B. BOTTOM OF PYRAMID PROJECT (BOPP)

DURING second year of PGDM full time programme, the students after finishing the term IV undergo a training of 2 weeks with NGO or an organisation which works in a rural, semi-urban, or slums area. The training is undertaken during the summer in the sponsoring organisations.

Training in Rural, semi urban, slums and other informal sectors

Traditionally, industry has been the main focus of management. Bhavan’s Usha and Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management (BULMIM), New Delhi has made an innovative departure from conventional B-School programmes by adding a new dimension to its Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) Programme through emphasis on the need to include a 18-day training module in addition to the normal 8-10 week summer training at the end of year one. In this way the programme expands the use of modern management tools and techniques to rural, semi urban and slum dwelling lending to the development of managers for the corporates who have acquired an exposure in these areas. This not only creates a special place for the Institute among the galaxy of management institutes in India, and abroad, but also has the potential to fulfill one of the basic needs of equitable development across different sectors of the Indian economy.

Need for training

There is a grave need to bridge the gap between the corporate sector and its responsibilities
towards under privileged sections of the society. This would not only help in setting up a tradition for contributing towards the needs of the informal sectors, but also provide a platform for the corporate sector to strengthen business opportunities. CK Prahalad through his path breaking work has highlighted this.

Corporate bodies are looking for special attributes in managers who have been exposed to such environment. Thus managers who understand the complex dynamics and behaviour of rural society, semi urban, slums and informal sectors on one hand, and are equipped with requisite business skills on the other, are the change agents.

These change agents are ones who have to be conversant with the Indian realities, who are
aware of the needs and aspirations of the Indian consumer and who can strategize for the change (in the rural areas) with modern management tools. They should also be aware of their problems, their superstitions and taboos, their resources, their information networks, their motivations, their strengths etc. or in other words, they must be a part of them. In the modern world with very high degree of specialisation, there has to be effective human resource development in order to cater to this segment of the social system.

This training module of PGDM programme at BULMIM aims to fulfill this need. Under the new economic reform regime, the corporate houses are also required to initiate special programmes aimed at social development The symbiotic relationship between business and society has triggered off a growing involvement in the social sector.

Objectives of training

This training module is designed to address the following objectives:

• To expose the participants to rural surroundings, ruralites and rural realities and also to semi urban and slum areas
• To prepare a team of managers with this training who will begin to understand the complex dynamics and behaviour of this section of the society
• To provide managerial help to build and strengthen people's organisations
• To blend the managerial knowledge and practices of these people with modern management science and techniques
• To support efforts needed for effective utilisation and management of human and valuable resources through use of knowledge and skill
• To apply technology to analyse factors influencing hard realities
• To generate an interface between the corporate sector and social development
• Rural sector is one of the market segments, which the rural training intends to cater to apart from the social development sector comprising of co-operatives, NGOs, government development agencies, and national and international donors engaged in promoting rural development.

Duration

• Pre-BOPP Training Workshop — 3 days
• BOPP Training — 15 days (two weeks)

Organisations

Work will involve collaborating with NGOs and other agencies. The place of training will likely be the rural, semiurban & slum areas of Delhi and NCR region. Students can go together such places in other states also.

Projects

Projects will be assigned by the sponsoring organisation based on sectors contributing to rural, semi urban and slums, viz. agribusiness, banking & insurance, development, micro-finance, and market research & advertisement, services offered and their outcomes, strategies for change in such diverse social environment etc.

Companies associated with —BOPP Training

• AirTel
• HCL Infosystem Ltd.
• Jindal Stainless Ltd.
• Pardada Pardadi
• Pradan, Sir Syed Trust (SST)
• SOS