Great Lakes Institute of Management celebrates SWIM 2008

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Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai celebrated SWIM (Successful Women in Management) on12thAugust 2008. SWIM is an initiative mooted by the students of Great Lakes to empower women with traits to assume leadership roles in the corporate world. The SWIM community, initiated in 2005, works towards identifying and drawing inspiration from successful women from various walks of life

The day-long event organised at Hotel Green Park on Tuesday was presided by Ms. Anu Aga, former chairperson of Thermax. Padmasri Sudha Raghunathan, Noted Carnatic Vocalist, Ms. Mridula Ramesh of Sundaram Textiles and Ms. Hemu Ramaiah, founder of Landmark enlightened the audience on 'Women as Trailblazers: Dreaming, Exploring and Discovering new horizons’

The distinguished guests discussed at length about the success, women had achieved in the field of management and aspired to achieve greater heights. Ms. Anu Aga in her opening speech said that it was important to balance professional responsibilities and personal life and emphasized on Vipasana which is the art of living. Ms Sudha Raghunathan talked about her journey to becoming a maestro in classical music. She discussed the challenges faced during her journey, and how she won over them. Ms. Hemu Ramaiah opined that it is important to think out of the box to reach “the other side” and achieve success. She elaborated on the lessons learnt in running an entrepreneurial venture. According to her, entrepreneurs must plan when to start and exit a business plan. Ms. Mridula Ramesh talked about four success enablers for women, namely role models, proving early competence in a language known by competitors, courage, and family support

The event also had a panel discussion on the topic “Educated, Intelligent, energetic, and just in her forties –can she still pursue her career dreams”. The discussion was moderated by Mr. T. N. Seshan, former CEC of India. The panel included Ms. Pushpa Kandaswamy, Noted TV producer, Ms. Indra Subramanyam, MD, Ehrlich Lab, Ms. Lalitha Maheswaran, HR Consultant and Ms. Sarda Ramani, president of C I Global Solutions. Mr. Seshan introduced the theme, and enraptured the audience with his characteristic witty remarks throughout the discussion. Ms Indra Subramanyam stated that desire is what takes women towards their goals. She also said that for a country to prosper, men and women must work together without compromising on domestic life. Ms. Pushpa Kandaswamy said that relations were more important than numbers. She vehemently supported the theme and emphasized that women are adaptable, efficient and capable of multi tasking. According to Ms Sharda, determination and grit are important and even if one wereto take a break in professional life, one can still get back as and when one feels like, and make the best out of it. Ms Lalitha, a visiting faculty at Great Lakes, addressed the women in the audience and advised them to define success for themselves, and not neglect their own selves. She said every decision taken will have its own consequences, it is important to make a choice and live by it. This was followed by an open housesession where the audience, comprising of the distinguished guests, students and faculty, posed a variety of questions related to women’s lives and their career orientation

Les Quizerables – the Quiz competition between various companies and colleges was also a part of SWIM 2008. The quiz was a great success with a total of 46 teams registering for Les Quizerables. The teams were from top companies like TCS, Cognizant, Citibank, HP, I-flex, KPMG, IRENVA, Frost and Sullivan, Abacus and Aura participating in the quiz. The quiz also had enthusiastic students from IIT, Madras, Anna University, SIIB, Pune, IFMR and many others.The total prize money for the quiz was Rs. 35000. The first prize was won by team Sumo comprising of Saranya Jayakumar, Rajen Prabhu and Kiran Vijaykumar.


The quiz was conducted by Mr. Vinod Ganesh. Vinod Ganesh has conducted the annual 'QFI Open Quiz' for the last four years and the 'Infosys Corporate Quiz' in 2006. He is an ardent quizzer and has won multitudes of quizzes all over the country. A regular finalist at the Landmark Quiz and the Odyssey Quiz, he has won Lone Wolf quizzes at IIT Madras' Saarang, REC Trichy's Festember and has also won the annual Grandmaster quiz at the Quiz Foundation of India, Chennai.

Founder and Honorary Dean of Great Lakes, Dr. Bala V. Balachandran and Executive Director of PGPMGreat Lakes Prof. S. Sriram were also present on the occasion. Dr. Bala V. Balachandran in his address spoke about the need for women to pursue their dreams in spite of obstacles on their path.

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