Industry guide Class XII Students during ISBF Careers Workshop iAspire
The second last day of the workshop had leaders from KPMG, ICRIER, GoDaddy and RSA
INVC NEWS
Marking the penultimate day, the sessions conducted today had eminent industry speakers including Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER); Nikhil Arora, Managing Director and Vice President, GoDaddy; Gaurav Vohra, Head Financial Advisory Services, KPMG India; and Vikas Newatia, CEO, Royal and Sun Alliance, India, as session leaders.
The workshop, which is modeled into a 16-hour contact programme spread over the first two weekends of July (4th & 5th July 2020 and 11th & 12th July 2020).
The sessions, broken down into an hour on each topic, introduced students to the worlds of actuarial science, accounting and auditing, marketing, branding and communication along with policy-making, development sector and academia covered individually by respective industry veterans.
The day commenced with a session on careers in accounting and auditing by Gaurav Vohra, who works as CFO Advisory in KPMG India. Relaying the importance of the field in the overall business ecosystem, he said, “India has become a global hub for accounting talent and knowledge. Accounting and auditing professionals are one of the most important wheels in the whole investment and capital formation journey.” Mr. Vohra shared an insight into the key skills required to be successful in the domain and how industry, academia and policymakers have come together to bring forth high-quality programmes, both private and government, to nurture skilled professionals.
Mr. Vikas Newatia, CEO, Royal and Sun Alliance, India, shed light on the nuances of how economics, finance and management helps one form a career in Actuarial Science. Encouraging the students, he said, “Actuary as a career is diverse and rewarding. If a student wants to be a problem solver with a keen interest in Mathematics, then Actuary is a suitable career option. An actuary can work in banking, insurance, data scientists, investment, and management as their roles include product development, risk assessments, disability insurance, terrorism, cyber insurance, industrial diseases etc., and also work with the government for policymaking. The career is very rewarding on the financial, personal and intellectual aspect.”
This was followed by a session on marketing, branding and communication, led by the dynamic businessperson, Mr. Nikhil Arora, Managing Director and Vice President, GoDaddy, who has delivered guest lectures at ISBF previously. During his session, he said that every element of a product is a part of marketing, branding and communication. “Marketing is all about market research, employing mystery shopping, identifying with the creative brief of the brand, imbibing integrated marketing planning and evoking customer empathy”, he shared. Helping students understand the role of social media in the new-age marketing plans, he said, “Nowadays, social media is very important as people can talk about your brand, good or bad. This also allows brands to understand how common people perceive the brand.”
In the last session of the day, Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) guided students towards pathways for careers in Policy Making, Development Sector and Academia after pursuing economics, finance and management. During his interaction, he stated, “The advantage that comes with Policymaking, Development sector and Academia is that it provides service to the sector and humanity, developing a feeling of fulfilment. ” Elaborating on this aspect, he said, “It is a heterogeneous sector. The passion should come from within. The results take a long time to be actually achieved.”
Concluding the day, Prof Aryapriya Ganguly, Associate Professor of Management at ISBF, who also recently achieved the distinguished status of becoming a University of London Worldwide Recognised Tutor, and Prof Navni Kothari, Assistant Professor of Economics, ISBF, interacted with the participants and resolved their queries and doubts.
The tone for the iAspire workshop is one of sharing and is a natural extension of ISBF’s inherent pedagogy and was born out of its deep collaboration with high schools across the country.
Tomorrow marks the final day of iAspire, and will have students learn from Mr. Deep Kalra, Founder & CEO, MakeMyTrip and Dr James Abdey, Associate Academic Director of University of London EMFSS programmes at LSE and also a visiting lecturer at ISBF. The former will enlighten the students with aspects to entrepreneurship, while the latter will provide an insight into career prospects in the field of Data Science.
