Recruiting firm Ma Foi Strategic Consultants is planning to establish business schools in Tamil Nadu. The Ma Foi Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (MIME) will commence operations from June 2013 and offer both one-year and two-year programmes in management, with a focus on entrepreneurship.
The one-year executive education (focused on entrepreneurship) for people with five years of minimum work experience would be offered at the Chennai institute and a two-year post-graduate programme in management course for freshers would be offered in Madurai.
K Pandiarajan, managing director, Ma Foi Strategic Consultants, said, “Since south of Tamil Nadu doesn’t have good MBA colleges, we thought of having our institute at Madurai. The programme in Madurai will concentrate on entrepreneurship. From the beginning itself, the students will be exposed to investors for their businesses. This is one of the first programmes in India that would commit to funding at the end of the course.”
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Pandiarajan added that in the first year, students would be exposed to business plan. In the second year, students would concentrate on shaping the business plan. “We will enable them to build a sound business plan, and find appropriate partners and angels. Consulting and research will be at the heart of the management education. At the end of the course, they will have a business plan that is mature and well-funded,” he further said. He also added that the organisation was also looking at setting up a corpus of funds for students aspiring to be entrepreneurs.
In addition, management development programmes would be held at both the campuses. The first set of these programmes would begin from the Chennai campus in August 2012. Developed for CEO and CXO levels, the programmes, with average duration of four days, would be based on real live business case studies and customised according to organisational needs.
Looking for a pan-India presence in the future, the company has identified 15 locations across India to set up management schools and expand its horizon. With an investment of Rs 25 crore spread over three years, Ma Foi is looking to strengthen its position in the education, research and consulting space. “We want to prove our management education concept in the south, before expanding it to other places. We are still to decide whether it will be a franchisee model or not. We would also be strengthening our global footprints through the collective intelligence gathered in the last 20 years,” he said.
E-learning is also being looked at as an important area where the company is fully functional. They are looking to acquire an e-learning player. “Apart from this, Ma Foi is also looking at a key acquisition in the government consulting sector,” he said.
Apart from education and e-learning, Ma Foi, which recently exited human resources consulting firm Randstad, has decided to look at — strategic consulting, research and analytics and supply chain consulting.
Analytics is an area where their work will begin from Bangalore, beginning July. Pandiarajan informed that they already have an assignment in this field from the US in the area of supply chain logistics. Market research is regularly conducted as per client needs.
In terms of strategic consulting, their focus will be on start-ups and mid-size organisations. They are already working in the areas of health and risk management. Key questions, including the business model would be addressed through their consulting services. A 360 degree audit is conducted by them.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an area where Ma Foi has been offering consulting services. “Through the help of the Confederation of Indian Organisations for Service and Advocacy (CIOSA), we connect non-governmental organisations, corporates and individuals to make a difference by learning from one another, sharing resources and acting together,” he added.
The company is working with several corporates on a host of business functions. It is assisting in open source enterprise resource planning implementation (integrating internal and external management information across a company) for a leading oil and gas player from Oman by helping them source the software.
A cosmetic chain from Harley Street, London (famous for its cosmetic surgeons), which is establishing its presence in India will also be assisted by Ma Foi in its business plan evolution and identifying locations in India.
The supply chain consulting will be dealt with a subsidiary called Ma Foi Connecting Dots. “Under the supply chain consulting, we intend to set up management clinics in industrial areas to help in migration from a tier-III city to tier-II city and a tier-II city to a tier-I city. For tier-I cities, we will help grow in depth and stature. Areas such Alwar, Coimbatore and Gurgaon have been identified for this,” he said.
Pandiarajan clarified that they will not conflict with the array of activities conducted by Randstad India. “We want Randstad to flourish and do not intend to compete with them. We will work complementary to each other and have also referred certain search assignments to them,” explained Pandiarajan, who still remains the non-executive chairman of Randstad India.
