Onsite Seminar XII

Roche

Despite of having a lot of work Roche was very delighted to support our project and took their time for our visit. Roche, a giant within the pharmaceutical industry feels committed to Universities.

During our visit they gave us a brief introduction about the company having 80’000 employees globally. They also told us proudly about their success within the Chinese market. They are having the same expectations for India’s market due to the fast growing economy which makes India an attractive market for them.

Our company visit was a very interesting and interactive session about doing business not only within the Indian pharmaceutical industry, but in general between the management staff and us. Furthermore, Innovation has also been a topic. Roche follows the innovative sounding claims “doing now what the patients need” and “make your mark improves lives” within their researching program and marketing strategy.

In the afternoon as we were sitting inside our air conditioned bus on the way to Schindler, an incident happened: Suddenly our bus had technical problems and was undrivable. The first solution was that everybody has to get off the bus int the 40°C  heat, so that Rickshas can be arranged. The next order was that everybody has to get back into the broken bus.  A new bus was organized for which we only had to wait incredible 7 minutes. This is the proof that India - within all the traffic chaos -can be very well organized. This has also been our first real experience with the Indian “Jugaad” =)

Schindler

As we arrived at Schindler the management has started their introduction in a humorous way which created an easy-going atmosphere from the beginning. This was the basis of an interactive, funny but also high learning effected meeting.

Further on, the CEO of Schindler India gave us a brief overview of India’s culture and their way of doing business related to Schindler.

Finally the Focus India delegation got stunned by Schindler’s recent projects such as the installation of their products for some Indian celebrities or airports across the whole country. Fascinating was especially the height of the buildings and the amazing stories these buildings have to tell. On top of that, Schindler told us the reason why they actually plan a new lift with the amazing, but still comfortable, speed of 8m/s. Although Schindler could guarantee a higher speed up to 21m/s, they think that people would not feel good going up, and the company highly believes that comfort IS what Schindler lifts should stand for.

Onsite Seminar XI

Welcome to our second day in Mumbai! Today we found empty streets, no traffic jam and definitely less noise from blowing horns – the reason behind all this: today it’s Election Day in Mumbai. Since most offices have closed, we were forced to rearrange our seminar program and instead planed an unforgettable trip to Dharavi, the largest slum of Asia.

We were fascinated to learn that this and many other slums worldwide are not what we have associated with a “slum” so far. Dharavi is rather a small industry in Mumbai with a wide range of commercial activities such as recycling, pottery-making, bakery, soap factory or even leather tanning. An astonishing annual turnover of business is estimated to be more than 650 million dollars a year! We as visitors were able to feel the sense of community and spirit existing in this slum which is home to more than 1 million people – a mind-blowing number. This was probably one of the highlights of the week and a real eye-opening experience for everyone!

In the afternoon the delegates had the chance to explore Mumbai on their own. So many went to sights such as the hanging gardens, the gateway, to the famous leopold cafe or just enjoyed the sunny and hot weather at the hotel pool which was refreshing after three days of full program.

Later the whole delegation met for having dinner at a nice traditional Indian restaurant. After this day everyone fully regained strength and ready for tomorrow’s promising companies’ visits.

Onsite Seminar X

Today we had an early start again. We visited PRS Permacel (Formerly a division of Johnson & Johnson, India) outside of Mumbai. Traffic in India is dense and the roads are bumpy due to frequent speed breaker bumps. We arrived at PRS on time and got a really nice welcome drink: Fresh coconut and cake.

PRS were showing us their three main areas: Coating, Printing and R&D / Quality. It was a well-organized tour and the employees obviously had a great knowledge in the field. Their four strategic business units are: Industrial, Railway, Automotive and Kavach – brand protection. I personally liked to see the screen-printing of decals for two wheelers. It is a very precise work done with machines that seem to be rich of years.

In the evening Mr Premchand, who is the Executive Chairman of PRS Permacel offered an Apéro riche at our hotel and we had the opportunity to ask questions and give our opinion (positive ones as well as negative ones). This day was once more a very nice and dense experience. Thank you all so much!

Onsite Seminar IX

For our second and last business day in Pune we left the Hotel Hyatt at 7.30. We drived to the village Kondhapuri where the two companies Sulzer and Burckhardt Compression are located. 

First we visited Sulzer. They showed us an interesting presentation about their company. After that we had the chance to get an insight of the production plant. So it was possible to see how the internals of the tanks are produced. The visit was followed by an Indian Lunch at the canteen from Sulzer. 

For the next company visit at Burckhardt Compression we had to move just 200 meters. Everybody was happy about it because we have spent already a lot of time in the bus. Burckhardt Compression gave us an introduction about the company. There we also got an insight of the production from the compressors. The huge dimensions were very impressive. At 4 o’clock we had to drive back to Pune.

In the evening we travelled to Mumbai by train. The whole delegation was worrying about the overfilled Indian Trains during the whole day. But the reservation has worked and we didn’t had to sit in the economic class. After a 3 hour ride we arrived in Mumbai.

Onsite Seminar VIII

Dear Blog followers! Yesterday we flew to Pune and everyone was exited about our new Hotel, the Hyatt, and i think nobody was disappointed. After having enjoyed the free Easter Weekend, we started off the second business week fully motivated. 

At 7.30 a.m, Reto Müller welcomed the entire delegation at the reception and we drove on a bumpy road to our first company visit. Faber, the subsidiary of Franke, gave us a very warm and traditional welcome called Kumkum. Due to this, every member of the delegation was walking around with a red point on their foreheads. After a short introduction about Faber, we visited the plants. The offered Indian lunch buffet was great but still, not everyone of us trusted the Indian food! I can't imagine why ;)

The afternoon we spent with Schindler, an escalator and elevator producer. The big surprise after the arrival -  the escalator wasn't working, so we had to take the stairs. At the beginning, we had a short presentation about Schindler followed by a plant visit. For that reason, we had to wear safety shoes with steel toe caps which underlined our business dresses perfectly.

Onsite Seminar VII

It’s Thursday morning: Election Day in Bangalore, tired faces are displacing heavy-looking luggage pieces in the hotel lobby and waiting for the bus to be picked up for a visit to Swissnex. In order to keep spirits high, one of our valuable PR Team members with a natural born showman talent, Sandro Bernasconi, has delighted our delegation with an astonishing performance of “Con te partirò” by Andrea Bocelli: goose bumps guaranteed! So we arrived at Swissnex well awake and with a bright smile on our lips.

The trip to Swissnex was relatively short, as Election Day is experienced as some kind of regional holiday, where no alcohol is sold and the traffic decreases to Swiss levels because all the businesses are closed. This fact is the best way to prove the good relationships Focus India and Swissnex are sharing, as they opened up just to meet us and have a very interesting presentation about their function as entry point for adventurous Swiss entrepreneurs. We also had the chance to meet one of the successful business man, who has developed a social media network for communication amongst peer groups, which is a bit more formal as Whatsapp and Facebook might be.

From there we went for lunch to a very fancy, vegetarian restaurant, which managed to decorate their walls with spices of all kind and colors. Being the only customers in the place, all the servants would spoil us with an endless refill of unknown, but delicious Indian tastes. Some very courageous men even tried a bite of the spicy “green chili”, fortunately with no major side effects.

Afterwards we got on our way towards the airport for the next presentation.  For some unexplainable reason, we could feel the magic of Focus India creating a very positive mood within our travelling delegation.

The presentation at the Bengaluru Airport started with a kind “Grüezi”, and was held by Swiss managing director Daniel Bircher. In short, he showed us the fast and incredible development of the Indian air business. The Bengaluru Airport is seen as a role model for all other growing Indian airports. Along to its growth, there goes the Nuance Group, taking care of all the concessions for commercial use within the airport. Their growth has been amazing as well. Their commitment to social responsibility, giving work to over 20’000 people in the rural area is impressive too.

After the presentations, we would round up our visit with a coffee together with the management team inside the airport facilities. It was another incredible Focus India, and we’re going for more!

Onsite Seminar VI

Date: April Wednesday 16, 2014

Location: Bangalore India

Temperature: increasing hot

After spending our first night in Bangalore we went on our  way to Accenture, our main sponsor. 

During the ride to Accenture we noticed that there are many differences to Delhi. The air seems to be better and there is less traffic. We were able to drive much faster than in Delhi. Probably because the election days in Bangalore have begun… or we were just lucky.

Arrived at Accenture the security checks were is done by two highly motivated Agents. After the whole security stuff the presentation of Accenture started, presented by many employees who currently take care of a big Swiss insurance company based in Winthertur. After that we had the opportunity to visit the innovation lab of Accenture where they create many useful tools and programs for the company. The highlight was the lunch with the Accenture people. The food was really good and the talking with them was not so formal anymore.

In the afternoon we visited Microsoft Ventures and had a presentation followed by a chat with young start-up entrepreneurs in the IT-sector supported by Microsoft. This was really interesting and a lot of questions have been asked and real life answers were giving. This was really what our program stands for. It was a great visit. On this occasion: Thanks to all the enterpreneurs.

Back at the Hotel a feedback round was done by Pieter and the project team. So far this day was not finished, tonight we are going out seeing the streets of Bangalore. Bye

Todays Blogger

Nicolas Balimann

Onsite Seminar V

April 15 was our last day in Delhi. 

Therefore we checked out in the morning and left the hotel at 8.50 a.m. for the first company visit. First we visited the company Maruti Suzuki, where we were friendly welcomed. The company is the Indian leader in car manufacturing. After a presentation and a discussion we started the plant tour. We saw the whole manufacturing of a car from the beginning to the end. It was interesting to see how fast and automated the manufacturing process is. At the end of the visit we had lunch with real Indian food in the canteen with the other employees. 

After the lunch we headed off to the second company visit of the day. We visited the company Zimmer which is an industry leader in producing implants. Because of the fact that we had to catch the flight to Bangalore, the visit lasted only 2 hours. Nevertheless, we had a really interesting discussion about the healthcare industry, with a focus on India. As usual at the end of the company visit we took a group picture and went directly to Delhi Airport. Our plane left for Bangalore at 6.50 p.m., perfectly on time.

Onsite Seminar IV

Namaste blog followers! After having enjoyed a cultural intensive weekend, we started off the business week with full energy and motivation. Although we needed to leave some of your fellow delegates behind us due to bellyache, we the remaining 12 delegation members headed off to a 2.5 hours bus journey to our first company visit of today, which was Kohinoor Food – the biggest basmati rice producer of India. We not only had the chance to see the production site and got to know the numerous steps in the production process of basmati rice, but we also could taste the real flavor of the Kohinoor rice. It has been amazing to learn more about the early branding in the 80s of Kohinoor Food as well as the fact that around 1’000 tons of rice leave the plant each day!

After a delicious lunch we continued our journey to the next meeting at Blaser Swisslube India, which again did last for quite a while. However, we bridged the travelling time by chatting with each other or even catching up some sleep. Also, some have been enjoying an interactive session on how to tie a tie, instructed by one of our delegate, which was very much appreciated by some male delegates who were not experts yet in this regard;)

We planned and also arrived at 5pm sharp at the office of Blaser Swisslube (pretty good time management if you take usual Indian traffic conditions into account!) and the whole delegation has been keen on interacting with Blaser employees during the presentation session, which was followed by a very tasteful Indian dinner.

I am convinced that today was a truly enriching business day for the Focus India participants and it made us even more excited for the coming visits.

Todays Blogger

Nadine Studer
Project Team

Onsite Seminar III

It’s Sunday, and the day started early again for the Focus India Delegation. So we entered the “Focus India Tour-Bus” at 6am. Having reached our destination, we took part of a Indian religious ceremony on top of a little mountain. There are no words to describe this ceremony. So you all should probably go to India and see it for yourself ;) Here an impression:

After this great experience, we travelled to another part of Delhi in order to see the third biggest mosque in Asia. But we didn’t walk to the mosque! Nooooooo! We travelled by the famous Indian “bicycle taxi”, the Riksha. It was an amazing experience to see the “real India” from such a short distance. Although the Riksha tour was amazing we were happy that we actually survived the ride… and especially the Indian traffic  =D

Focus India Forecast for tonight:

•           Indian Musical Visit
•           Indian Food

Tomorrow: Company Visits

Keep following us on facebook and this blog to get a piece of the cake!

Todays Blogger

Sandro Bernasconi 

Public Relation Manager

Onsite Seminar II

Despite yesterday was a long and exhausting day we got up really early today. Everyone was ready at 6 am for the sunrise tour to the Taj Mahal. Even though everybody had seen pictures of the famous mausoleum before it still seemed a little like in a fairytale when we looked at it in the sunrise. The Taj Mahal is an impressive building build out of white marble. It is located in Agra, Utter Pradesh  and was build by Mughal emperor Shar Jahan. Before it became his mausoleum it was originally a monument for his wife Mumatz i-Mahal who died while she was giving birth to their 14^th child. The early hour gave us the chance to explore the beauty of Taj Mahal before it was getting crowded and also the enormous heat arrived. After the visit it was time to take the impressions in during a rich breakfast. Reinvigorated, we then started the visit of Agra Fort. This fort is like a walled city and has been home to several generations of Mughals. It is therefore of enormous historical importance for the Indians. The building was also home to Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife. It is sad that he died in one of the towers with a white marble balcony facing the Taj Mahal. After his death he was transported to Taj Mahal by boat and was buried there.  Forth Agra combines Hindu and Islamic architecture and in the way the walls are painted shows traditional arts of both cultures.

Todays Blogger

Kathrin Gründner

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

Let's get it started!

Hello and welcome to our blog!

In here, we will deliver detailed insights into the world of Focus India 2014. The project and PR team as well as our delegation will "blog" regularly about everything that is happening at this year's Focus India.

We will start our blogging on February 10th, the beginning of our preparatory seminar.

Until then we wish you all the best!

Your Focus India Team



Todays Blogger

Sandro Bernasconi 
Public Relation Manager for Focus India 2014