An MBA journey is a special one. It provides you with freedom to choose from a variety of career paths. mbaSPARK.com is a group dedicated to such MBA students to help them make the most of their MBA journey whatever be their ambition, dreams or aspirations.
This study group, mbaspark, is India’s first group for MBA students from many campuses across the country.
This is a community project by Mangal Bhawan Ventures Company.
Why is this “free”?
August 2020.
I got a few queries from friends and visitors since we started mbaSPARK.com a few weeks ago. They relate mostly to the free cost structure of this study group for MBA students from India. So let me see if I can explain this in the next few paragraphs.
Why are you doing this? How do you benefit?
Since there is no fees for this group, there is no money involved. Is this an act of charity or ‘seva’? Yes it is my seva. It involves my time for a few hours every week and it is intended to serve the select few who are ready to receive and benefit. There is a very little cost involved in running this (we have an community manager intern on a stipend, hosting costs for the website and video session costs) which is funded by a grant from my company and a 3-4 hour time commitment on my calendar every week.
How do I benefit?
I am deeply involved in my research project on how to improve employability and industry readiness for fresh MBA students. In this process of exchanging ideas, it adds to my learning of the space. Needless to say, this learning may lead to something of a commercial value like a fellowship program, etc. but that’s not core to what I intend to do at mbaSPARK.com.
MBA students in India especially the 1st year ones need more help. I am starting off by building a different platform where such students can exchange ideas and learn from industry seniors.
What’s the future for mbaSPARK.com?
I, along with students, plan to grow it into something which is sustainable (e.g. industry lectures for the price of a coffee?) and valuable for the student managers.
Do I have all the answers? No.
Do I think we can address this problem of being industry ready for MBA students? Yes.
The current format of the mbaSPARK program is limited to a study group of 1st year MBA students from India.
- This study group is an invite only WhatsApp group limited to only 256 members.
- We do have a few industry experts and observers in the group.
- This group has a live video interaction for 90 minutes (check our events page) every Sunday evening with Punit Modhgil. This live video interaction (we call it ‘business class’) features a discussion on a topic decided in advance and then an #AMA (Ask Me Anything) session with free flowing questions and answers.
- Through out the week we have questions coming in from the students which are usually answered by other student members or by Punit Modhgil in his weekly video interaction.
- We also have fun contests once every few weeks involving book gifts or a lucky draw for a few 1:1 hour slots with Punit.
I would love to hear from you for your suggestions, feedback and any ideas on collaborating. We are open to adding worthy 1st year MBA students (a simple KYC form, link on the home page), industry experts who are willing to spare a few hours from time to time and academic institutions who want to work together towards improving the industry readiness of fresh MBA students.