I just arrived from an extraordinary trip from the city of Cologne. Apart from housing some wonderful museums and giving the world it’s water (That’s Eau de Cologne), it’s been host to one of the largest student run conferences in the world called the World Business Dialogue.

I was amazed by the level of professionalism the organizers showed. The speaker list was also fabulous. I would’ve liked had there been more interaction between the speakers and the students, but it seemed that most of them operated on tight schedules.

I was also happy at them embracing social entrepreneurship. This wave of thinking is still at a very nascent stage in Europe but its still heartening to see more students wanting to get involved in the social sector.

Another thing I noticed was that the German companies have started hiring big time. Though if you want to work in Europe, be sure to equip yourself with at least 1 foreign language apart from English if you want to work on the client side.

Coming to the educational scenario, things are pretty laid back in Europe with many students pursuing 2-3 degrees and taking a year off in between them. One interesting observation about Germany was that there were no elite institutions (unlike say UK), which doesn’t mean that the standard of education isn’t good, it merely means that the playing field is more leveled. Germany is definitely a very good option for higher education, especially for its emphasis on creativity, something which is lacking in most Indian schools.

Coming back to the conference, I loved it because of the international crowd. Sure there were too many Germans than previous editions, but I enjoyed hanging out with them too and learning amazing things from there such as the complex German digital tax system (Note: The licence fee has to be paid even if the device is not attached or has no immediate capabilities to connect to internet). The lectures/panels should be put up by now, I specially recommend (as will most people at the WBD) you to check out the talk By Robert Wolcott who apart from looking like Quentin Tarantino, spoke on innovation.

Some of the things (apart from many other) I gathered:

• The Germans and most of the western world were severely affected by the recession and most of them are still in the process of recovering.
• Most didn’t see this coming and as some of the CEO of major companies admitted during the panels didn’t have plans in case they were hit with such a scenario, which mean back to the drawing board when the recession came. They were prepared for growth but not for bust.
• One of the major challenges for businesses in the future is going to be maintanence of IT infrastructure. The future is going to be how well you can keep your data real time. No one wants to wait till the evening news.
• Numbers are important but so is recruitment is a major concern. Multi-disciplinary teams are going to become more prevalent. They are much more likely to hire “boy scouts”, whose Indian counter parts I suppose are Quizzers
• Companies need to invest in risk managers to position them better since booms and busts are part of a cycle.

There was very little talk about environmental sustainability with more emphasis on business sustainability. Then there was usual chatter of how one needs to improve customer relations etc etc, you know the drill of how the entire world is a service industry.

They had a forgettable career fair, but the workshops were interesting. On the first day we played the role of consultants, with actual management consultants sitting with us and working on a case for some of the worlds’ future problems. I picked the one of business ecosystems (there were about  to choose from) and it expected us to come up with challenges and solutions to a problems we envisioned will affect the business scenario in 2030. On the second day, the workshop was more of a broadcast with industry folks talking to us about what their company did.

One of the best parts of any conference is the people and this one had some of the more interesting people I have met. I loved how down to earth most of them were and how after a heavy days of attending lectures and workshops you could go downtown to grab a cold one (or many cold ones). It was inspiring to be around people who were involved with so many fascinating projects. While the average age of the WBD delegate was 23 point something, there were the odd 18 year olds who had founded successful human rights organizations, the odd 27 year old who was running three companies and people from South Africa who were interested in obtaining an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship and them going back to their homeland and bringing about change.

The rest of the days were filled with city rallies, beerfests, visits to the museums and hanging outwith friends in pubs where everyone knew your name.

I would definitely recommend anyone to apply to the World Business Dialogue!

Enjoying lunch with friends from all over the world

On top the bridge overlooking the Rhein River. There were over a 10 thousand of these on the grill.

Latino lover

On one of the city rallies with the folks.

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com

Yep you heard it right. Just got the news that I have been selected as a student delegate for the 13th World Business Dialogue at the University of Cologne in Germany, one of the most prestigious student symposiums in the world.

So how is this one different from most of the symposiums out there?

Well for one, the speaker line is simply mind blowing. Yes I know that is what the brochure of every student symposium would say, but don’t take my word for it, check it out your self. Another important thing to look for in these student symposiums is the legacy and this one sure has a great one, 25 years strong.

This years theme is Crisis Demands: The End to Anything Goes”

The efforts demanded by crises are tremendous. Especially in the current global economic crisis this fact became obvious. The 13th World Business Dialogue wants to portray and discuss important questions and tasks dealing with this topic.

The conference will deal with the dynamic status of our world today, what has changed in the way we look at businesses, what needs to be done.

The application process was pretty simple but I suppose that made it all the more competitive. I am told the applicant pool was 1400 and about 300 were selected finally, which is a lower selection ratio as compared to other equally awesome symposiums such as St Gallens (whose application is also open, in case you’re interested).

The trip is in mid March(16-18), which also means that I don’t miss out on BITS Pilani’s tech fest APOGEE and the TEDxPilani, an event I am personally involved with and am really excited to attend.

Finally I would like to thank my buddy Abhishek Nayak, who has possibly made the largest impact on me here and is one of the coolest and smartest chaps I have come across during my college years.

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com

This Summer.

Go on a road trip.

Get your hands dirty.

Why a road trip? Because it’s about being on your own and exploring the hinterland. It’s about surviving with approximately 2 USD per day. It’s about realizing how your skills can benefit  others.

Why getting your hands dirty? Because when you meet changemakers, the best way to truly understand the impact they are making, one has to taste the broth they’re cooking. One has to interact with the communities they’re working with.

It’s about bringing untold tales from the grassroots. It’s about creating a more responsible class of citizens who are socially conscious.

This summer, embark on a road trip, and you might just discover something new. Yourself.

Heard enough? So what are you waiting for? Seal the deal HERE.

Any other queries? Contact me at rishabhkaul at gmail dot in, or team at grassroutes dot in

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com

About 50 people have already asked me about my trip to Copenhagen and I have yet to give them a proper answer. I merely say something to the tone of “Hmm it was pretty cold” or “We didn’t really get that great a deal, I am sure you can read all about it in the papers”. The reason for that is because (and my buddy Abhishek will ditto me on this) Copenhagen was a very disappointing meet.

And on more than one grounds.

It had human rights violations, with the police capturing and beating up people, often for no fault of theirs.

One of the major issues for debate this time was the expulsion of NGO and civil society during the 2nd week of the conference. Rumors are that this was done so that Obama would face no difficulty when he was inside the center. It got so bad that there was an instance when R K Pachauri had to wait outside the Bella Center because the UN authorities wouldn’t let him in. (I had to confirm that twice before publishing it).

One interesting impact this had on the developing nations was that they lost a vital voice inside the Bella Center.  Why? Well Copenhagen is an atrociously expensive city and I suppose that was a major reason why there was such little representation from the global south at COP. And so that made it all the more important for the NGO to propagate their message inside the center and put pressure on the negotiators to come up with a fair legally binding treaty.

So much money was spent on the conference ( a number going to hundreds of millions of dollars viz an average per delegate expenditure of 15000 USD) and yet we didn’t reach a conclusion. Well, sort of. What we finally got was something weird. A politically binding accord. Check this WRI piece on what it actually means

Ah, now doesn’t that put us straight into the crux of the issue. Everybody wanted a treaty. Finally what we got was much lesser than what the science demands. 2 degree rise in temperature, billions short of the funding that’s recommended and a deal that isn’t even legally binding.

There were of course other issues whose answers will be revealed in due course of time, such as who will get how much money from the adaptation fund. That will be a critical question as far as I am concerned.

There are decisions to be taken but time isn’t on our side. India has already rolled out a massive solar project earlier this year and it will be interesting to see how that come along. At the same time we have also been making nuclear deals with US, Canada, Russia.

The talks at the Fresh Air Center (media center belonging to Tcktcktck, who funded my trip) were amazing. We had Andy Revkin, UN officials, Yes Men, Climate Action Network (CAN) guys come to speak. CAN told us few days before itself that there would be a massive campaign to spread the propaganda of China (and maybe India) being the major culprit behind the failure at Copenhagen, to take some of the blame off USA [here is one example, though I am not doubting Lynas' credibility, I am merely saying that such an opinion was always there on the table]. Truth be told, its not as simple as that. There are too many parties involved, each trying to ensure that they aren’t caught on the wrong side of the deal.

It seems clear that the biggest issue here isn’t a political or an economic issue, but is an issue of trust. Apart from that there’s also the issue of big oil spending lots of big bucks, but that’s another story.

Also check out this excellent post by Dan Kammen who writes about the ups and downs that he experienced during the COP (he left Copenhagen after the first week).

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com

I am back home from a fruitful trip to Copenhagen (or Hopenhagen or Flopenhagen; depending on your convenience). I didn’t get as close to the action as I would have liked to (accreditation issues) but still managed to meet some pretty interesting people and generate some food for thought.

It also means that I have tons of compiling of stuff to do and rearrange my notes into meaningful blog posts.

But homecoming also means a visit to the local bookstore. However, since I live in a bylane (or gully), the local bookstore has never existed for me. A trip to Odyssey landed me with the following winter reads.

Photo courtesy State Library and Archives of Florida

Maximum City: Bombay lost & found (Suketu Mehta): I have heard so much about this book. It’s one of those books always lying on the bookshelves waiting to be picked by some inquisitive soul. Finally, it was a review by indie musician Uday Benegal and a reading of a paragraph on an age-old Indian cuss word that made me pick up the book. The book is about Bombay, a city living on the edge, filled up to its brim.

Blessed Unrest: How the largest social movement in history is restoring grace, justice and beauty to the world (Paul Hawken): The book is about how the civil society is changing the world as we know it today. From every nook an corner concerned citizens are forming associations to save the planet, to seek justice, to talk about the abuses of free markets fundamentalism. As Hawken puts it, there is no single name to this movement, no unifying ideology, but it’s there and you are probably a part of it.

Welcome to the Urban Revolution: How cities are changing the world (Jeb Brugman):  In this book Jeb argues that the greatest challenge for the 21st century involves in improved city building.  He says that the productivity, economic prosperity and political stability of the nation depends on how they embrace urbanisation.

The Game: Penetrating the secret society of pickup artists (Neil Strauss): He is the original pickup artist. Nuff said.

Changing my mind (Zadie Smith): My bong friend had recommended Zadie Smith’s White Teeth to me last year. I never really got around to purchasing that novel. What I didn manage to purchase though was Smith’s collection of non fiction essays on writing called Changing my Mind. Smith says “When you are first published at a young age, you’re writing grows with you-and in public.  Changing my mind seemed an apt, confessional title to describe this process.”

Free Lunch: Easily Digestible Economics (David Smith): Pop Economics, though hoping to be a better read than Freakonomics.

What we say goes (Noam Chomsky): Disturbing conclusions about US imperialism it seems and what could civil society do about it. Was recommended to me by a close pal.

Liars Poker (Micheal Lewis): This one is supposed to be better than Wall Street. Let’s give it a shot.

India after Gandhi: The history of the world’s largest democracy (Gurcharan Das): I became a fan of Das’ writing after reading India Unbound, which is till date one of my favorite books on India. This is one bulky book and I hope to consume it one gulp at a time.

I am also currently about to finish Cleo Paskal’s Global Warring. The book was gifted to me by Cleo herself (and obviously personally signed) after we got talking at the Fresh Air Center. She was part of a panel discussion in Copenhagen and writes on geopolitics and security. In Global Warring she writes about how environmental concerns will affect global security.

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com

So here’s what’s been happening from my side.

I have started working with an exciting organisation which aims to create a legion of changemakers.

I have started blogging for one of the maverick blogs out there, writing on development through enterprise

And this is by far the most exciting news; I shall be going to Copenhagen to attend the COP15. From there, I shall be writing about how the treaties signed are going to impact the poorest of the poor and how the negotiations are turning out. There has been some talk of perhaps a stand up comedy show from our side, but oh well, will need to work on my material. I am super excited about this opportunity and I would like to thank Nayak and the Tcktcktck’s Fresh Air Center the most for this.

Some other interesting projects in the pipeline too, though its too early to comment on any of those right now (Stealth mode yes yes), will announce at the appropriate time.

In case anyone wants anything from the Danish Land or better still, is planning on attending the conference (in which case we should definitely meet up), do shoot me a mail at rishabhkaul at gmail dot com.

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com

Though I can’t really hand pick the “best” moment from my trip, there are parts which stand out. And meeting Stan Thakaekara was surely one of them. (More about him Here).

When you look at Tribals, the first things that come to your mind are that they are uncivilised, they live on trees, eat leaves, go around strutting, illiterate and so on.

-Stan Thakaekara

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com

So what is Grassroutes?

Grassroutes Fellowship Program sponsors teams of adventurous, passionate young people on their road-trips to discover change-makers at the grassroots and understand first-hand the problems that plague our nation. From their journeys, these social journalists will bring back stories of ideas, inspiration and change, that we believe, will get the rest of us thinking of ways in which we can do our bit.

-Grassroutes Blog

At first glance the fellowship seemed fun and had a certain RDB-esque feel to it, to break free from the shackles of the routine that we’re so used to and just DO something. Grassroutes seemed like just the thing. But as the deadline approached and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that apart from whatever personal gains my team and I might derive out of the fellowship, we have a responsibility to document everything we see and experience, to support the cause that the NGO concerned is fighting for.

We have been mapped to environmentalists in the Nilgiris who are out there to preserve the landscape and wildlife of the Mudhumalai forests. Check this link to learn more about the issue concerned.

As part of the fellowship we will be making a documentary (a social activist’s roadies? Nah), compiling reports and writing tons of articles about the same after spending 10 days on the road and absorbing all that we gather along the way.

Will be come out of this trip as more responsible citizens and bloggers with lesser typos, probably not. But will we give this documentary our best shot (and obviously excel at it) and help spread the word to thousands of people out there, you can count on thatfor sure.

With Grassroutes I am so confident (overconfident?!) that I will have so many stories to tell.

Only recently did we find out that we’re off to down south for our road trip. More about that later in subsequent posts.

Follow our pursuits on

Our Team Blog: hungryfools.grassroutes.in

Twitter: @Hungryfools

As a parting note for this blog post, a person whom I really admire told me, “In fact, you’re living many people’s dream”.

Here’s a team snapshot, I’m the fat guy.

Rishabh Kaul is a rising economics undergraduate at BITS Pilani. Check out his profile at Linkedin or buzz him at rishabhkaul[at]gmail[dot]com