were part of a mentoring initiative “Shikshu” piloted by the premier business school in 2013, which engaged 14 of its EPGP students with seven of its illustrious alumni mentors.

“Our day with Dasgupta helped us understand and appreciate what it takes to be an effective business leader in a top-notch organisation,” says Nadkarni and Patri. Come September, prompted by response from students and the enthusiasm of the alumni-mentors, the institute will launch Shikshu on a bigger scale, targeting the entire EPGP Class of 2014-15 with a batch size of 58. The programme will run during late September and early October once the students return from their international immersion ..

Among the alumni mentors will be people like Bhargav Dasgupta, MD and CEO, ICICI Lombard; Himanshu Kapania, MD, Idea Cellular; Hitesh Oberoi, MD and CEO, Info Edge (India)BSE 1.68 %, which owns Naukri.com; Atul Shinghal, CEO, Probe Equity Research; Amit Sharma, vice-president and general manager operations at IBM, among others. Typically, two students will be assigned to one alumni-mentor. There are likely to be 18-20 mentors. “Shikshu, which means ‘apprentice’ in Sanskrit, gives EPGP students the rare opportunity of experiencing first-hand how a CEO’s office works… It is unique because it ensures that EPGP student and IIM B alumni participants are matched based on commonalities in their personal and professional profiles,” says Professor G Shainesh, chairperson, EPGP, IIM B.

The engagement initiative will have several of IIM B’s alumni, who work at the top echelons of various reputed organisations, mentor the EPGP students, who spend a day at the offices of the alumni, attend meetings and interact with the senior most executives at these offices. It will connect EPGP students, for one full day, with alumni mentors who are willing to provide advice on career exploration, navigating the EPGP programme landscape, and how to bridge the gap from student life to work life. After the mentoring is done the mentors will remain in touch with the students to set expectations.

Adapted from the Economic Times. Hit this link for the full article.