Onsite Seminar I

The doors of the lift opened and two travellers rushed out the doors as soon as the gap was wide enough. As the two saw the meeting-point from afar, they were wondering why nearly nobody was there yet. Was the PR team already too late? Fortunately, they realised that they were actually 30min earlier than expected, well… things like that happen when you are looking forward to a great journey, don’t they?

As soon as the whole delegation was assembled at the meeting point and a few last information were given, the whole Focus India 2014 delegation went off to the check-in, then to the airplane and then on a journey which will hopefully be as amazing as everybody expects it to be.

After about 6 hours the “Indians on time” landed in Doha, the capital of Qatar. If there was a time on this first day when people could have died by being bored, then it was this 2-hour-stay at Doha. The airport may look as Las Vegas… well not really. Anyway, after another 3 hours flight, the final destination Delhi International Airport was reached.

After the baggage claim the delegation had to run straight off to the “Focus India Tour Bus” that was keen to bring them to their first visit. After a 45min drive the delegation arrived at the Swiss Embassy in Delhi where they were already expected and invited to set foot on Swiss ground again. After we had the great opportunity to hear a lot about the Swiss-Indian relation, the delegation headed off for a late lunch and the final journey of the day to Agra, the city where the famous Taj Mahal can be found.

…..TO BE CONTINUED

Todays Blogger

Sandro Bernasconi 

Public Relation M

Alumni Story - Part I

For this first part, you have the opportunity to meet Corinne Räz and Livia Kistler who were both in the project team of Focus India 2008. Enjoy!

From left to right: Corrine Räz, Livia Kistler

Corinne Raez, Project Manager 2008Responsible for Business Development at INTEGRA

Thinking back, what are your memories of 2008’s project?It was quite intense; it was a lot of work and during the onsite trip, I hardly ever slept. But everybody was so supportive at the places we could visit. I remember how at first everything smelled like curry but after a while we didn’t even notice it anymore… Who knows, maybe we suddenly smelled like curry ourselves!

Which valuable job-skills did you acquire from being a project manager?I learned a lot about project management and certainly improved my organizational and networking skills. I gained experience in approaching people, since I went to several business events and tried to make contacts there.

Any tips for our delegation?You have to be flexible and make the best out of whatever happens.

How did Focus India influence your career?Focus India helped me finding a topic for my bachelor thesis. Through the thesis, I then got in contact with INTEGRA and started working for the company only a few days after graduation! I wouldn’t be where I am now without the project.

Livia Kistler, Project Manager 2008
Junior Consultant at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants

Thinking back, what are your memories of 2008’s project?All our friends told us, we were working 24/7. But it was worth it: we met interesting people from the business world and I was impressed how open we were always welcomed at the companies we visited. Also, the gap between rich and poor was astonishing – I wasn’t quite prepared for that.

Which valuable job-skills did you acquire from being a project manager?I learned how it is to lead people. It was difficult to find the role of a project manager and suddenly leading a delegation, when before we were all students on the same level. We had people from different programmes and therefore different interests on board, so I learned how to somehow handle all the different needs the delegates had.

Any tips for our delegation?Don’t take everything so serious. Of course, everything has to be planned and scheduled in detail, but usually these things don’t go as planned.

How did Focus India influence your career?I got in contact with the Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce through the project, and ended up writing my bachelor thesis for them. The contacts I made during that phase then helped me for my career!

Preparatory Seminar 2014 - Day 4

Today was our 4^th day of the preparatory seminar. We started the day with a presentation held by Mr. Beat Ineichen from Switzerland Global Enterprise. He explained to us what SGE does and how they help Swiss SMEs to start business in India. He also said which fields are interesting for Swiss companies and what the main difficulties are that they face.

The next presentation was held by the project team. They shared the experience they got on the visit to India. They also told us the difficulties they faced there with the Indian culture and that it was a huge experience. They told us for example that the traffic in India is very slow and therefore journeys take a lot of time but on the other hand there is a lot to see around.

Afterward we all were invited for lunch, which was sponsored by Catering Restaurant Sitar. This was for most of us a very nice culinary experience.  We also got the chance to taste the Indian masala tea which was really good. After the great lunch we all sat in the bus and went to Reinach to visit Endress & Hauser Flowtec AG.

Here they gave us a company presentation and introduces their company policies and told us that they are still a family business. They also said that all their manufacturing places around the world have the same tools and infrastructure. Their company in India has got a lot of Swiss culture and this has been adapted very well by the locals who are proud of their company. Then we had the opportunity to go for a tour through the factory. Here we could get a first hand insight on how the assembly of the flow measurement instruments is done and how they give a lot of importance to the quality of the manufactured goods. They also said that they had changed their production line in the past couple of years and were now able to assembly the product in one third of the time. Later we attended a presentation held by the HR-Group of Enderess & Hauser, they showed us where we could start our professional work career.  After that we were invited to a delicious Apero.

Today's Blogger

Felix Vellappallil

Delegation Member of Focus India 2014

Preparatory Seminar 2014 - Day 3

This morning our main sponsor Accenture gave us an impressive overview of their business fields around the world. In India they are one of the top employers. More than 90’000 people are working for accenture just in India. We have been told about the differences, how Accenture recruits young talents in India and how they do in Switzerland. The highlight of this morning was a video call from an employee who works for Accenture in Bangalore. He told us about his daily work at the office and we also had the chance to ask questions.

After lunch we had a distinguished visitor. Dr. Nagendra Prasad the ambassador of the Indian embassy. He told us some interesting facts about the cooperation between India and Switzerland.

Later on Bernhard Fischer, who represented the Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce, gave us an impressive overview of his childhood in India and gave us further details how the Indian-Swiss commercial relationship developed and improved over time.

At the end of a fantastic day, Edward Schwarz from Holcim presented some mind-blowing projects which have been realized in emerging countries to provide pore people with toilets, fluent water and electricity in a simple way. He was followed by Elsbeth Müller from Unicef. She spoke about the poverty in India, especially about the gap between girl’s and boy’s rights in the rural regions of India. 

Today's Blogger

Stefan Leuenberger

Delegation Member of Focus India 2014

Preparatory Seminar 2014 - Day 2

The second day of our Preparatory Seminar started with a presentation of Dr. Monica Corrado of the state secretariat for education, research and innovation SERI. She informed us about the various transnational research projects with India which are supported by the SERI. She was followed up by Mrs Lucia Stocker who held a workshop on creativity and innovation. Mrs Stocker requested us to look at things from a different angle and to think outside the usual structures.

After the lunch break we heard the speech of Mr Ram Rambhia of Sulzer Chemtech. He first explained which products Sulzer Chemtech manufactures and where they have their branches. Being a native Indian he gave us some first-hand information about the Indian business conventions. Afterwards Mr Carlo Bernasconi of the Nuance Group and Flemingo International Ltd held a lecture about investment and innovation with a focus on India. Mr Bernasconi gave us a very interesting insight into his experience in investing in India. He mentioned both the difficulties and the chances of doing business in India.

Finally Dr. Michael de Wild of the FHNW school of life sciences gave a presentation about the research on implants. Dr. de Wild gave a short overview what kind of research the school of life sciences does. Furthermore he explained in a very illustrative way how the development of implants expires.


Todays Blogger

Kevin Schmid
Delegation Member of Focus India 2014

Preparatory Seminar - Day 1

Today was the first day of our Preparatory Seminar. The day started with a presentation from Corinne Räz who worked as a Manager for Integra India. She was accompanied by Livia Kistler. They gave us an amazing first impression on what to expect when working in India. They emphasized personal flexibility since it happens that nobody shows up for meetings sometimes. Furthermore they told us about “Jugaad” which means that when a problem arises, Indian employees are very quick in coming up with a fix. But there is also an overwhelming bureaucracy you have to deal with when doing business in India.

After getting a first insight in the Indian culture, Hannes Weibel from UBS introduced the Indian Banking System. It is a system dominated by regulations which makes it impossible to specialize in one particular banking division. They still expect banks to offer general services.

The next speaker was Neelam Nagar, from Neelam’s Sprachschule. She first took us through Indian’s history. Then she explained us the Do’s and Dont’s in India and surprised us by explaining the remaining significance of the cast system. It still happens that someone washes their hands after meeting with someone from a lower cast.

Last but not least Pascal Jansen from the logistics company Kuene + Nagel gave us an Insight into his company. He explained us the challenges you face regarding Innovation in a market, where 60% of the population has about 2 Dollars to spend a Day.

At the end of the Day, we got the chance to chat and to get to know each other over a delicious Indian Apéro.


Todays Blogger

Nina Maric
Delegation Member of Focus India 2014

Countdown

Tic, Tac, time is running! And tomorrow, the first great event of Focus India 2014 begins! Are you at least as exited as we are?

If you are curious about what it is going to happen next week, check out our final timetable!

Do also check out our homepage, twitter, google+ and youtube channel to experience the whole Focus India experience.about the 



Todays Blogger

Sandro Bernasconi 
Public Relation Manager for Focus India 2014