The Pilani Pioneers Book reiterates Entrepreneurship Culture and BITS Pilani Indeed Made for Each Other

The main trading and industrial houses of India such as the Birla, Bajaj, Aggarwal, Dalmia, Goenka, Poddar, Singhania, Murarka, etc have their roots right from the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan which is synonymous with Entrepreneurship. Birlas who have played a stellar role in spearheading the Indian Economy for over a century, established at their native place Pilani an institution for higher education which has the reputation of having produced several alumni who are who is who in the industry globally.

A successful entrepreneur requires Information Skills, Problem Solving Skills, Decision Making Skills and Communication Skills apart from Ability for Time, Stress and Project Management. The broad based integrated and interdisciplinary approach of education at the Institution of Eminence Birla Institute of Technology and Science – BITS, Pilani gives ample opportunities right from admissions to graduations for developing such skills and acquiring such ability to ensure that winning in tough situations becomes a way of life for the students at the Institute.

Presently at Banasthali Vidyapith, well known alumnus of BITS Pilani Prof BR Natarajan aka Dean Nattu keeps releasing newswires regularly in cyberspace and social media for over a decade about BITSians who are dreamers performers and achievers of BITS Pilani but he had not put a whole bunch of them in one place together. However, Gaurav Mandlecha who did dual degree Economics – Mechanical Engineering 2014-2019 and Durjai Sethi who did Electronics & Instrumentation 2015-2019 wanted to read such a book.

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s quote – If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must be the one to write it – is what definitely inspired Gaurav and Durjai to author the book “The Pilani Pioneers” published by Pan Macmillan India. The book is indeed a Mission with passion for them where they meticulously brought out inspiring success stories of not 1or2, but 25 Proud to be BITSians spread over 5 decades.

The book had its glittering virtual launch function on the evening of 05 Aug 2021 with the indomitable distinguished alumnus of BITS Pilani Prithviraj Chavan former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and a highly respected leader at national level who wrote the foreword also doing the honours. The book speaks of not only the professional milestones achieved by 25 outstanding BITSians but also recounts their personal journeys which have helped them to climb peaks of glories.

The book covers the success stories of Abhishek Humbad (Founder and CEO Goodera), Abhishek Nayak (Cofounder and CEO Appsmith), Ajoy Misra (Former MD and CEO TATA Consumer Products), Arun Bajoria (President & Director JK Tyre & Industries Limited), Baba Kalyani (Chairman and MD Bharat Forge Limited), Dr GSK Velu (Chairman and MD Trivitron Healthcare Group), Gulu Mirchandani (Chairman and MD Onida Group), Gunender Kapur (Investor-CEO Vishal Mega Mart), Hari Menon (Cofounder and CEO BigBasket), Harish Bhat (Brand Custodian TATA Sons),

The book also features WILP alumnus Mahesh Babu (MD & CEO Mahindra Electric), Nilesh Kothari (Cofounder and Managing Partner Trifecta Capital), Phanindra Sama (Co Founder redBus.in), Pradeep Kashyap (Founder MART), Prem Jain (Cofounder and CEO Pensando Systems), Sagar Yarnalkar (Cofounder and CEO DailyNinja), Shishir Joshipura (MD and CEO Praj Industries Limited), Sunil Duggal (Former CEO Dabur India), TP Pratap (Cofounder Qwikcilver Solutions), Vinod Saraf (Founder and Executive Chairman Vinati Organics Limited) and VT Bharadwaj (Cofounder and General Partner A91 Partners).

University cannot serve Society unless it reflects Society and in terms of girls enrollment, BITS Pilani is indeed way ahead of other such institutions both in India and outside India. It is for sure that engineering or science education at BITS Pilani does not face any gender imbalance. What emerges from the enrollment statistics at BITS over various decades is the fact that girls opt for Engineering, Pharmacy and Management programmes with the same ease as that of Science programmes.

Such a thing has been possible at BITS Pilani as the entire educational process from admission onwards is merit based and there is no gender discrimination of any kind in any of the activities of the Institute. The highlights of the book Pilani Pioneers include the success stories of BITSian women Nandini Chopra MD Alvarez & Marsal), Sandhya Prakash (Founder and MD Beacon Energy Solutions), Shivangi Nadkarni (Cofounder - CEO Arrka Consulting) and Tulsi Mirchandaney (MD Blue Dart Aviation).

The launch function had an exciting quiz session conducted by Harish Bhat and multiple award-winning best seller author Dilip D’Souza which was attended by the success story BITSians in the book and thousands of alumni and current students. BITSians indeed take inspiration from the quote “There are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond reach.” Gaurav and Durjai are excited to share that they are donating 100% of their author royalties for a scholarship at BITS to promote the culture of entrepreneurship and in the hope of benefiting the larger community.

You can order the book from the link
https://www.amazon.in/Pilani-Pioneers-Inspiring-Success-Graduates/dp/8194970709/

Gaurav Mandlecha
8/9 Navkar Residency (Near Jain Bhawan)
Artillery Centre Road
Nashik Road, Nashik 422101 Maharashtra India
Phone +91 9829101789
Email mandlecha.gaurav@gmail.com

About BITSAA: BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA) has emerged as one of the strongest alumni networks of any university. BITSAA International engages in charitable and educational activities by raising funds for setting up endowments, creating scholarships, rewarding teaching and research and generally promoting the development of resources at Birla Institute of Technology and Science at Pilani, Dubai, Goa & Hyderabad campuses. BITSAA International also aims to strengthen the ties, friendship and communication amongst former students, alumni faculty and friends of the Institute. BITSAA International provides a number of channels for people to stay connected with each other and with Birla Institute of Technology & Science. Notable other alumni initiatives for BITS Pilani include Prof SSR Memorial Teaching Excellence Award, Atma Nirbara multi crore Pilani Resource Centre by 75-80 batch alumni, Prashant Anuradha Palakurthi Research Endowment and many more. For more on BITSAA see https://www.bitsaa.org

This release was published on openPR.