IIFM alumni have unparalleled experience in a variety of roles in sectors that are emerging as one of exciting employers of young professionals. Climate change, ESG strategy, sustainable agriculture, and circular economy are some of the sectors that are a great fit for the passion and training that IIFM graduates have got in their formative years. Alumni can contribute significantly to improving IIFM students’ exposure and skillsets by providing them mentoring support and guiding them in taking the training and inputs provided by IIFM faculty to the next level.
IIFM students have already been reaching out to alumni on an individual basis but a structured and focussed engagement with alumni in the above context was not there. IIFM faculty and a group of alumni (the same group who has been publishing the IIFMight in Focus series on this site) have been working for quite some time to address this issue and finally this month the IIFM Consulting Club was launched under the aegis of Students Affairs Council.
The Consulting Club at the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) is an initiative to provide a platform and guide students who are aspiring for careers in Consulting sector, especially in impact and sustainability consulting. This club will leverage IIFM alumni network to bring together the senior practitioners to provide mentoring and industry exposure to IIFM students through workshops, mentoring sessions and expert lectures.
The discussions will include different dimensions of impact investing, sustainability reporting, climate finance, energy finance, nature-based solution to climate change, tech for impact etc. One of the key focus areas of this club is to identify the emerging themes and trends in the Impact and Sustainability space and work with IIFM faculty to build the capacity of IIFM students for the opportunities in these sectors.
The club will conduct 90-120 minute sessions every month which will be curated and designed by the senior IIFM Alumni mentors and faculty. These sessions will be designed with an objective to improve key skills (solving case studies, business writing, critical thinking/problem solving, presentations etc) that employers in these sectors are looking for.
The inaugural session of the consulting club was conducted this month on 4th of December and saw a wide-ranging participation from IIFM students. The first session was aimed at knowing the students and setting up the agenda and work plan for the club. While Dr. Advait and Dr. Manmohan Yadav highlighted the context and objective of the club, Santosh Singh (PFM 2004-06, Director, Intellecap) and Sreyamsa Bairiganjan (PFM 2006-08, the World Bank) provided students with insights on sustainability consulting, opportunities in this space and provided critical inputs and guidance to students on how to prepare for the opportunities in these sectors.
