IIM Lucknow's Manfest

Manfest is an Annual Business Conclave organized by Indian Institute of Management Lucknow^[1] in the third week of January every year. Manfest, which began in the year 1986 is a three-day fest that facilitates interaction among B-school students, faculty and corporates. The fest attracts participation from premier business colleges like IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, XLRI, MDI, FMS, IIFT and several other national and international Business schools. Events in Manfest are organized in the form of four verticals: Management Events, Leaders Express, CSR Initiatives and Beyond Business.

Contents 1 Theme 2 Structure 2.1 Management Events 2.2 Leaders Express 2.3 CSR Initiatives 2.4 Beyond Business 3 Corporate Partners 4 Organizing Team 5 References 6 Links

Theme

Each year, Manfest centers itself around a certain theme: an idea generated by the IIM Lucknow students. Competitions and activities in Manfest are designed according to the theme. Past themes are ‘Sustainable Development: Fuelling the Future’ (2009);‘India: Expect, Explore, Experience’(2010) and ‘Renaissance 2030: Shape the Change' (2011).

Structure

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

Management Events

Through this vertical, Manfest offers to the participants an opportunity to ideate and execute ideas on-the-spot.

The Flagship Events

These include The Next CEO, Call for Arms, Biz Quiz and Zeus. These 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 with problems in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, social media, insurance, travel and tourism, etc. This competition is open to students across all colleges.

Simulation Games

These are business-oriented simulation games for institutional and corporate participants. 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 for all present on the IIM Lucknow campus during Manfest. These are 2 hour long events. Some of the events at Manfest 2010 were Contrapunto - The Parliamentary Debate, The C-Trader, Bazaar and The Budding Economist. These events are conducted in collaboration with companies like Tata, Accenture and the Aditya Birla Group.

Leaders Express

Leaders Express includes various talks, conclaves, luncheons, webinars, seminars and panel discussions. In the past, these events have been visited by J.J.Irani, Dilip Chhabria, Rahul Bose, Mallika Sarabhai, Mahesh Bhatt and S. Ramadorai.

Leaders are interviewed by IIM Lucknow students. 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. 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, for faculty, business heads, young corporates and students. Key-note speakers present particular topics after which the audience interact with the leaders.

CSR Initiatives

Manfest conducts Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) events to create awareness about pertinent social causes. This is done in collaboration 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 designed to emphasize implementation of sustainable and achievable solutions.

Prerna

The Social Entrepreneurship Awards are awarded to entrepreneurs working on socially relevant issues. These awards are initiated in 2009.

The Lucknow City Run

This event was started in 2009 to raise awareness for a certain social issue each year. The participation si open to all. Each year, Lucknow City Run sees thousands of Lucknow residents run for causes such as AIDS Awareness (2010) and Sustainable Living (2011).

Yajna

This event, started in 2011, is conducted in association with NGOs and corporates. It provides B-school students social entrepreneurship projects to solve. The projects are based in many cities of India.

Beyond Business

There are three cultural 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

This is a cultural program by Bollywood musicians. Manfest’s Bollywood Nites have been graced by Salim-Sulaiman(2011), Kailash Kher(2010), Kay Kay (2009), Euphoria and Mohit Chauhan (2008)

International Rock Nite

The Rock band ‘Pain of Salvation’ performed in Manfest 2011. A semi-professional rock band competition is also conducted for both originals and cover versions. In Manfest 2011, the winning band opened for Pain of Salvation. There are also a number of non-business informal events organized at Manfest.

Corporate Partners

Manfest is conducted in collboration with Indian and international companies. 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.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.

Manfest also has its official website and the social media pages. A business pulblication 'Gravitas', containing a collection of essays by prominent leaders is distributed among students and faculty of various business school.

Organizing Team

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-member support team. In the final stages wider support is provided by 150 student volunteers

References

Links

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