GWYN SUNDHAGUL
Bettering Indian Lives
After a successful career as a Director on the Board of TescoLotus, Thailand, Gwyn Sundhagul, 47, chose to test the retailweather in India. He joined Reliance Retail as CEO (Value Formats)and a member of the Board. Soon after completing his 100 days inoffice, the first thing that Sundhagul did was to share his five-year business plan with the senior leadership team at a 'Let's TalkGrowth' meet held in Mumbai recently.
With the initial plan focussed on building a value chain startingfrom farmers to consumers, the new plan articulates the brandstrategy that is going to be driven by the core purpose of"Bettering the lives of Indians everyday". "It is vital to create apeople-centric culture and demonstrate our care and respect forthree key stakeholders- customers, community and colleagues.
We will use this strategy as one of our core principles in theway we do our business," says Sundhagul. A BA in Economics fromCornell College, US, Sundhagul is also armed with a Certificate ofInvestment Banking from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and aCertificate of the Senior Executive Program jointly run by SasinGraduate Institute of Business Administration, Kellogg School ofManagement and Wharton School.
- Anusha Subramanian
SAVITA MAHAJAN
Breaking New Grounds
The first campus of Indian School of Business (ISB) outsideHyderabad is coming up in Mohali at a cost of Rs 200 crore and it isan important milestone for Savita Mahajan, 51, Deputy Dean and ChiefExecutive of the new campus. Says Mahajan, who has been with ISBsince its inception in 2001 and was Associate Dean (StrategicInitiatives) earlier: "In the first week of June, we will start theconstruction at Mohali and the idea is to start the first class herein 2012 with 140 students."
Last month, ISB signed a Memorandum of Understanding with MITSloan School of Management, to develop two new institutes at Mohali-The BML Munjal Institute for Manufacturing Excellence and Innovationand The Punj Lloyd Institute for Physical Infrastructure Management.
As an Associate School, MIT will provide faculty support,curriculum design and offer joint executive education programmes.MIT faculty will teach at both the Hyderabad and Mohali campus. Thewife of Vijay Mahajan, a veteran in the Indian microfinance space,she says: "I learn more about livelihoods each time he is talking toothers on the phone!"
- E. Kumar Sharma
EA SPORTS-FIFA 2010 WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA EDITION
Virtual World Cup
Every four years, Electronic Arts (EA) releases a World Cupversion of its leading football video game. Some fans might arguethat Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) is a better game, but, through theyears, EA has built up one of the strongest global franchises invideo games, thanks to its 'official' FIFA badge.
The 2010 iteration of the World Cup games allows you to choosefrom all 199 football associations and play in all the 10 stadiathat will actually be hosting the World Cup. Using the improvedcontrols that were introduced in the 2008 version of the game, youcould even steer India to a FIFA World Cup win if you so want, evenif you know that the chances of that happening in our lifetimes isslimmer than the disc the game comes on. PRICE: Rs 2,499; AVAILABLEON: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii.
- Kushan Mitra
Munnar
One of Asia's Best
Munnar, known for its lush green mountains, pristine valleys andsprawling tea plantations, has been rated as the second-best Asiantourism destination after Tokyo by TripAdvisor, a travel guide andresearch website that has 15 million registered members, more than34 million monthly visitors, and 30 million traveller reviews andopinions. Located in the Kerala's Idukki district, Munnar has beenattracting tourists who are looking for a hill station that is notcompletely commercialised.
They preferred Munnar over Ooty and Kodaikanal in South India,thanks to its relatively undisturbed beauty. Its topography has beenattracting adventure tourists, who enjoy paragliding, trekking androck climbing. Nature lovers prefer to visit Eravikulam NationalPark, which is home to the endangered Nilgiri Tahr, a stocky goatwith short, coarse fur and a bristly mane, and a whole lot of othercolourful wildlife. That characteristic of Munnar could well be lostsoon as its popularity continues to rise.
- N. Madhavan
VINEET TANEJA
Phones to Connections
Vineet Taneja, former Marketing and Go-to-market Head at NokiaIndia, has moved from selling handsets to selling the connectionsthat power those handsets. He is switching over to the country'slargest mobile operator, Airtel, where he will be heading thesouthern region.
The move has surprised many industry watchers, but may not bethat surprising in light of the recent 3G auction where Airtelbagged 3G licences for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka fora total of Rs 4,418 crore and Taneja, who did not comment on hisswitch, might have the unenviable task of selling 3G down south.With his experience promoting multimedia and data-rich services, hemight just be the right person to convince people to make the switchto 3G.
- Kushan Mitra
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