The Great Lakes Institute of Management on Aug 11 hosted its 21st convocation ceremony at Chennai at the Mahabalipuram campus for the Class of 2025 comprising of over 700 students from full-time and executive programs, representing sectors such as technology, consulting, finance, manufacturing, public service, and entrepreneurship, in the presence of parents, faculty and guests.
The convocation also honoured academic and leadership achievements of students, with 4 academic toppers, 4 domain toppers for PGDM and 8 domain toppers of PGPM being awarded gold medals for excellence in studies. The graduating batch achieved a 100% pass rate, with women comprising 30% of the cohort.
Member of Parliament and celebrated author Dr. Shashi Tharoor was the Chief Guest. Other dignitaries on the dais included Dr. Debashis Sanyal, Director, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, and Shri. Mohan Lakhamraju, Chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management.
Addressing the graduating class of 2025 of the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, Dr. Shashi Tharoor observed that India has shed its image as a “lumbering elephant” to emerge as a “sleek, agile tiger ready to pounce on the world. “We’re already the world’s fourth largest economy, startups are now ubiquitous, rapidly emerging as a global center, an epicenter of entrepreneurship. India is the world’s third largest startup ecosystem, over 140,000 startups, more than 160 unicorns, dominating sectors like fintech, e-commerce, healthcare and they’re cumulatively valued at more than 500 billion dollars, trading behind only the U.S. and China,” he added.
Calling India “a nation at the threshold of history,” Dr. Tharoor told graduates: “What makes a nation? What constitutes it? Is it economic gains, GDP numbers? Is it military achievements? Is it political and technological capital? Or is it just the people, the citizens? Why is it that the world’s most innovative and developed nations aren’t merely determined by their tech parks, their capital pockets or the strength of their numbers but by their investments in good governance, in gender equity, in social welfare and in the overall well-being of their people? In other words to build a nation that’s industrious, innovative and financially bountiful, the nation must invest in its people.”
“From Zoho to Zomato, from Guard Deco to CRED, legions of Indian unicorns have risen to tower over our economy. Our tech landscape has ushered in a new era where digital public infrastructure is providing remarkable free of charge services to the public and not just nationally, we’ve started making those changes globally as well with facilities like the United Payments Interface now being shared with dozens of developing countries as a model of inclusive growth”, he added.
While celebrating India’s achievements, from the Mars Orbiter mission to its leadership in space technology, Dr. Tharoor cautioned that millions still live below the poverty line. He said, “We’re moving forward as a global leader, we’re charting a new course of international cooperation. But we still have millions of people who are living below our poverty line, hence, better governance is essential. In this era of the ‘new world disorder,’ marked by global instability and Trumpian disruption, you are graduating at a time of both turbulence and extraordinary possibility.”
Dr. Tharoor cautioned that in a rapidly changing and divided world, it is important to have a clear vision for the future while confronting the hard realities at home. “In a world shifting as this it’s more important than ever that we know with startling clarity what our future must look like. To develop our nation first we must understand the disconcerting ground reality surrounding it. We are living in a world in which societies are increasingly fractured but questions of identity and ideology appear to be driving us farther away from each other, where war and conflict are dominating our headlines again,” he added.
Closing on an optimistic note, Dr. Tharoor said to the students, “It’s predicted that by 2034 roughly 80 percent of the workforce in the world will be millennials, Gen Z and their successors. In other words, you will become the backbone of the organizations and communities that run the globe. You my dear graduates are the new leaders of tomorrow. You must tirelessly endeavor to make a difference to improve our country’s infrastructure, to boost digital connectivity and reversing the terrible income inequality plaguing us and to promote lasting financial inclusion. Only then will we arrive at the glorious tomorrow we so fervently dream of.”
Congratulating the graduates, Dr. Debashis Sanyal, Director of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, said: “Citing Swami Vivekananda’s words, ‘Youth is the best time – the way you utilise this period will decide the nature of coming years’, I urge you to invest these formative years in building not just careers, but character and contribution.”
