IIM Lucknow's Manfest

IIM Lucknow's Manfest: The Annual International Business Conclave

IIM Lucknow’s Manfest is an Annual Business Conclave organized in the third week of January every year. Manfest, which began in the year 1986 is a three-day fest that invites participation from premier business colleges like IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, XLRI, MDI, FMS, IIFT and several other national and international Business schools.

The major stakeholders include B-school students, faculty and corporate partners. Events in Manfest are organized in the form of four verticals: Management Events, Leaders Express, CSR Initiatives and Beyond Business.

The classroom block during Manfest 2011

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIML) was established in 1984, by the Government of India, as a national level school of excellence in management science. IIM Lucknow undertakes a diverse range of academic activities and interventions; aimed at creation, dissemination, and application of management knowledge and practices. These include : the Post Graduate Programme; the Fellow Programme; the Management Development Programme; Research Programmes; and Consulting Programmes. The Institute has state-of-the-art computing and class-room facilities, supported by an extensive library of books, journals, films, and databases. IIML academic programmes are fully residential. The serene and pollution free campus is well equipped to meet all the essential requirements of its residents.

Each year, Manfest centers itself around a certain theme: an idea generated by the IIM Lucknow student body encapsulating the spirit of the times. Every competition and activity in Manfest is strongly linked to this central idea. The rationale behind the approach is to ensure that all activities that are undertaken as a part of Manfest are not only related to one another, but are also, as a unit, based on an idea that stands relevant to the present times. Past themes have been ‘Sustainable Development: Fuelling the Future’ (2009);‘India: Expect, Explore, Experience’(2010) and ‘Renaissance 2030: Shape the Change' (2011).

Manfest comprises four verticals: Management Events, Leaders Express, CSR and Beyond Business.

Management Events

The NextCEO: Manfest 2011

Through this vertical, Manfest offers to the participants an opportunity to ideate and execute those ideas on-the-spot. The objective is to provide B School students from both India and abroad, a chance to gain business learning from a practical, real-world perspective.

The Flagship Events

These include The Next CEO, Call for Arms, Biz Quiz and Zeus. These are aimed at rendering an overall business perspective rather than a function-specific one and are open to students across B-schools. They offer the largest prize money across all events at Manfest.

The Biz-Theatre

It consists of a series of case studies that are aimed at testing the analytical skills of its participants. The case studies have a strong industry focus and deal with problems in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, social media, insurance, travel and tourism, etc. The case studies are produced in partnership with prominent Indian and global firms. This competition is open to students across all colleges.

Simulation Games

Bizquiz: Manfest 2011

These events at Manfest provide business learning through a high-involvement, online gaming platform. These reach out to participants from across the globe - both institutional and corporate. At Manfest 2010, the three simulations held were Dayitva (an online CSR simulation), Pesa Inc. (a banking simulation) and M&A Wars.

On-the-Spot Events (OTS)

These are open to participation from all present on the IIM Lucknow campus during Manfest. These events are 2 hour long events which are focused on specific aspects of management. In innovative formats, some of the events at Manfest 2010 were Contrapunto - The Parliamentary Debate, The C-Trader, Bazaar and The Budding Economist. These events have also attracted several collaborations with internationally renowned corporate like Tata, Accenture and the Aditya Birla Group.

Leaders Express

Mallika Sarabhai: Srujan, Manfest 2011

Leaders Express provides a platform for formal and informal interaction between B school students and business as well as cultural leaders through various talks, conclaves, luncheons, webinars, seminars and panel discussions. In the past, LeadEx events have been graced by such luminaries as J.J.Irani, Dilip Chhabria, Rahul Bose, Mallika Sarabhai, Mahesh Bhatt and S. Ramadorai.

This event provides to the students an opportunity to get a step closer to iconic leaders while they are interviewed by an IIM Lucknow student. Manfest 2011 saw Rahul Bose being interviewed by Shantanu Deshpande, a student of the flagship PGP course of the institute.

Business Conclaves

There are 2 business conclaves held during Manfest, both based on the theme for that year. 5-6 business leaders from a specific field discuss sector-specific issues. The conclaves at Manfest 2011 were Srujan - The Creative Arts & Media Conclave, and Arthashaastra - The Finance Leadership Summit.

Anjuman

This is a corporate luncheon held in partnership with the Industry Interaction Cell of IIM Lucknow. This event facilitates informal interaction between faculty, business heads, young corporates and students. Key-note speakers are invited to present on a particular topic and the audience is chosen through a selection process. After the speeches, the audience is invited to interact with the leaders and debate on the points made.

CSR Initiatives

Manfest, through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) events that it conducts, seeks to achieve a two pronged objective: creating awareness about pertinent social causes and achieving a tangible impact through its initiatives. These objectives are met by concerted collaborations with various NGOs and companies. Manfest’s CSR events include the following:

Dayitva

This is the online simulation game where participants adopt a village and identify the problems in it. The game is deliberately designed to emphasize implementation of sustainable and achievable solutions, rather than designing one-off CSR activities that may not yield tangible results.

Prerna

The Lucknow City Run: Manfest 2011

The Social Entrepreneurship Awards, Manfest aims to find and encourage young entrepreneurs working on socially relevant issues. These awards, initiated in 2009, are aimed at addressing the need for such initiatives in the country, given the huge scope and need for social entrepreneurship in a country like India.

The Lucknow City Run

This event, started in 2009, is geared towards raising awareness for a certain social issue each year. It stands open to participants and spectators from all walks of life.Each year; Lucknow City Run sees thousands of Lucknow residents run in solidarity, in pursuit of causes such as AIDS Awareness (2010) and Sustainable Living (2011).

Yajna

This event, conducted in association with NGOs and companies who identify specific projects with social entrepreneurship themes. B-school students try to solve problems that may be based across India. In its inaugural edition in 2011, projects were based in diverse cities such as Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

Beyond Business

As the sun goes down at Manfest, there unfolds a panorama of entertainment events aimed at fostering that brand of camaraderie and companionship between the various participating B school students that comes only with losing yourself in good music, together. There are three main events spread across the three days of Manfest.

Cultural Nite

An evening dedicated to the exponents of Indian Classical music, conducted in association with SPIC-MACAY, the IIM Lucknow Chapter, it brings with itself every possible flavor of vocal and instrumental Indian Classical Music.

Bollywood Nite

A platform for the best of Bollywood’s musicians to entertain and delight students, Manfest’s Bollywood Nites have been graced by the likes of Salim-Sulaiman(2011), Kailash Kher(2010), Kay Kay (2009), Euphoria and Mohit Chauhan (2008, both) .Each year, Lucknow’s largest concert arena brings alive the magic of melodies on a wintry night of fun, frolic and good music.

International Rock Nite

Pain of Salvation: First International Rock Performance at an IIM

Manfest 2011 brought down, in collaboration IIT-Madras’s Saarang and the Embassy of Sweden, for the first time to India, the Progressive Rock band ‘Pain of Salvation’. Manfest also sees Hell Raiser, a semi-professional rock band competition, which attracts participation from the best bands of the country. The competition emphasizes on both originals as well as cover versions. Lucrative prize money is offered to the winners. Manfest 2011 saw the winning band opening for Pain of Salvation. There are also a number of non-business informal events organized at Manfest.

Gravitas is the annual business publication of Manfest. It is a collection of essays by illustrious leaders such as Dr. Manmohan Singh, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Dr. Kiran Bedi, P.Chidambaram and S.Ramodorai, Vikram Pandit, David Knox etc. Manfest through Gravitas seeks to supplement the events and activities held during the three-day fest, since all the articles contributed by the leaders are aligned with its central theme. The publication is distributed among students and faculty across the premier business school campuses of the world. It is also widely read in India’s corporate sector.

Manfest is a product of the collaborations and partnerships forged with Indian and international corporates. The fest has seen partnerships with telecom companies, FMCGs, consultancies, Food and Beverage companies, Banks, NBFIs, PSUs, international and national magazines, popular websites and governmental undertakings. Partners of the previous years include Tata, CitiBank, State Bank of India, Mahindra and Mahindra, Nokia , Pepsi, Accenture, TAS, L&T Financial Holdings, McDowell’s Signature, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), TVS, Sahara City Homes, Fun Republic, American Express, TCS, DELL, SAIL, Pearson, Cognizant, Uttar Pradesh tourism, Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport, Castrol, Bank of India,Canara Bank ,Allahabad Bank,CII, IDFC, IFCI, ONGC, Hyundai, Planet M, MBA Universe, Career Launcher, CRY, Vikramshila, SevaSahyog, Youth for Seva, Aid, Date2compete, DTDC, PagalGuy and several others.

Manfest has had enduring relations with a number of media houses and a consistent presence in print, TV and radio space. It’s past media partners include Forbes Magazine, Tehelka, the Rolling Stone magazine, Business Standard, Financial Express, Dainik Jagran, UTVi, MTV, VH1, Red FM and several others. Apart from consistent coverage in these, Manfest also regularly disseminates information through its official website and the social media pages.

Manfest 2011 was a landmark event in the history of the fest. The fest saw the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vertical being expanded in scale and scope, with an increase in the number of events under the vertical and an increase in the number of participants and the range of activities covered through these. 2011 was the inaugural year of Yajna, the Pan India CSR challenge that brought together B-school talent, corporate resources and NGO expertise to solve specific societal problems in select cities. Students from across Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune worked closely with a select NGO from their city to analyze live problems and find implementable solutions to the same.

Manfest is organized by the Manfest Core Committee that is selected from within the student body of IIM Lucknow. The 16-member Core Committee is supported by a 30-strong support team. The final stages, however, require wider support, which is provided by the 150 students who volunteer to execute this 3-day fest.

• Official website of Manfest, The Annual International Business conclave of IIM Lucknow
• Official IIM Lucknow website

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow