SPJIMR's Annual Business Festival
13th-15th February, 2009

This year the SP Jain Institute of Management Research in association with the TATA group and Microsoft celebrated the maiden voyage of its all integrated Business festival OJAS. The very word 'OJAS' traces its origin to the Vedas - It is a mixture of eclectic elements which gives birth to a perennial fount of vitality, vibrancy and endurance. It is a celebration of the power which resides in each one of us and manifests itself in forms like diligence, creativity and intellect. The event spanned across the 13th, 14th and 15th of February, three unforgettable, high-octane days that drew participants from the elitist B Schools in India as well as the corporate powerhouses of the day.

OJAS brought together the worlds of Finance, Marketing, Operations and Information Management by uniting the four flagship events of each specialization Khoj, BhavITva, Shrinkhla and Buzz-aaR.

KHOJ, the annual equity research festival of SPJIMR was held for the seventh year running. Conceptualized as an annual event to encourage Business school students to prepare themselves for careers in capital markets, KHOJ has rapidly become the premier equity research competition in India. FMS-Delhi along with ICICI prudential and SPJIMR-Mumbai with Reliance Industries bagged the first and second prizes respectively.

Buzz-aaR, an initiative of the 2008-2010 batch of marketing comprised of three events. 'Destination India' challenged students to develop ad campaigns to market India as a tourism destination in the present context. 'Good Ad Great Ad' graded participants on the scores they gave to award winning ads depending on how close they were to the rating given to those ads by the Bombay Ad Club. Gyaan Buzz-aaR was a panel discussion on 'Creativity and Innovation in Advertising' with distinguished members from the media industry having their say on Advertising ideas in the Communication Industry.

Shrinkhala, the Operations event included OpsTackle a multi staged competition comprising an online Quiz, a Case analysis and Simulation and Desafio a simulation game that dealt with operating a restaurant. Samiksha, a panel discussion saw stalwarts from the industry discussing 'Global Sourcing from an Indian perspective'.

BhavITva , from the Information Management (IM) stream for the first time since its conception featured three new exciting events in addition to the panel discussion namely the B Plan competition Excogenation, ITerati the quiz cum simulation game and ACE IT the case study competition. Bizcussion the panel discussion saw industry experts air their view on whether IT can be the driving force of business in a downturn.

An initiative that set OJAS apart from other Business festivals was Mélange - the potpourri. Mélange added colour and fervour to the festival with a plethora of events of varied genre. It covered some unique competitions like Brand Bajao - launch a rock band, Sanghatan, a board room discussion, Parivartan - social B Plan and numerous creative events like Pixophilia the photography competition, Dhvani & Laya the dance and music events that bore witness to the amazing talent pool in the B schools. Other events that came under the aegis of Mélange tested participants of different skills like presentation (Epiphany), Negotiation (Cross-Talk) and Quizzing (Philomath).

'Downward Cycle a Challenge or an Opportunity', this topic set the stage for the SPJIMR- TATA HR Summit hosted by SPJIMR on the final day of OJAS 09 - a forum that discussed the revision of current strategic and operational plans to combat the turmoil at a time when the rules of the past no longer hold true. The Panel composed of industry practitioners who gave a lot of insight on the HR Functions in the industry during troubled times and was attended by 200 plus students from SPJIMR and other leading B schools.

Another enticing event at OJAS was the evening of the 14th Feb when Harsha Bhogle came to campus. Everyone had come to listen to the hugely successful, yet largely unassuming man they'd grown to worship and respect both for his skill in the commentary box as also his courage to do the thing he loved. And they were not disappointed. Harsha Bhogle's advice was straight from the heart - "Be yourself, be willing to work your backside off, and never worry about the money , do what you like ". When he finished more than one student was close to tears because they could so relate to everything he said. It was indeed a memorable meeting.

The grand gala of events ended on a high note with an evening of music by the lakeside. SPJIMR's home grown band 2.4 struck a chord with all SP-ites with their composition 'The OJAS song 'while the fusion band YUVA enthralled the audience with their powerful instrumental renditions. It was indeed a night that would go down in the annals of SP history, a night which celebrated the long hours of planning involved in the conception, planning and execution of such a mega event, a night that spoke of the beginning, the beginning of a tradition called OJAS.