PRESS RELEASE

A Diverse Dozen 12 profiles from the PGP & PGP-FABM 2017-19 batch of IIMA

July 19, 2017 | Ahmedabad

For the academic year 2017-2018, the incoming batch invited by IIM Ahmedabad is the most

diverse batch in recent years, both in terms of gender diversity, work experience and educational

background. Besides that, the batch includes students who have achieved significant accolades in

areas as uncommon as movie making, sports and fashion world.

Commenting on the diversity of the Batch of 2017-19, Mohammed Raafi, General Secretary,

Students’ Affairs Council of IIMA, said “These are interesting times. The increasing diversity

is a testament to the increasing relevance and acceptability of Management education and to

the vision of the Director and Leadership of the Institute. It is extraordinary and enriching to

witness a Rocket Scientist and a Miss India Elite engage in an argument in the same class.”

Here is a short introduction to some of the students of the 2017-2019 Batch.

AKANKSHA CHOUDHARY - Miss India Elite

A Bachelor of Arts (Economic Honors) degree graduate from Shri Ram

College Of Commerce, her most significant achievement has been to have a

well-balanced three years of my under graduation filled with achievements,

fun, and renewal. She has been able to win a national pageant (Miss India

Elite), a recognition to represent the country in International Pageant (Miss

Face of Beauty International) to be held in September, a platform like SAESM to participate as a

delegate from India. She previously worked with celebrities like Kanika Kapoor, Randeep

Hooda, Gauhar Khan, Zareen Khan, etc. during eminent fashion shows. Meanwhile, she ranked

5th in SRCC and got a recommendation from my mentor teacher, Mr. Rajiv Jha (Head Of

Department Economics, SRCC) and also had a chance to exhibit one of my paintings at Jawahar

Kala Kendra, Jaipur. In the next 2-3 years, she wants to try out different things across different

industries and functional areas. She wants to improve her skills and become an expert in all the

relevant skills necessary to be a consultant who would just not survive but thrive.

ANCHAL TAATYA – Serial Entrepreneur & Founder,

UrbanThela

An Entrepreneur & a CEO to have successfully set up and exited

FMCG business (Flour Mill, 250 Tonnes per day) with 4X returns

to promoters, Anchal’s current start-up, Urban Thela - Superfood

Company, won 1st Prize in BYST (Tata Trust and IFCI

organisation) B-plan Competition and he was also awarded Best

All-Round student award at NITK Surathkal. A fitness freak, he

plans to summit Mt. Everest. In his own words, “I am doing MBA, because till now, I was

running business intuitively, but I realized this is what I want to do for the rest of my life and it

makes sense to have a strong technical foundation in business management.”

APEKSHA SANGANERIA – Founder, MediDrive (Medicines

for marginalized)

Having graduated from BITS Pilani Hyderabad as a Bachelor of

Pharmacy and Masters in Science, Chemistry, Apeksha worked in a

healthcare startup called IndiaHealthLink. As Head of Business

Development at IndiaHealthLink, she contributed to the company from its inception to seed

funding stage. Having experienced the startup world, an MBA from IIM-A became the next step

to get the managerial knowledge & prowess to become an influential force in the health care

industry. A belief in giving back to the society led her to start a social initiative called MediDrive

to supply people in need with free medicines by collecting unused medicine from households. A

certified rescue scuba diver with a specialty in wreck, night and deep diving, she is also an

enthusiastic horse rider and an Emergency First Responder.

APRAJITA SHARMA – Public Policy & Ex-LAMP fellow

A graduate with a Masters in Public Policy from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai,

she has assisted a reputed Parliamentarian as a LAMP fellow. In her words, “An

MBA at IIMA allows me to draw industry-government linkages to realize

interventions nestled in a larger perspective of issues. My endeavor has been to

combine my academic rigor with functional experiences by undertaking internships with UNDP,

TMFL, NDTV, ITC SRA, Miditech and VIKSAT.” She has represented university in Inter-

Varsity Swimming and Basketball, and takes a keen interest public speaking, surfing, making

short-films, and photography.

ADITI AGARWAL – Fashion Designer, worked with Chikankari artisans

A fashion design graduate from NIFT, Raebareli, Aditi has worked in the

online retail of Chikankari (native hand-embroidery of Lucknow) garments

under the brand ‘Go Lucknow’. She is passionate about handicrafts and

painting. “To pursue my passion, I decided to go for design, but I soon

realized that formal management training was the needed for me to take my family business

forward which is my ambition in future,” she comments talking about her motivation to join

IIMA. She hopes to give the brand ‘Go Lucknow’ a national and hopefully, global recognition,

one day.

C.S.PRAKHYAT – Award winning Cinematographer & Moviemaker

C.S.Prakhyat is a self-taught Internationally acclaimed filmmaker with a

very diverse portfolio consisting of documentaries, short films, music

videos, advertisements and promo videos, all of which can be found on his

Vimeo channel: The C.S.Prakhyat Experience. He has made 9 award-

winning short films which have fetched him 17 International Film Festival selections, spanning

the USA, UK, Canada, Slovenia and India. For this feat, he has been accredited with an IMDB

page. His decision behind joining MBA was to learn how to manage a film crew better and to

develop a marketing acumen to increase the outreach of his films. When he isn’t shooting his

next piece de resistance, he actively participates in quizzes and occasionally hosts them as well.

GIRISH BAJ – Member, Satellite Launch Team of ‘Swayam’

An engineer from College of Engineering, Pune, Girish was a part of

the college team that developed a student satellite ‘Swayam’ which

was launched in space in coordination with ISRO. They also

developed an earth station for communicating with satellites in space.

He believes the projects to be a result of sustained team effort and

commitment and should motivate more innovations and wonders from

the youth. He chose to do study management as a blend of technology with management would

make a perfect combination for future leaders and innovators.

KANISHKA KHAIRE - Innovator

The critical issue of public hygiene and sanitation & the ‘Swatchh

Bharat Mission’ inspired Kanishka to think about these problems and

build a practical solution. During his under-graduation, he designed an

Automatic watering system for Urinals in collaboration with his

professor. It has since been patented and published in the Indian Patent

Journal. A civil services aspirant, he sees himself contributing towards

public policy in the long run. He decided to pursue management as he

believes that managerial expertise is essential for effective implementation of government's

policy.

OZAIR HAMDANI – National-level Chess player & Educated in

Africa (Botswana & South Africa)

Pursuing MBA to help convert his ideas into actions, Ozair has

previously interned with a start-up on a project funded by the Bill

and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has spent the majority of his life

on the African continent, twelve years in Botswana, and four years

pursuing his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cape

Town, South Africa. He is also an avid reader, writer, and a national level chess player.

RASHMI TELTUMBDE – International Tennis Player (ITF Pro-

circuit rank 958) & Ex-Captain – India Junior Fed Cup

Rashmi Teltumbde is from Mumbai. She finished her undergraduate

degree from Texas Tech University in the US as BBA in Economics

and Management in 2014 and has 14 academic awards there. She has

a work experience of 28 months in Nettech Pvt Ltd as a Business

Development Executive. Being a professional tennis player, she has

represented the country in 3 junior Grand Slams (two Australian Open and US Open) and also

captained the junior Indian Fed Cup team. In her free time, she likes to coach tennis to kids, cook

and travel. She believes a degree from IIMA would equip and ensure her goals would be

reached quickly.

REEMA BHAGIA – PR & Communications professional

After completing graduation, Reema joined Rediffusion Wunderman,

an advertising company, where she worked on their largest client -

Audi India for 16 months; the first ten months as a Project Executive,

the next six as a Senior Account Executive, after being awarded a

double promotion. Besides being an avid reader, she is also an

adventure sports enthusiast, having jumped off the world’s highest commercial bungee - Macau

Tower at 233 meters. Dancing since she was a child, she is trained in contemporary, jazz, and

improvisational dance at Dance Inc India. She aspires to use the knowledge gleaned at IIMA to

start a holistic health & wellness company.

UMANG AGARWAL – Ph.D in Animal Sciences

A Ph.D. in Animal Sciences from University of Maryland, Umang has

six years of experience in animal and human nutrition research in the US.

He worked with multiple animal species and humans to understand the

partitioning of nutrients for increased production efficiency (in animals),

and to understand the mechanisms of disease (in humans). He believes

that practical scientific interventions, coupled with the best management practices, are required

to bring about a successful large-scale impact in the agribusiness sector. Towards this end, a

PGP-FABM degree would make him a technical generalist who understands the scientific

nuisances of the business along with the big picture of the food and agri-business sector.

-End of Text-

About Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA)

Established in 1961, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) is recognized globally for excellence in management education. One of the top management schools in the world, IIMA educates leaders of the enterprises.

The Institute’s strategic priorities include: strengthening connection with its various constituencies, including academics, practitioners, alumni, and the community; nurturing a high performance work environment of stretch, autonomy, and teamwork; and strategic growth while maintaining emphasis on quality.

As per the latest ranking by The Economist, IIMA is No. 1 School in the world on the parameter of opening up new career opportunities for students. The flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) is ranked 16th in the Financial Times Masters in Management Ranking 2016. As per the Financial Times’ Global MBA Ranking 2016, IIMA’s Post Graduate Programme for Executives (PGPX) is ranked 24th in the World. IIMA has been ranked as #1 Management institute as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

For media queries, please contact:

Balaji UppalaMedia Secretary (PGP-2)Indian Institute of Management AhmedabadPh: (Cell) +91-7042705642Email: p16srimukahab@iima.ac.in

Arpit JainExternal Media Relations (PGP-2)Indian Institute of Management AhmedabadPh: (Cell) +91-9916288168Email: p16arpitj@iima.ac.in