Guest Lecture: Mr Lucose Eralil, Head, Credit Suisse IT centres of Excellence, Pune

ZCBI batch again got an opportunity to have an industry interaction and this time Mr Lucose Eralil, Head, Credit Suisse IT Centres of Excellence, Pune , shared his views on finance products and various aspects of banking and IT. Outstanding...lucose's enthusiasm and knowledge of his topic excited ZCBI’ans and provoked a great deal of interest for the topic.

Credit Suisse Group, a world leading financial services company, advising clients in all aspects of finance, around the world, deals in Investment banking, Wealth and Asset management. Credit Suisse is also in IT development of different applications to cater the services mentioned above.

Mr Eralil started with an introduction and a two way interaction on what are Asset management and Investment Banking, advisory in wealth management and high net-worth customers. He also briefed about the financial market terminology like Listed product, Foreign exchange, Equity linked notes, Warrants, Derivatives (Future and Options) , Margin and Bonds. We had a detailed session on various processes involved in a daily online trading and how Credit Suisse system deals with these.

Mr Eralil gave a valuable insight of daily trading and different steps/processes involved in it like different types of transaction (Principal, Agency and Position transfer), Type of Orders (Parent and child orders), Execution and Allocation, Exchange link, different traders such as Sales trader, Dealers, Proprietors. On the other hand, how Order management system of Credit Suisse helps in Trading processing and how FIX (Financial Information Exchange) is used in making online orders? Client inserts orders into order management System electronically via FIX connection.

His passion and voice developed interest in finance and added value to the finance as well as non-financial participants. Almost 80 people had a chance to listen Mr. Eralil. His enthusiasm is best represented by the standing ovation and excellent Q & A session.

Mr Eralil - Your one day presence here has nurtured actions and attitudes that will have wide-ranging ripple effects. Your thoughtful, articulate and lively commencement session on various aspects of banking and finance brought distinction and significance to all of us.

Thank you for a great presentation and we owe a debt of gratitude to you for waking us up. Your remarks throughout the session were substantive and provocative, in a word, terrific.

By Rajiv Jain and Monty Ruchandani

Outbound

Learning is an aspiration, and when it comes with beautiful nature outside the four packed walls, real essence makes all the difference.

Rabindranath Tagore got his inspiration in the lap of mother nature where his ideas thrived on the fragrance and flavors outside. He believed that the real holistic learning can only be done through nature which itself is the greatest Teacher and penned ‘Shantiniketan’ on the same lines.

But why are we discussing all this? It is for the simple reason that ZCBI’ans must have realized the same with ‘Outbound Activity’ at MTDC Karla.

Although clueless, we saw happiness and enthusiasm etched across everyone’s faces, every being willing to participate. But the real question is how long does all this last?

Among all the answers that one could think of, there seemed to be a strong one, that the zeal should never end there and an anticipation of ‘What next we could do’ should arise.

To our surprise, we started as one whole team being divided into two namely, Eagles and Falcons. Although we attained different names, our characteristics were quite similar. Each symbolizing dynamism, pride, independence, warmth, honesty and aggression.

Then the activities began with a tale of an empire with four princes, each with a different character. The well known mythological characters of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughana were personified. It urged us to realize our inner traits. We could easily relate to one of the characters, but somewhere deep inside our hearts, all four do exist.

Though we were exhausted physically, the importance of Self-realization gave us a fresh new mental simulation, which was most rewarding.

Next day it was a new beginning with an augmented enthusiasm where we initiated with management based exercises, wherein, you being part of the same organization have to work in different groups. And that’s where everyone’s competitive spirit took over and challenged ourselves to excel in all the activities given.

“Save the World” as described by Shekhar, our activity coordinator, had to deal with everything that Eagle and Falcon embody. One after the other performed their best, did strive to produce better results than the other group. Nobody realized whether they are following the competition or the competition is following them. It was because each group got several chances to prove their potential. At the end it better paid off and we were appreciated for the whole effort. Not only the competitive spirits of each group, but also the mere presence of other groups gave us incentive to do better.

But results never replicate every time after having proved yourself so well in a small group. Having shown some of the best results, a bigger challenge always waits for you. Your group expands and more different minds join you. It happened with us too. Then was the chance to prove ourselves again but we felt the tough among the toughest of the time, unsatisfied to deliver those same results with the larger group.

Unlike the previous one, next activity was to work in a group but for different departments. More specific side of any responsibility. An exercise where our group was divided into three departments namely Healthy, Dumb and Blind. Each department was provided with different resources and was sourced with different benefits but the goal was same. It showed us that how each department should work in harmony with others and should realize the potential and strengths of one another.

Last day of outbound involved rappelling. We realized that first step towards reaching the most important is the ability to win over our fears. And then by backing everybody else with right motivational spirits, any task becomes nearly effortless to win over inhibitions.

Last was still to come up, and we were all worn out. But there were some people with the power to explore more and to walk that extra mile. A journey to Bhaja caves a kind of ‘Buddhist Vihar’ that reflected the power of simplicity. One could easily perceive the richness in the art and culture of ancient India. It inhibited in us the feeling of awe for the ancient Indians. There was something in the surrounding that made us felt the need to release our stress and we sat there at stupa for the meditation. The ‘Om’ reverberated not only in the surrounding, but also inside our inner being. That made us realize that wherever one goes, whatever circumstances might come; one can always rely on the inner spiritual strength and can always come back to peaceful serenity.

It was a unique and a memorable experience that took us through the whole process of management and showed us the strength of collective effort.

Truly said by someone, ‘we started our journey as an individual and came back as a team’. We experienced with the activities outbound, one reflects inbound. This experience will definitely help us to grow and prosper together.

By: - Gaurav Singhal, Shreya Agarwal

Inaugration of 'Ehsaas'- A Social Initiative by ZCBI (30th May, ‘08)

Zensar Center of Business Innovation has given its students a new platform. On 30th May, ‘08 Lead India Finalist from Pune, Mr. Ranjit Gadgil inaugurate the new social initiative of the students ‘Ehsaas’.

A touching and motivational movie was made by the students with fantastic audio and visual aids. Ehsaas is started with an objective to provide students with a platform to contribute to the society. Some of the initiatives planned are: Blood donation camps, helps rendered in old-age homes, orphanage; at traffic signals, stations; to roadside urchins etc.

Zensar Center of Business Innovation, thus, is helping the students not only in understanding the business industry requirements and dealing with the issues in innovative manner, but also with the society in total.

With his years of experience, Ranjit Gadgil helped the students in understanding the ground realities. He shared his feelings of what it feels like when one is trapped in the situation where one is on the crossroads of the life. He has worked for the corporate sector and has lived the lavish life of United States. But he listened to his call of life and opted for coming back to India to work full time for his country, for the people of the country who need help.

Ranjiit Gadgil’s ‘Janwani’ in Pune works in an organized manner for the cause. It is the citizens’ initiative of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. He is its Program Director. He explained that with the funds that NGOs have, they need to manage their resources in an efficient manner. And they need the human resources too, for the same purpose. He cleared the misconception that some people generally have ‘the NGOs are useless and any financial help given to them is a waste. A lot of work has been done and all that has been made possible only because of the sincere efforts that NGOs have put.

In the interactive session that spanned around an hour and half, the budding managers got real tactics about how to work with the kind of political system and bureaucracy that exists in country at present; about how to change the system, even while remaining in the system. The civic bodies need to be shaken from the slumber they are in. It requires a great deal of conviction and perseverance to handle the things in such situation.

With the support of Zensar Technology and Zensar Center of Business Innovation, the spirited students are venturing into this arena of taking projects related to social cause. It shall empower the students to make a difference not only in their lives, but also in the lives of the fellow beings.

By: - Shreya Agrawal

Guest Lecture: Mr. Bala, CFO Zensar Technologies

Just a few days old or would you like to call it a few days new…. conventions are something not meant for the ZCBIians! It has the most unusual classroom I have been a part of so far. It is a classroom without any walls, boundaries and limits. It is filled by the most unusual people I have met so far. They know how to dream with open eyes. They breathe the air of Innovation and one cannot stop thinking that they were born to Transform!

An MBA designed for the Industry, ZCBIians had there second talk with Mr Bala, CFO Zensar Technologies on 26 May, 2008. The first being at the time of admissions when the applicants were scrutinized by Mr Bala along with other leading industrialists, executives and academicians from institutions like IIM. Compromise is something unheard at the ZCBI. We believe in having a batch of 80 strong rather than 100 on compromise of quality.

Be ready for surprises at ZCBI or where else would you find a CFO talking for 2 hours and not a single word on finance! He shared with us something much above the curriculum, course and finance. He shared with us his experiments with life. How he reached the top of the corporate ladder without a formal MBA degree speaks a lot for him.

The session started at 5:30 pm after the daily lectures. It was not pre-planned and we all received a mail at ZLCMS at 3:00 pm. We expected it to be a finance/IT centric lecture, because that is what conventions say and Mr Bala, not having studied at ZCBI, should follow these conventions. However, as you enter the campus of ZCBI you can feel the urge to break free and let your creative, energetic, passionate and true side unfold and blossom into a flower never seen before. Probably Mr Bala had experienced similar urge that he started with the most unusual introduction.

He randomly picked candidates and asked them to name the city they belong to while he guessed the state. Mind you, he missed no single candidate but his knowledge of geography was put to a tough test as we have candidates from all over India, right from Jammu to Kerala at ZCBI. Next, was a question left open by Mr Bala “Define a Manager” and we had all possible definitions from all corners of the classroom. Mr Bala refused to accept any one of them. He then moved on to fire another question on us. “Define Love”. The class was all out to answer this question which was so close to its heart. Again Mr Bala refused to accept any one of them. He reasoned that Love has no distinct definition and so does a Manager. He winded up the definition by saying “A true manager is the one who performs the most daunting tasks with limited available resources and most importantly without complaining”

Next was a session on the significance of money in one’s life. All had different views on this. Mr Bala then suddenly asked “How many of you drink Tea” All hands were up. Now he asked “How much sugar do you add to it”. Promptly came the reply that enough sugar to enjoy the cup of tea. Now he added “The same goes for money as well. You should have enough to enjoy the cup of life!” He explained that money should not be the sole and primary motivating factor to work. He went on to give examples of some great men he met when he was in Kolkata. They worked for Mother Teresa. He asked us that what made them work so hard. It was a cause, a mission they had in life. So strong should be our cause and mission that other motivations become just like the sugar in a cup of tea. This is the beginning of the path of success.

He then went on to share with us something very close to him. His personal experience in corporates and how he went on to become a CFO without any formal MBA degree. He has worked with multiple RPG group companies and was instrumental in getting them out of crisis situations. It is during these crisis times when people either perish or leaders are born. Unlike other associates, who shied away from immense risk and effort, he stood strong and ensured that these companies make profits again. Mr. Bala apprised us that Patience, Excellent Communication skills, Passion, Self Motivation, Dedication and Commitment are essential to achieve success. He then quickly fired a question asking which quality it is that enables a successful person sustain his success? It is the mighty “H” which stands for Humbleness which is as essential as the rest in order to give sustainability, respect, meaning and truth to our success in life.

Now we know exactly what makes Mr Bala what he is today!

By: - Abhinav Baloni