After an extensive selection process, gruelling interviews, and exhaustive shortlisting, UFV India selected 34 candidates who will go ahead to form the Student Company Program 2019.
In order to acquaint them with their work, an induction session was held with a day full of activities aimed at preparing these young, proactive students for the responsibility of leading the Student Company Program 2019.
The day started with a briefing session led by Student Life department Coordinator Ms. Saniya Kamra. “You will get to experience first-hand what it is like to be a part of a team and lead your own company.” said Ms. Kamra, while reiterating the objective behind the SCP and setting the timelines. After going through the SCP vision, mission, and objectives, Kamra enumerated the various departments that the students will be sorted into after the CEO elections and an interview process. She also shared her own experiences from high school where she was part of a similar program.
Following this foundational session, students partook in a survival-based team building activity called “Surviving the Thar desert”. In this case study discussion, team members had to set priorities, make decisions, discuss their opinion, and take their stand.
The objective was to showcase the importance of thoughtful decision making, positive communication, and constructive criticism.
Bringing in years of experience and practical exposure to the table was the next speaker Mr. Mike Ivanof, a professor from UFV Canada who frequently teaches at the Chandigarh campus. Picking up anecdotes from his classroom teachings, Mike ensured that his session made the students contemplate, smile, and share simultaneously. He spoke about the Canadian counterpart of the student company program — EPIIC (Entrepreneurship and Process Innovation/Incubation Centre) along with his theory on C2C — concept to conceptualization.
In addition to sharing his views on entrepreneurship and global trends, Ivanoff also invited students to share their expectations out of the program, their views on entrepreneurship, and their life ambitions.
After this inspiring and informative session by Ivanoff, it was time to take the session outside with another set of team building activities. The afternoon was spent working together as a team on an obstacle based activity called “Mindfield”. Teams directed their blindfolded counterpart across the course. Some teams maintained their calm and finished without a hiccup whereas some learned the lesson of efficient communication.
For the next activity, students were divided into 3 teams and were supposed to build a balloon structure from the ground up. The objective of this team building activity was to exhibit the importance of setting expectations correctly, ensuring smooth operations, keeping calm in moments of pressure, and working together as a team.
The day closed with a final talk on Company Program Guidelines by Prof. Mushtaq Ahmed. Being the one who pioneered the student company program in UFV India, Prof Mushtaq was the perfect person to take the newly chosen student company participants on a journey from the first ever company program to the latest. He spoke about the importance of understanding the product, its need, the marketing realities, and other factors while formulating the foundation of the organization.
With the winter break nearing, the students will reconvene in January to begin brainstorming the product and formulating the organizational structure.
