MPOWER WAR ROOM IV – empowering the future of the Indian Transport

MPOWER program was designed with a vision to provide a platform to cater to the learning needs of the young, NexGen transporters. The program curriculum is designed to include the aspects facilitating the transport business decisions relating to the choice of markets, procurement, production and dispatch planning, plant location and layout, procurement and distribution network planning, route optimization, determining the ideal fleet size, warehouse location and operations, desired inventory levels and so on. This helps the young transporters make better informed decisions to take their business to the next level of success.

Cumulatively, MPOWER has been conducted for 13 batches with 340 participants PAN India from various Transport segments. The participants of all the 13 batches vouch for their experience to be very rich. They are confident of taking their family business to the next level by applying all the learning from the MPOWER program.

MPOWER WAR ROOM is a brand extension of MPOWER that helps its participants to take the learning experience to an advanced stage. ‘MPOWER War Room’, which was launched in July 2014 with the objective of making MPOWER delegates of past batches to introspect/ reflect and present on the following subject:

“Successes and Challenges in implementing what I learnt during Mahindra MPOWER at IIM, Ahmedabad, back into my business”.

The War Room aims to explore the transformation that the MPOWER participants were able to bring about in their organizations after attending the MPOWER program, as well as the challenges they might have faced during the implementation process.

MPOWER War Room IV

The 4^th edition of MPOWER War room was conducted from 23^rd – 25^th Nov 2017, which was hosted at IIM, Ahmedabad.

Here’s a photo-report of the MPOWER War Room IV:

24^th Nov 2017 – Expert Jury

Delegates were very excited to meet each other and participants from different MPOWER batches. 15 finalists were present for the final show down.

 

The MTBD Team and IIM Professors interacted with 15 War Room Delegates. It was delighting to see the enthusiasm of Mr. Chetan Lodaya, a specially-abled participant as one of the contestants of War Room IV.

The session began with a brief introduction of MPOWER War Room IV and context-setting by self. Shashank Patwa took the delegates and the Jury through the objectives of MPOWER WAR Room IV and what they must look forward to in the next two days at IIM Ahmedabad.

The Expert Jury consisted of: 

Name	Designation	Organization
Girish Mirchandani	Chief Editor	Transtopics
Bhushan M	Editor	CV Magazine
Allwyn Crasto	Sub Regional Head, South Asia Transportation and Distribution Safety	BASF India Limited
Tej Nirmal Singh Plaha	Director & Head - LAS, Ericsson India GFBE Shared Services Organization	Ericsson India Global Services Pvt. Ltd.
Devdip Purkayastha	President - India Operations	CHEP India
Prof Debjit	Factuality Member, Production and Quantitative Methods	IIM Ahmedabad
Prof Amit Karna	Factuality Member, Business Policy	IIM Ahmedabad
Prof. Sobhesh Agrawalla	Factuality Member, Finance and Accounting	IIM Ahmedabad

Presentations began at 9:30 am. 15 young transport entrepreneurs battled it out to showcase their OUTPERFORMANCE stories based on their learnings from the MPOWER program they had attended at IIM Ahmedabad. The presentations were made on topics ranging from Innovation in Business, Business Intelligence, IT Infrastructure, Business Re-structuring, Safety Measures Across Organizations to Business Diversification. Their success stories were filled with inspiration and vision and their tremendous learnings from the ‘MPOWER’ sessions was evident. The incremental innovation and tweaks inspired everyone in the room, who responded to such bits with applause. Every presentation was followed by an interactive question and answer session with the Jury members. 

Networking Dinner

This was the much-awaited part of the program as the participants and Jury were eager for the final names to be presented to Grand jury.

During the Networking dinner, we shared our views on the MPOWER initiatives and Mahindra’s Vision for these initiatives. Prof. Debjit also shared his views on the 15 case studies with the audience. Participants shared their testimony of the War Room and MPOWER initiatives by Mahindra and they were pleased about the different learning they got from other participants as well.

 An informal discussion was initiated with the Transport Ecosystem delegates. Many insights from the top-notch industry stakeholders were brought forward.

Finalists for the Grand Jury

The finalists were as follows, as there were two ties for the 6^th place hence this batch witnessed 7 Finalists. They were as follows:-

1)      Mr. Rishab Gandhi of Raman Roadways from Gujarat

2)      Mr. Hardik Gahlot of Reshamsingh & Co. from Kutch

3)      Mr. Gurvinder Singh Grewal of Diamond Roadlines from Mumbai

4)      Mr. Rohit Patravali of Esteem Trucking Company from Hubli-Dharwad

5)      Mr. Jehaan Adil Kotwal of JFK Transport from Mumbai

6)      Mr. Sanjay Gogri of Bharti Infraconstructions Pvt. Ltd. from Mumbai

7)      Mr. Jitesh Chunnilal Chheda of Chheda Cargo Carriers from Mumbai

Prof. Debjit shared some tips with them on how to improve their presentations for the Big Day.

Grand Jury - 25^th Nov, 2017

After a day full of excitement, the following day started early with the seven finalists preparing for the presentations. The Grand Jury assembled and the event began at 9:30 am. The program commenced with a keynote address by self, welcoming the participants and encouraging the entire contingent for their trailblazing efforts in implementing what they learnt during MPOWER back into their business.

Grand Jury Members:

Name	Designation	Organization
Brinda Jagirdar	Former Chief Economist, SBI	Director, Capital First and Rane Engine Valves
S K Krishnan	VP – Demand Chain Management	Mahindra & Mahindra
Pradeep Saxena	Country Head	Sewells MSXI India
Prof. Debjit Roy	Production and Quantitative  Methods	IIM Ahmedabad
Prof. Arvind Sahay	Marketing	IIM Ahmedabad
Prof. Chitra Singla	Business Policies	IIM Ahmedabad

Participants reworked on the presentations based on Prof Debjit’s suggestions from last evening (24^th Nov 2017).

Every presentation was followed by questions from the jury testing the mettle of the seven finalists. The quick breaks in between the sessions allowed the participants and Grand Jury members to exchange a few words.

Mr. S K Krishnan, V.P. Demand Chain Management, Mahindra Automotive Division, appreciated how Mahindra Truck and Bus continue to work closely with the MPOWER participants. MPOWER and War Room are just milestones in the way and MTBD is committed to help them in the journey of excellence. He also thanked the Professor, the Jury and the participants for taking the time and making War Room IV as successful.

Prof. Debjit and Prof. Chitra Singla also shared their valuable thoughts on the War Room Presentations.

The winners of the MPOWER War Room IV are:

Mr. Rishab Gandhi of Raman Roadways from Gujarat who presented on “Umeed” Software & Performance Management System”.

First Runner-up – Mr. Hardik Gahlot of Reshamsingh & Co. from Kutch who presented on “Development of Customized Barge for Multi-Modal Transportation of HP Surge Vessels”.

Second Runner-up – Mr. Gurvinder Singh Grewal of Diamond Roadlines from Mumbai who presented on “Business Optimisation”.

Second Runner-up – Mr. Rohit Patravali of Esteem Trucking Company from Hubli-Dharwad who presented on “Streamlining Operations”.

MPOWER War Room case studies eventually will be featured in the third edition of IIM text book on Transport & Logistics – Trucking Business Management – Cases and Concepts and thereby be institutionalised and become permanent fixtures of knowledge for our industry. We would persist with this kind of engagement with constituents of our road transport ecosystem as a part of the Mahindra brand philosophy of RISE, to drive positive change in our ecosystem and also help develop business prospects for MTB in the process.