PRAYAAN, the annual B-School Conclave of Naipunnya Business School is the platform where the Business Leaders of the industry across sectors deliberate upon the dynamically changing trends of the field. This is a flagship program of the Business School and the conclave aims to initiate an intellectual dialogue between distinguished delegates and throw some light upon the criticality of various management disciplines to the corporate world to students in choosing their careers. The seminar is open to all B school students and has been appreciated by several B school students.

PRAYAAN – Partnering and Pioneering: Corporates today are moving towards an integrative approach in everything. Gone are the days when silos worked together in a firm. Today’s firm is an integrated force, with functionalities partnering with each other and working towards a vision. Each functionality in a firm is adopting newer and more diverse roles that transcend the traditional landscape of roles and responsibilities.

With the adoption of new roles, innovation became a logical sequence. The transformation in the way corporates fundamentally function has brought in an era of innovation and pioneering. Each functionality is increasingly adopting strategic roles in an effort to keep up with the dynamic trends and the ever-expanding plethora of challenges that corporates are taking on, progressively.

Theme of PRAYAAN: The advent of a culture of partnering and pioneering in today’s corporate universe is the new point of deliberation. This will involve discussions on how different functionalities are adapting to the changes, the strategic nature of the practices, the inter-relatedness of all strategic efforts within a firm, industry or even an economy and what the future holds in store for the corporate universe.

Prayaan and its uniqueness in the context of India higher education: Prayaan is unique in many aspects as it is a career program for MBA graduates alone. Here the speakers will speak on careers open to fresh MBA graduates and also informs them on how to prepare for a career in the corporate as well as on what are the certifications required to be successful as well as what skills are necessary for students to be successful as well as what is expected from the graduates by the corporates.   This is different and unique as career seminars are generic in nature targeting all type and specializations of graduates.  It is unique because it addresses the future possibilities in India as well as abroad. It is unique because  there is no pressure to choose but open and the speakers are chosen in such a way that they are unique in their own ways. Prayaan is modelled in its own way for the B school students because of the fact that many of the students do not have a clear orientation of what is expected from them and  fall into careers which are not their choice and as a result are forced to leave their careers mid way. Prayaan brings together students of all B schools and is open to debate and challenge conventional career choices. prayaan also follows a pattern of electing the right speakers who have turned non conventional ideas and have succeeded in making their mark in corporates.

Problems encountered:   Since it is a free will choice, there is no pressure from the students on what they should choose. However, there are some issues for Prayaan. Getting students together poses a challenge as students are not allowed by some of the B schools to participate in this seminar. B schools have their own format of career selections and they force it on students which becomes a norm. Students do not consider the choices set before them and move on to the conventional choices because of fear of losing opportunities. Seminars are provided by all colleges and students do not find it different.

Evidence of Success:    Prayaan was conducted first in 2019 and has helped students to understand the nuances in career choices. However, the success can be gauged only after at least 4 to 5 programs and the career choices to be studied.   So more research is required and then only we will be able to come out with conclusions on Prayaan