H. E. Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India hosted a reception for Essec Business School alumni and students on May 8, 2019. The reception at the Residence of France, New Delhi, brought together 50 students of the Urban Economics Chair and 50 Indian alumni and students set to join Essec in the coming months.

Ambassador Ziegler in his speech shared that the young generation is one of the main focuses of the bilateral relations between India and France, and was a marked priority during President Emmanuel Macron's visit to India in 2018. The number of students choosing France has more than doubled, going up from 4000 to 10000 in a span of three years. Ambassador Ziegler was also generous in his praise of Essec Alumni in India. He mentioned that the Essec India Alumni paved the way for future generations of Indian students coming to France, that their successful careers spoke volumes about the excellence of ESSEC, and that the members of the ESSEC Alumni community have now become ambassadors of studies in France.

The alumni meet was preceded by a panel discussion for the students of the Essec Urban Economics Chair, with three Essec entrepreneurs: Ms Ranjita Ravi (EV startup - Orxa Energies), Mr Durgesh Maru (solar energy startup - SunInfra Energies), and Mr Padmanabhan Balakrishnan (ride-sharing app – Vogo). This session was moderated by Daniel Dobricean, student of Urban Economics Chair, Essec.

Deputy Dean of Essec Asia-Pacific, Prof. Aarty Ramaswami was also present for this evening. In her speech, Aarty spoke about various strategic initiatives at Essec.  Essec Alumni from across promotions and cities across India came for this event. Henri de Rocca Serra, the Representative of Essec Alumni Asia Pacific nominated Sriram Raghavan as the President of Essec Alumni in India. He also nominated city heads, Harjeev Sabherwal for Chennai and Hyderabad, Ranjita Ravi for Bengaluru, Alexandre Person for Cochin, Durgesh Maru for Mumbai, Debayan Kumar Chandra for Kolkata, Chirag Gupta for Jaipur and Radhika Gupta for Delhi. Below are some images.

This event was one of a kind. Over 50 of the 120-strong Essec network in India registered for the event and almost everyone turned up. Another remarkable fact was that one in every four alumni present at the event was an entrepreneur. This spoke strongly about the quality of graduates emerging from Essec, and it is a testament to the faculty and staff of Essec.