‘Prayaan’ defining the sustainable future took over as the theme for Foundation Fortnight, WeSchool – Mumbai this year. The three pillars of Foundation Fortnight 2018 – Stambha, Spandan and Swayam became a part of sessions each day. We felicitated our guests with a memento of birds made of bamboo, symbolising our theme for the year, ‘Prayaan – a sustainable transformation’. The logo of Prayaan represents a bird, which symbolizes vitality and growth.
Pillars (स्तंभ) - The Pillars of Sustainability (Equipoise, Natural capital, Metrics and Integration) necessitate provenance of deep-rooted virtues that are developed and nurtured to fructify into continuous use and replenishment of natural resources to meet the triple bottom line (Profit, People & Planet).
As a part of Stambha, noted guests from the corporate side like Mr. Sanjiv Navangul, MD, Janssen India; Ms. Ranjana Narawane, MD, Accenture; Mr. Jashish and Ms. Geetika Kambli, Future Factory; Mr. G. Pratap, Senior Director(HR), Maersk; Mr. Raghav Narsalay, MD, Accenture Research; Mr. Amit Mantri, Co-Founder, 2point2 Capital; Mr. Sreekanth K Arimanithaya, DXC Technologies; Satish Kaushik, renowned actor; Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra; Mr. Biren Vora, Head – Sustainability & Business Excellence, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Limited; Mr. Boman Moradian and Mr. Sugato Banerji – Head Marketing- Videocon d2h Limited, shared their insights on sustainability in their respective fields and areas of expertise.
Tools (स्पंदन) – “Tools of Sustainability” like Innovation, Design thinking, Collaboration, Leadership, Optimisation and Practice facilitate recalibration of human activities towards meeting the needs of the present without compromising those of the future. They have the power to transform and metamorphose processes towards a greener, responsible and buoyant planet.
Sessions on design thinking, interactive communication workshop; an observation of insight; research; collaboration and optimisation enlightened the students on sustainable values and skills for life and course of their career.
Virtues (स्वयं) – Transparency, Harmony, Equity/fairness, efficiency, freedom, stability need to be imbibed and assimilated into the thought and action of all human activities towards the common goal of sustainability.
Swayam workshops on dance, music – instrumental and vocal, painting, photography, Power Yoga, self-defence, theatre/drama, video making and short filmmaking added a participative element amidst a series of lectures.
As companies embrace Environmental, Social and Governance strategies (ESG), and as they try to integrate these strategies throughout their businesses, they are going to need managers with an understanding of company’s processes and objective towards sustainability.
Traditionally, business schools have always educated future managers in the technical and functional skills central to their role as custodians of shareholder capital. But, the scenario is changing. Businesses today need future leaders capable of making sustainable decisions and thinking long term. Through orientation events such as Foundation Fortnight 2018, WeSchool, strives to develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.
Cheers to all faculty on WeSchool Mumbai campus for having put together an interesting Foundation Fortnight and marking the beginning of the two-year journey both as impactful and meaningful.
