Jayakumar Ramdass, Director of Mahendra Pumps was announced as the newly elected President of The Coimbatore Management Association (CMA) recently during the association’s 65th Annual General Meeting. The Covai Mail spoke with him regarding CMA’s future focus and its other plans.
Future Focus:
When asked whether the association will highlight any specific business-angle in the coming days under his presidency, Jayakumar said “majority of companies in Coimbatore are family-run organization. I have plans to showcase the successful companies of our Covai that are run by friends and not by family members.”
“The beginnings of friends’ run business will be very different from a family-run business; for instance, when two or three friends start a company, raising the needed capital will be a huge challenge. They can’t easily get loans, their entire journey would be unique. We feel that this types of business organizations in Coimbatore definitely needs to be highlighted. We are in plans to identify them.”
Monday Musings:
CMA’s Monday Musings is a very successful weekly meeting in which a renowned speaker from the industry or any varied field will speak on current and relevant business topics on every Monday. From the start of the lockdown to the present, this program is held virtually but Jayakumar said that if all things go normal as they are, the program may be held as a physical event from April 2021.
New Office Bearers:
R.Varadarajan, Whole Time Director, Rajshree Sugars Ltd, and Ravi, CFO, Roots Industries India Ltd , Nitin Devaraj, Raveendran, GM – IT of Sakthi Finance have been elected as the Vice Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer respectively.
The newly elected president said that all the office bearers are seasoned management personalities in their respective domain, and he said with certainty that they will add great strength to the association.
It must be mentioned here that Jayakumar himself has held several key positions in various industrial associations in Coimbatore – he was the Past Chairman of CII Coimbatore, Past President of SIEMA and Round Table, and the current president of COINDIA.
Prashanth Subramanian onboard:
Prashanth Subramanian, the Co-Founder of Quadrasystems is Jayakumar’s predecessor. Regarding him, Jayakumar said “ Prashanth is a very energetic person who took CMA to the next level. Inclusiveness is his hall-mark.”
“He prepared us and many other in various associations to optimally use virtual platforms for holding association meetings when our schedules were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We started going virtual in April itself before others were thinking about it.”
“He is an innovative person. 2 years of his presidency will remain very important in CMA’s history .He is in our board as the Immediate Past President. ” Jayakumar also added that Past Secretary Krishnakumar’s contribution also added significant value to the association and he had been of great support to Prashanth.
Nurturing Managers & Students:
CMA focuses on providing entrepreneurship development, offering skill development to different managers in the organizations (Finance Manager, Purchase Manager, Production Manager etc.), and the association concentrates on widening the learning curve of students in Management Institutions.
Jayakumar said CMA plays a crucial role in empowering students with knowledge of what is happening in the real business world and how are business-related challenges effectively managed and addressed. “Students are the one who are going to become Managers, Entrepreneurs and Management Faculty. Our programs will give them valuable insights.”