Nurturing the Gen-Z of logistics

While an MBA degree is great, organizations today are looking for young professionals with business-ready skills that can be applicable in the real-world – critical thinking, analysis, problem-solving and the ability to think of out of the box solutions.

To help the next generation with an opportunity to prove their mettle, Allcargo Group instituted LogicOn – a logistics case study competition in collaboration with IIM Mumbai.

LogicOn was conceptualized as a platform for 1^st and 2^nd year MBA students to showcase their bright ideas and translate them into solutions for real-world logistics challenges.

It was inspired by the Founder and Executive Chairman of Allcargo Group, Mr. Shashi Kiran Shetty’s belief in the transformative power of the youth. With Mr. Shetty also serving as the Chairman, Board of Governance, IIM Mumbai, the institute was the knowledge partner of choice for this event.

Over 6,000 MBA aspirants from the top B-schools of India responded with enthusiasm. After making their way through multiple levels that include a quiz, project submission, and virtual presentations, seven teams battled it out in the Grand Finale which took place IIM Mumbai, wherein winners were named in the 1^st and 2^nd year categories.

Incubating innovation

While most view educational institutions as an incubation phase where the real talent will only blossom once they join the workforce, Allcargo is among those who view it as a cradle of innovation. After all,  some of the most disruptive businesses emerged from the ingenious ideas of students, such as VLC media player which was developed in Ecole Centrale’s Chatenay-Malabry campus in Paris; the origins of FedEx lie in Fred Smith’s paper on a revolutionary delivery service project for an economics exam, which incidentally earned him a ‘C’ grade with a comment that it was ‘difficult to carry out’;  and of course the famous silicon valley start-ups which were started in college: Facebook, WordPress, Yahoo, and Reddit.  

Building leadership

Since a large part of being a successful leader involves sourcing an opportunity among challenges, the case studies were built to give students a flavour of real-world business challenges.

Each of the three case studies presented the students with a chance to analyse and provide solutions pertaining to Allcargo Group’s NVOCC, CFS, and express distribution business respectively, that involve intelligent use of digital acumen.

Along with professors from IIM Mumbai, senior leaders from Allcargo Group were also part of the jury: Sushil Rathi, Director – Allcargo Supply Chain; Kapil Mahajan, Global Chief Information & Technology Officer; Vasant Shetty, Vice President – HR – Allcargo Logistics; Suresh Kumar R, Managing Director – Allcargo Terminals Limited; Pirojshaw Sarkari (Phil), Managing Director & CEO – Gati Express & Supply Chain, Allcargo Supply Chain; Mehernosh Mehta CHRO – Gati Express & Supply Chain, Allcargo Supply chain. They were joined by Prahlad Tanwar, Partner & Global Head – KPMG. Together, the formidable panel rigorously tested the competing teams’ ideas.

After much deliberation, IIM Bangalore were named winners in the second year category, while SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai, emerged winners from among the first year category.   

In addition to cash prizes worth 4.5 Lakh, the winning teams have won pre-placement interview opportunities at Allcargo Group, and personal interactions with Allcargo’s CXOs.

With the overwhelming response from students hungry to change the world with their ideas and innovation, LogicOn is quite likely to become one of India’s premier academic event for supply chain and logistics in the country.