ICFAI University Convocation Ceremony (July 2015)

Building a Billion Dollar Enterprise - Five Big Lessons for Entrepreneurs: BVR Mohan Reddy at ICFAI University Convocation
‘Dream big, be paranoid about success; but stick to your values’ - said Dr.BVR Mohan Reddy at Hyderabad on July 10, 2015. Dr. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Founder and Executive Chairman, Cyient Limited, Chairman, Board of Directors, IIT Hyderabad, and Chairman, NASSCOM was delivering the convocation address at the fifth convocation of The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), ICFAI Group on July 10, 2015 at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad. Dr. C.H. Hanumantha Rao, Chancellor presided.

Tracing his 40 year entrepreneurial journey of building a billion dollar company with business in 31 countries, employing 12,000 people, Dr. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy explained the five big lessons he learnt during the successful journey.

‘Dream Big, look for the right timing, be persistent, take calculated risks, be ambitious and be paranoid about success’ - he explained as the first lesson for an entrepreneur. Then he explained the importance of a sound business model and how he built an institution around Sustainability, Predictability, De-risking and Profitability (SPDP). Further he highlighted the innovation brilliance as one of the elements of success of Cyient. The fourth big lesson he explained was the importance of an inclusive approach - i.e., understanding the needs of customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, society and the environment - and incorporating them into enterprise strategy and sustainable value creation activities. Finally, stressing the importance of values as priceless for an enterprise, Dr.Mohan Reddy explained how at Cyient the ‘Values First’ principle guided the behavior and actions: Fairness, Integrity, Respect, Sincerity and Transparency.

Dr. Mohan Reddy noted the outstanding achievements of the University in all spheres and wished the institution success in achieving greater heights.

Degrees Awarded: During the convocation 1047 students including 408 female students were awarded degrees for graduating in the PhD, MBA, BBA-LLB (Hons), B.Tech., and BBA programs.

Gold and Silver Medals: Medals were awarded to students for academic excellence and all round excellence. Gurpreet Singh received the gold medal for academic excellence in the MBA program and Harish Kumar received the silver medal. Saloni Rajneesh Anand was the recipient of The N J Yasaswy-Apollo Hospitals Award for the Best student and Gold Medal. Harsh Sultania received the silver medal for all-round excellence in the MBA program. Kirti Dahiya received the Saurabh Sharma Memorial Gold Medal as the First Rank holder in the Marketing stream of the MBA program. Arushi Goyal was the recipient of the Faiyaz Ahmed Khan Memorial Gold Medal as the First Rank holder in the Finance stream of the MBA program. Sachin Bhati and Harsh Bucha received the gold medal and silver medal respectively for academic excellence in the BBA program while Tanshi Sharma and Joel

Vivek Bandi received the gold medal and silver medal respectively for academic excellence in the B.Tech. program. In the BBA-LLB (Hons) program the gold and silver medals for academic excellence were awarded to G S L Priyanka and M Tanya respectively.
Best Faculty Member: Prof. D. Satish was the recipient of the N J Yasaswy-Apollo Hospitals Award for the Best Faculty Member for All-round Excellence.

NAAC Accreditation: Prof J. Mahender Reddy, Vice Chancellor presented a report on the progress made by the university during the year 2014-15. He reported that the University obtained NAAC accreditation with 4A’ grade and a score of 3.43 out of a maximum of 4. He informed that during the year the faculty members of the University published 171 papers in professional journals of repute of which 76 were in Scopus listed journals and 10 in A*/A Journals listed in Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality list. He highlighted the steps taken by the University in providing quality higher education to the youth of the country.

Dr C H Hanumantha Rao, Chancellor of the University appreciated the significant achievements made by the University in all areas. He made a special mention of the research being carried out by the University faculty on topics of social relevance.
Apart from the students, parents, faculty members and alumni of the University, the convocation was attended by members of ICFAI family and several distinguished academicians and personalities from the city.

IFHE campus: IFHE is a Deemed to be University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956. Three thousand five hundred students are pursuing various programs in the Faculty of Management (IBS Hyderabad), Faculty of Science & Technology, and Faculty of Law at the University.