ISB Private Equity Conference: 6th September 2008

The Finance Club at Indian School of Business will host the ISB Private Equity Conference on September 6, 2008. This is a unique event and the first to be held by a B School in India. With so many M&A deals happening in India and abroad, PE suddenly has become a hot sector. Many global PE companies have also set up shops in India and are looking for some attractive opportunities. It is anticipated that the global slowdown will spur the PE activities, as companies become more attractive during the recession times.

This Conference serves to bring together private equity professionals, industry leaders, students, alumni and faculty to discuss recent trends and emerging issues in the private equity industry. It will provide a platform to discuss the opportunities and the challenges for private equity investments in India. Further, it will act as a forum for private equity professionals to interact with pre-eminent business leaders and India’s brightest human capital present here at the ISB.

The daylong event would involve a keynote speaker and two panel discussions on:

Quo Vadis Private Equity? Sunrise sectors, deal valuations and exit strategies. The panel will discuss topics such as ‘Are education, healthcare and media the new poster boys for private equity investments?’ and ‘Exit Strategy: Are the investment horizons shifting?

Private Equity: Adding value to India Inc's business practices. The focus here is on family businesses opening up to private equity as a source of investment and whether private equity firms are ushering in a new wave of corporate governance norms.

Many top speakers have signed up for the event, some of the prominent one are:
Nainesh Jaisingh: MD, Standard Chartered PE
Deepak Shahdadpuri: Founder MD, Beacon India
Shujaat Khan: MD Blueriver Capital
Gaurav Mathur: MD India Equity Partners
Satish Mandhana: MD, IDFC PE
Gul Mukhey: Director, HSBC PE

Heads of other leading PE firms and also eminent business leaders from South India will also be participating in the event. This promises to be an interesting and exciting event. Well, this is the part of the deal that a global B School offers :)

Term 1 Ends !!! - 12.5% MBAs

Term 1 ended 5 min back with the completion of the marketing term exam.

The enlightening, rollercoaster ride through Managerial Economics, Financial Accounting, Statistics and Marketing Management comes to an end. And boy what a ride it has been, the first term at ISB, so much gyan coming from all directions, so much to learn, so much to cope up with , lots of unlearning and lots of ego bashing and humbling.

The back to school experience has been both unnerving and fun. Now its time to take stock of the situation, plan our strategies for remaining terms(hoping that we have understood a bit of how ISB works) and to party and celebrate this success of living thru term 1 .

cheers,
--Badri--

Exams Ache Hain

2 Mid term exams got over today. I am back to my room after experiencing a severe bout of happiness after the exams. You should have seen the crowd outside "The Cafe". Everybody was smiling, joking, laughing and enjoying. At the risk of being labeled as a spoilsport, I felt that people were behaving as if they have achieved something great. But I must say that the happiness was well earned and deserved. Tomorrow is Accounting mid term, but i don't feel like studying, neither do i feel like sleeping. So what's the next best thing to do? Blogging.

Have you seen that Surf Excel advertisement, "Daag Ache hain". I liked the tag line and it has nothing to do with the marketing course that i am doing currently. The Tag line goes something like this, "Agar Daag lagne se kuch acha hota hai to fir daag ache hain". Translated to the context here, it means that if something good can be derived from the exams then exams are good. Today the mid term exams of Statistics and Managerial Economics got over. Everybody was so tensed before the exams. The tension and the stress was palpable. You should have seen the students last night and in the morning today. Everybody was frantically going through the notes, discussing abstruse concepts with others, and swearing at the system that made them slog like anything. And the atmosphere in the evening was starkly different. You could feel the joy and happiness in the air. You could see people indulging in harmless banter and endless chat. Plumes of nicotine smoke and tonnes of caffeine. What made the difference? The pressure and stress was off. Everybody was relieved that in the end its over. Nobody was worried about the performance, since that hardly mattered. Everybody was collectively extremely happy. I could bet that the average happiness quotient had gone up by several notches today. People were never so happy, after joining ISB. I felt like asking Xenobia "I feel so happy, Am I normal?"

So if the aftermath of exams results in increased happiness and joy then I would reckon that exams are good. It was like our Economics professor, Amit Bubna, would say "Nirvana". Don't label me as a jingoist, but I felt today that exams are good and they help in increasing the net happiness quotient of the batch. Everybody was emoting, "Dude, its over". Did anybody say that the Marketing Case study submission is due for Tuesday and Statistics Quiz is there on Tuesday too. But for now, let me sleep for an hour before hitting the books again :(.

A BIG SPLASH is planned for tomorrow night. The mid terms end tomorrow. People will celebrate and party like anything, coz they have survived 1/16 of the MBA course ( half of the term and there are 8 terms, Math is easy guys). I just can't wait for tomorrow evening.

BRING IT ON BABY.

Its been a month!!!

April 12th 2008, we set foot at ISB and then commenced our PGP in Management. Its May 12th 2008 today and at the risk of quoting a cliche "time just flew" , It was hectic, It was demanding, It was fun, It was puzzling, it was interesting but whatever it was we have conquered this last one month and its now behind us. I hope the remaining 11 months fly this way too.

Cheers,
--Badri--

And the journey begins!!!

Is it normal that I am shaken cold?

When I am passed this important baton to hold

Some are born great, Some achieve greatness

But seems the ISBian tag upon me has thrust greatness

But is becoming an ISBian in its own right glory

Or is glory, were I will get if I don’t make ISB sorry.

Hopes of many vested on me

While my own goals, clearly, I am yet to see

I am told this journey might hurt, sometimes I might even hit dirt,

But only if I fight with tremendous success I can flirt,

Now having heard that I am scared to enter, leaving my comfort zone

But then I am promised, me as a person this place will hone

But before I begin this journey its time now for goodbyes

Its corny, sad and there are some drops of tears in my eyes

Oh, near and dear, wait a year and I will be back

In the mean time, God willing, records at ISB and history I will crack.

--Badri--