In accordance to the MOU of Indian and NZ government, to promote bilateral trade, within the two nations, the first New Zealand India Business Forum was successfully held at Hamilton, New Zealand in the month of November, 2012 and it went ahead as building a platform for the academicians and corporate fraternity of both the countries to come together and understand the nuances of doing businesses at each other’s territories. While the first Business forum, hosted at Hamilton, focused largely on channelizing NZ investments to India and developing a better understanding of Indian markets and business practises, the 2nd forum was proposed to be a platform for exploration of mutual and reciprocal opportunities in chosen areas of economic development.

N.R. Institute of Business Management (GLS MBA) hosted 2nd New Zealand-India Business Forum on December 14, 2013 in association with University of Waikato, New Zealand and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Guest of Honour for the event was Mrs. Jan Henderson, High Commissioner of New Zealand, amidst the presence of various dignitaries consisting of Shri Sudhir Nanavati, Executive Vice President, GLS, Shri Devang Nanavati, Honorary Secretary, GLS, Prof. Geof Holmes, Chairperson, India Regional Group, University of Waikato, the convenor of the forum from New Zealand: Dr. Asad Mohsin, Director, Institute of Business Research, University of Waikato, the convenors of the forum from India: Dr. Hitesh Ruparel, & Dr. Rajesh

Asrani, N.R. Institute of Business Management and Ms. Chandni Kapadia from Gujarat Law Society. In order to give justice to these broad ranging themes, the forum featured various key-note addresses and panel discussions.

Mr. Nilesh Purey, Vice President at GIFT City, Savan Godiawala, Sr. Director – Deloitte Touche, Prof. John Gibson, University of Waikato, Mr. Prashanta Mukherjee, Director India Horizons Limited, New Zealand, Mr. Rohit Swarup, the Chairman of International research foundation and founder director of Xplora Designs and Future Explored, Mr. NV Gautam, Gallagher, New Zealand and Dr. Surya Pandey, Institute of Business Research, University of Waikato participated in Colloquium on “Growing Business Opportunities India and New Zealand”.

The next session focused on Opportunities in Education Sector and the dignitaries of the Colloquium were Dr. Bradford Morse, Dean, School of Law, University of Waikato Dr. Vijai Kattiyar, Dean, National Institute of Design, India and Dr. Hemant Trivedi, Director, PDPU, India.

Prof Shyam Lodha - Professor and chairman, Marketing Department at Southern Connecticut State University addressed the key session on “Opportunities for India NZ Business”.

Dr. Asad Mohsin, University Waikato, Dr. Sandeep Kulshreshta, Professor, Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management and Mr. Param Shah from FICCI participated in the colloquium on “Mutual Opportunities in Tourism”.

Prof. Jay Mitra, University of Essex, United Kingdom addressed the key session on “Building Entrepreneurial Competencies”.

The next session focused on “Information Technologies and Communication- Opportunities and Challenges” and the dignitaries were Prof. Geof Holmes, University of Waikato, Mr. Tarun Kanji, Director and Global Chief Financial Officer at Pinger Group, New Zealand and Mr. Pankaj Shah, President at Gujarat Electronic and Software Industry Association.

Dr. Jayanti Ravi, Commissioner of Technical Education, Gujarat delivered the key note address on ‘Education Scenario in India.

The last session of the Business Forum focused on “Dynamics of Agribusiness Dairy Industry”. The dignitaries in this Colloquium were Dr. Frank Scrimgeour, Unviersity of Waikato, Dr. Mustafa Farouk, Sr. Scientist, Ag- Research, New Zealand, Mr. Parag Desai, Executive Director, Waghbakri Tea, Mr. RS Sodhi, MD at Amul and Mr. Bimlesh Singh, Director Flourish Pure Foods.

The event also witnessed the release of book ‘Exploiting Global Boundaries: Managing Business Transitions’ edited by Dr. Hitesh Ruparel, Director, N.R. Institute of Business Management and Dr. Rajesh Asrani, Professor, Gujarat Law Society.