Gunjan Aggarwal and Bejoy Veer Suri, Co-founders of E-Squared Inc., Have Been Agents of Change, Moulding Technology to Make B-school Classrooms Intensely Engaging

NEW DELHI, March 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Revolutionising Business Education With the "60:60 Challenge"

When it comes to a critical appraisal of education in terms of ROI (Return on Investment), nothing comes remotely close to Business schools. Management institutes thrive or wither on just one criterion - their ability to transform students into industry-relevant managers. While on one hand, 'Gen Y' is used to a fast-paced, visually rich method of communication, on the other hand, every sector is looking for employees that are techno-savvy, analytical and 'Google'-oriented. Majority of the faculty in B-schools today find 'dwindling attention-span', and 'impatience with traditional pedagogical tools' amongst students, as the biggest challenge in the classroom.

"At E-Squared Inc. we call it the 60:60 challenge," pointed out Bejoy Suri, sharing his experiences with prominent academicians from across the country, at the first-ever Conference of ACBSP in South Asian region, held at New Delhi recently. ACBSP, or Accreditation Council of Business Schools & Programmes, is the foremost B-school accreditation agency in the world. Bejoy was specifically invited to explore what 'Technology @ Classroom' applies in the world today. "The answer lies not in shunning Facebook, Twitter, Google or Linkedin as distractions, but harnessing their abilities as potential pedagogical tools," he added.

Hardly your conventional lecturers, Gunjan Aggarwal and Bejoy Veer Suri - with their credentials as successful digital media entrepreneurs, working on branding and marketing higher educational institutions - are amongst the best few authorities in the country on the subject. The two ISB, Hyderabad alumni are better known as the Co-founders of E-Squared Inc. Raised just about 5 years back, E-Squared Inc. today is one of the biggest digital branding and marketing firms in South Asia. E-Squared Inc. has successfully designed and executed marketing and branding strategies for higher educational institutions across USA, Europe and Asia.

A Chartered Accountant, Gunjan has had extensive corporate exposure with Arthur Andersen and Citibank. She has helped Fortune-500 companies develop business strategies for entering the Indian markets, before turning 'Edupreneur' 5 years back. Bejoy comes from a blue-blooded lineage in education, which includes a Bachelor's degree from Sri Ram College of Commerce, and a Master's in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics - where he was the recipient of the Professor Balbir and Ranjan Singh Scholarships - apart from ISB, Hyderabad. Before E-Squared Inc. happened, Bejoy was dealing with mergers, acquisitions and operations, as a Consultant with Accenture. He has also worked in the financial markets for the investment teams of Dundee Mutual Fund and ICICI Bank.

Gunjan and Bejoy have conducted workshops/courses on usage of technology and social media for institutions of the stature of IMT Ghaziabad, IMT Nagpur, Jaipuria Institute of Management, SCMS-Cochin. In August 2012, they had spearheaded a pool of global media professionals for a 20-day programme for the Bhutan Media Foundation. The entrepreneur duo's latest engagement on this front was a 30-hours full credit-course on Digital Media at FORE School of Management.

"To me, nothing is scarier than the idea that a chunk of the class might be switched-off at some point or the other," points out Bejoy. "This is where technology and social media comes really handy. In the first class itself, we pose a challenge to the students. We ask them to be part of certain 'digital marketing' groups on Linkedin, by posting intelligent observations and interacting with other members. We dedicated the final 10 minutes of every class to this. The prospect of interacting with the corporate sector makes students a lot more serious. In fact, during the credit-course on Digital Media at FORE School of Management, one of the students, Anshuman, was looking for a placement with a big firm in the digital space. During the course, he spruced up his Linkedin profile, following the right communities and posting thoughtfully, and began building his digital reputation. Not surprisingly, he was approached by Google on Linkedin, and is currently interviewing with them."

Bejoy Veer Suri and Gunjan Aggarwal have been instrumental in bringing in some unique practices involving technology in the classroom. For instance, they ask students to browse case studies online, and present the best one to the class.

"With 60 students web surfing, we get some of the best Indian case studies; even those that we didn't know existed," says Bejoy. "We also have a healthy 're-tweeting' competition going by the end of any course that we conduct."

Over the years, Gunjan Aggarwal and Bejoy Veer Suri have covered the entire gamut of new media to provide online PR, content creation, design, recruitment, corporate engagement, search engine optimization and social media management for their impressive list of clients at E-Squared Inc. Prior to being invited by the prestigious ACBSP, the duo had also addressed the Edutech Conference in November 2012. The Co-founders of E-Squared Inc. have also had the honour of addressing the prestigious Association of MBAs (AMBA) forum in Grosvenor hotel, London.

About E-Squared Inc:

E-Squared Inc. is an innovative digital media firm that specializes towards the education sector. Working with various top-tier educational institutes & corporates in India, we deliver high impact results that span the digital media space. Whether digital branding, online PR, content creation and design, student recruitment, or alumni and corporate engagement, E-Squared Inc. is poised to work with your institute to ensure that your message reaches its audience, no matter the medium.

E-Squared Inc. is founded on the principle of empowering institutes to take the next step towards reaching their audience. We are comprised of a team of seasoned professionals who offer our unique skillsets to your advantage. We are visionary journalists, public relations experts, social media gurus, and designers and are ready to lend our expertise to your communication needs.

As the world of social media expands, the goal of E-Squared Inc. is to help your organization to explore these platforms to engage your prospective audience at the right time and the right place.

Website: www.esquared.in

Primary Media Contact: Gunjan Aggarwal, [email protected], 91-97-17999612