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More Than Orientation: Imarticus School of Finance & Business Prepares Its Undergraduate Batch for the Real World
A two-week programme introduced ISFB’s inaugural undergraduate cohort to finance leaders, capital markets, startup investing and collaborative activities.
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2 weeks of industry conversations, financial markets, team challenges, sport, culture and shared experiences set the tone for the inaugural cohort’s first weeks at ISFB, followed by an early immersion at Global Fintech Fest.
For most college students, orientation is about getting familiar with the campus, meeting faculty and finding their way around. At the Imarticus School of Finance & Business (ISFB), the first undergraduate batch got a rather different introduction to college.
The founding cohort began with ISFB Ignite, a unique, fortnight-long experience that brought together industry conversations, finance and business learning, team challenges, sport, culture and outdoor experiences.
The idea behind the experience was fairly simple: students do not have to wait until internships or their final year to start engaging with the professional world.
14 days, several different worlds
Ignite began with an interaction with Ajay Srinivasan, Co-Chair of the ISFB Advisory Council, whose career includes leadership roles at Prudential ICICI AMC, Prudential Fund Management Asia and Aditya Birla Capital.
He spoke to students about the power of compounding and how it applies to careers as much as it does to finance. He also touched on resilience, health, relationships, emotional intelligence, learning and unlearning and the importance of asking better questions.
Commenting on the importance of building these habits early, Ajay Srinivasan, Co-Chair, ISFB Advisory Council, said “The habits students build, the relationships they develop and the questions they learn to ask early in their careers can compound significantly over time.”
Students also met Joy Parekh, CEO of ISFB, and Nikhil Barshikar, Chairman of the ISFB Advisory Council, before taking on Cipher, a campus-wide team mystery challenge involving clues and problem-solving.
The following days moved between academic and experiential learning.
Rajat Mathur, former Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, led a workshop on decision-making, risk, uncertainty and ethics. Vikas Khattar, Managing Director and Head of Equity Capital Markets & Financial Sponsors Coverage at Ambit Private Limited, took students through the evolution of India's equity capital markets, from the early days of stockbroking to the development of BSE and NSE and today's financial products and market infrastructure.
An interaction with Amit Ratanpal, Founder and Managing Director of BLinC Investment Management, introduced students to the 25 cr ISFB venture fund and practical questions around startup investing and entrepreneurship.
Learning beyond the classroom
The sessions were interspersed with activities that had little to do with sitting in a classroom, and that was by design.
Students went bowling, played pickleball, cricket and football, raced across Powai on a treasure hunt, went to the movies together and set out on a monsoon trek. For a group of first-years who had met only days earlier, this is where the batch began to become a cohort.
The reasoning behind it is that the qualities finance and business careers ask for most are rarely built in a lecture hall. These include working in teams, communicating under pressure, taking initiative, recovering from setbacks and trusting people you have just met. A treasure hunt rewards coordination and quick decisions. A team sport teaches students to read each other and come back from a bad start. A trek in the rain asks them to look out for one another.
The activities also balanced the industry sessions. A morning spent on risk, uncertainty and ethics with a former Morgan Stanley Managing Director could give way to an afternoon on the pickleball court, where the same instincts were tested in a very different setting.
There was also space for student life and community, with club induction, an Onam Sadya, a Freshers' Party and an interaction with Angel Xpress Foundation around education and mentorship.
Commenting on the thinking behind Ignite, Joy Parekh, CEO, ISFB, said, “We wanted the students to experience ISFB, not just be introduced to it. The idea was to bring together people, conversations and experiences that would give them a sense of what their three years here could look like.”
The Global Fintech Fest
The industry exposure continued beyond campus when the cohort became arguably the youngest participants at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 from 9 to 11 September, one of the world’s largest fintech gatherings and a major platform for conversations shaping the future of finance and technology. Just weeks into their undergraduate journey, students found themselves amidst fintech companies, founders, investors, regulators and financial institutions.
They explored the exhibition floor, interacted with professionals, asked questions and even identified potential internship opportunities. The three-day event also gave them access to conversations with leaders including India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, RBI Governor, Sanjay Malhotra, and the founders and CEOs of hundreds of new-age finance and fintech companies.
For the students, the value was not simply in hearing prominent speakers. It was in seeing the industry in action and beginning to connect what they were learning with the people, businesses and ideas shaping the sector; an experience, unheard of for students at the undergraduate level
Reflecting on the value of early industry exposure, Nikhil Barshikar, Chairman, ISFB Advisory Council, said “We cannot expect students to understand the industry simply by reading about it. Early exposure gives them context. It makes them curious, helps them ask better questions and gives classroom learning a reference point.”
ISFB Ignite is part of a broader approach to undergraduate education at ISFB, where Reflections, Experiences, Applications and Learnings are intended to complement classroom teaching.
The proposition is not that a fortnight-long orientation or a three-day industry event can make a student industry-ready. Instead, it is about starting the process earlier.
A student can encounter a senior investment professional before completing the first semester. They can discuss startup investing with a practitioner, understand how India's capital markets evolved, see fintech companies at work and begin becoming comfortable asking questions of people already working in the industry.
At the same time, they can build friendships, participate in sport, explore student communities and experience the social and cultural side of college.
For ISFB's founding batch, there is one additional dimension to the experience. They are not joining an established student culture. They are helping create one.
Their academic journey has only just begun.
“I thought Ignite would be just another college orientation with a catchy name, but it lived up to its name in every sense. Meeting and learning from preeminent visionaries and understanding current finance and fintech trends through GFF and guest lectures sparked a genuine passion for finance. It made me even more enthusiastic and curious to learn.” says Shikha Runwal, a student from ISFB’s founding batch.
About the Imarticus School of Finance & Business (ISFB)
The Imarticus School of Finance & Business (ISFB) is India’s first dedicated finance school designed to close the gap between academic learning and industry readiness. Built on the legacy of Imarticus Learning, a pioneer that has trained over 10,00,000 learners and placed 50,000+ professionals in Fortune 500 companies, ISFB offers Bachelors and Postgraduate programs that combine academic depth with global exposure, practitioner-led mentorship, and applied industry experience.
At the heart of ISFB is its proprietary R.E.A.L. pedagogy (Reflect, Experience, Apply, Learn), ensuring that students not only study finance but also live it. With deep specialisations in investment banking, fintech, digital finance, and global accounting (CFA and ACCA-integrated), ISFB prepares graduates to thrive in a skill-first era. Backed by partnerships with top institutions like Ambit, Motilal Oswal, and Cognizant, as well as a distinguished Advisory Council of industry and academic leaders, ISFB is uniquely positioned to build the next generation of finance professionals who are globally relevant, future-focused, and real-world ready.
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