Bilkul Online
Ahmedabad, Oct 06 : The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) successfully concluded its flagship management symposium, The Red Brick Summit (TRBS) 2025, after three days of intense competition and intellectual exchange. TRBS 2025 was inaugurated on October 3, 2025, by Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA. Held from October 3-5, 2025, the summit centered its activities around the theme: “Days of Disruption”.
TRBS 2025 demonstrated its massive scale receiving over 20,000 registrations across all competitions and workshops on the Unstop platform, while hosting an overall on-campus participation of around 500 attendees. Underscoring its expanded global footprint, students from the newly-opened IIMA Dubai campus also participated in the speaker sessions and workshops remotely via the online mode.
Visionary Voices: Navigating the Days of Disruption
The speaker series at TRBS 2025 challenged attendees to rethink strategy and leadership in a time of constant flux, with a wide range of sessions across the three days.
Day 1 featured a focus on market strategy and political consultancy. Manish Chhabra, Chairman, Hygienic Research Institute Pvt. Ltd, provided a blueprint for growth by sharing the strategies behind building dominant brands and achieving mark
et leadership in the competitive FMCG sector. The day concluded with insights from Robbin Sharrma, Founder-Director of ShowTime Consulting, an engineer and MBA graduate, who brought strategy, innovation, and people leadership from his decade-plus career. Sharrma, who co-founded Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) and has been at the heart of India’s most impactful campaigns, spoke on his extensive experience in political campaign management.
Day 2 focused on resilience and the future of intelligence. Mr. Pankaj Singh, Former DG, BSF, former Dy NSA, delivered a masterclass on high-stakes leadership and crisis strategy, drawing on his defence sector experience to discuss “White Spaces in Grey Zones”. The day concluded with a talk by Mr. Rohan Choudhary, SVP & GM of Glance AI Labs, who gave a deep dive into the “Future of Intelligence”, exploring the cutting-edge applications of AI and the next big shifts in digital consumer engagement.
Day 3 culminated the summit with a focus on global technology, policy, and corporate legacy. A high-powered panel on “The Future is Cloud and Global Growth!” featured Mr. Swapan Johri, President, Growth Markets at HCLTech, and Mr. Prabhakar Appana, SVP & Global Head of AWS Business Unit. They provided insights on scaling technology services and navigate global markets. The critical panel, “Where Geopolitics Meets Investment”, featured IIMA alumnus Mr. Varun Jhaveri, Managing Partner, Evernile, and Mr. Aditya Raj Kaul, Senior Executive Editor, NDTV. The discussion highlighted how global security and conflict reporting directly impact investment strategies and economic policy. The day concluded with Mr. Mithun Chittilappilly, Managing Director of V-Guard Industries, who shared the inspiring “V-Guard Story!”, detailing his strategic scaling, successful IPO navigation, and the unique challenges of building a robust enterprise from a family legacy.
Cutting-Edge Workshops and Masterclasses
The summit featured the following numerous specialised workshops, providing deep, hands-on learning tailored to the age of disruption:
- Design Thinking: Amit Karna, a faculty member in the Strategy Area at IIMA, guided the attendees through transforming ambiguity into insight by using an approach that sparks creativity and builds solutions that truly matter.
- Unboxing Consulting: Led by Pratik Ranjan, Principal, BCG, this session focused on decoding the consulting toolkit, frameworks, and core communication strategies.
- Storytelling through Poetry and Sound Design: This unique workshop featured musician Baan G and Vidhaat Raman (Oscar-winning Sound Designer), who explored how to craft sonic narratives and use audio to shape emotions.
- Retail Investing Core: This workshop, sponsored by Canara Bank, provided the latest insights on investments and financial growth to help participants future-proof their money decisions.
- Write Code, Make Art: An Introduction to Algorithmic Arts: Featuring Abhinay Khoparzi, this session explored the intersection of technology and creativity, showing how lines of code can generate stunning, disruptive forms of visual and sonic art.
- The Creator-AI Disruption in Marketing: This session focused on how AI is rewriting the rules of influencer marketing, blending innovation and tech-driven disruption.
The Apex of Management Competition
TRBS 2025 hosted the final rounds of several highly-competitive challenges:
- The flagship product management test, Product Wizards, was presented by EXL, tackling live product management challenges that tested strategic vision.
- Strategy and diplomacy were tested in the Gathbandhan challenge, which was supported by SBI, where participants formed alliances and navigated conflicts.
- The Armageddon competition served as the high-stakes consulting faceoff, while the Innovability challenge focused on reimagining workplace inclusivity.
- Core disciplines were tested in the FinDisrupt fintech challenge, Kotler’s Conundrum for marketing mastery, and the OpStrat operational expertise challenge.
- The summit also featured social impact competitions like Sustain 3.0 and Parivarthan.
Beyond the marquee events, TRBS 2025 was also a vibrant celebration of creativity and community. Informal and engagement-driven sessions like GraffITtu, the campus art jam; Can You Sell This?, an impromptu marketing challenge; and A Day at IIMA, which gave visiting participants a taste of life at India’s premier management institute; added colour and connection to the days of disruption. The iconic TRBS Quiz brought together trivia enthusiasts from across the country, while open-air music sessions, stand-up acts, and dance circles kept the campus buzzing well into the night. The infectious energy, laughter, and camaraderie truly captured the essence of The Red Brick Summit, a confluence of intellect, innovation, and joy. The summit concluded with a high-energy Classical Dance x DJ fusion performance at the CR Lawns on the final evening. (photo by IIMA)