Bhubaneswar: With an objective of bridging the gap between academia and the corporate world, the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) in Bhubaneswar organised leadership conclave ‘Allyship++’ in Kolkata on Friday.
Prominent figures from the corporate and business world and two legendary sportspersons attended the conclave. Legendary Indian hockey star Gurbux Singh, who won the Olympic gold medal for the country in 1964, and Gautam Sarkar, famous Indian footballer who was nicknamed the ‘Indian Beckenbauer’, were the star attractions at the event.
The event, which was organised at Bengaluru and Hyderabad earlier, included two panel discussions. The first panel featured industry leaders Brishti Mondal, vice-president, NRI FinTech; Rashmita Parija, Country HR Manager, Lexmark India; Sumit Agarwal, DEI Advisor to Fortune 500 Companies; Nadeem Kazim, CEO and Founder, Splice HR Works; Sudipto Ray, MD, Cloud and Digital, PwC and Amrita Das Gupta, Swayam.
The second panel, moderated by Pradip Bandyopadhyay, included Tumpa Sarkar, president, WICCI; Debalina Roy of Vodafone and Saurabh Roy, DGM, Reliance Jio Infocom. The panelists discussed the critical role of allyship in fostering supportive professional environments.
Among others, Satyaprakash Krishna, known as the mentor of former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior IAS officer and SOA alumnus Smruti Ranjan Mohanty, presently Director, Fisheries and Managing Director, SFDC of West Bengal Government, were present.
Dr Raj Hota, Dean of Corporate Relations and Placement, SOA, was the convenor of the event. Dr PK Patra, SOA’s Dean, Sponsored Research and Industry Consultancy and Kajal Panda, Deputy Director (Corporate Relations) also attended.
The need for closer cooperation between academic institutions and corporate entities to foster innovation and growth was the focus of the conclave.