Young Indians network of Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore hosted the first session of its “Coffee with CEO” initiative at Shradha Hall in the campus on 7th October, 2016. The program provided a platform for the students to meet the company heads in person over a cup of coffee.

The main speaker of the event was Mr. Kanishka Arumugam, CEO, EKKI Pumps Pvt. Ltd and Deccan Group of Companies. Sharing the story of how he transformed his family business to one of the globally well-known firms, with a presence in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa, Mr. Arumugam inspired the students to keep exploring opportunities. He taught them the significance of choosing the right internship opportunities while at the college and the relevance of taking initiatives outside the classroom.

“As a student, you are always lazy to take initiatives. But, when a classmate told me about the Summer School program at Stanford University, I considered the opportunity. I met Google’s co-founder Larry Page and Facebook’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg at the program. I realised that these great people focused only on ‘one’ thing at a time. They are not bothered about money, people, etc. They worked on the thing they focused on, and everything else was an aura,” Mr. Arumugam said.

“The internship at Pune made me realise the opportunities and challenges existing in the Indian market. That gave me an idea of how I should grow my family business. It helped me a lot,” he added.

Mr. V. Arun Kumar, Partner of Ammarun Foundries, the manufacturers of grey iron and ductile iron castings, was another speaker at the event. He is also the core committee member, Young Indians – Coimbatore chapter. Besides providing a summary of his own experience of establishing Ammarun Foundries, he summarised the activities of Young Indians in Coimbatore and presented the opportunities available to students as a part of the initiative.

The third speaker, Mr. Senthil Muruganandham, Chief Executive Officer, ANT International, one of the leading granite exporter, distributor, and retailer of memorial products, also summed up his experience if being an entrepreneur. He emphasised on best practices, skill development, efficiency and automation needed in a business environment.

During the gathering, the students raised several queries on entrepreneurship. “Many of us are pursuing the MBA with a dream of becoming an entrepreneur. With speakers like Mr. Arumugam, Mr. Muruganandham, and Mr. Kumar, we gained different insights and the idea of where to start chasing our dreams. I thank the YiNet in the campus for providing this wonderful opportunity,” commented Karthik Kaipayil, Class of 2018.

Dr. Suresh M., Assistant Professor, Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore is the faculty in-charge for YiNet in the campus. He spearheaded the event.