Indians make an ‘impact’

Two students are part of a consultancy group that advises clients in Canada on strategies, innovations and more

Hand over her heart, Suzanne Spragge, Rotman’s assistant dean, external relations, cannot keep the emotion out of her voice when she says, “My god, we have a great batch of Indian students here.”

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At the moment, Rotman has 265 students for its two-year programme, with Indians numbering between 40 and 45. Two of them, Sharath Janakiraman and Bharat Bhardwaj, are partners in the B-school’s Impact Consulting Group, which offers business clients in Canada innovative and customised solutions that facilitate business planning, strategic development, financial services and market research (also giving students real-time experience in handling complicated business matters).

Bhardwaj, who was schooled in Delhi, completed his engineering in France and Canada and worked for Haier, says he came back to Canada to complete his MBA because he was attracted by the integrative thinking concept. Working with Impact has been a great experience. His team of five students, who run the business for a year, have to “do everything end to end – getting clients, closing deals, doing consulting work and making sure the work’s up to the mark.” His teammate, Janakiraman, who has worked with

Infosys and Oracle, says he chose Rotman for three reasons: Curriculum, integrative thinking and the “diverse faculty”. Also, he wants international work exposure, and as “the US visa rules are tougher, I would want to opt for an immigrant-friendly country like Canada, which also offers me a three-year work opportunity”.

Sharath Toopran, who has studied at Delhi’s Mother’s International School and then at Manipal, was drawn by “all that appeared in the papers about Rotman dean Roger

Martin – one of our most prolific thinkers.” He’s very thankful to have got admission here and has been having “the best time ever”.