Prominent figures from the corporate and business world and two legendary sportspersons attended the Leadership Conclave Allyship++ organised by the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) at Kolkata on Friday.

Legendary Indian hockey star Gurbux Singh, who won the Olympic gold medal for the country in 1964, and Gautam Sarkar, famous Indian footballer who was nicknamed the ‘Indian Beckenbauer’, were the star attractions at the event.

Among others, Mr. Satyaprakash Krishna, known as the mentor of former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior IAS officer and SOA Alumnus Mr. Smruti Ranjan Mohanty, presently Director, Fisheries and Managing Director, SFDC of Government of West Bengal, were present.

The event was organised with the objective of bridging the gap between academia and the corporate world.

Dr. Raj Hota, Dean of Corporate Relations and Placement, SOA, was the convenor of the event. Dr. P.K. Patra, SOA’s Dean, Sponsored Reserch and Industry Consultancy and Mr. Kajal Panda, Deputy Director (Corporate Relations) were also present.

The event, which was organised at Bengaluru and Hyderabad earlier, included two engaging panel discussions. The first panel featured industry leaders Ms. Brishti Mondal, Vice-President, NRI FinTech, Ms. Rashmita Parija, Country HR Manager, Lexmark India, Mr. Sumit Agarwal, DEI Advisor to Fortune 500 Companies, Mr. Nadeem Kazim, CEO and Founder, Splice HR Works, Mr. Sudipto Ray, MD- Cloud and Digital, PwC and Ms. Amrita Das Gupta, Swayam.

The second panel, moderated by Mr. Pradip Bandyopadhyay included Ms. Tumpa Sarkar, President, WICCI, Ms. Debalina Roy of Vodafone and Mr. Saurabh Roy, DGM, Reliance Jio Infocom. The panelists discussed the critical role of allyship in fostering supportive professional environments.

The need for closer cooperation between academic institutions and corporate entities to foster innovation and growth was the focus of the conclave.