IIMBueX 2021: IIM Bangalore Alumni Association’s -Donate a Vaccine – an initiative launched in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

India’s premier B-school alumni from IIM Bangalore pledge their support to donate 100,000 vaccines to reach the country’s urban and rural poor, as part of their Recovery, Rehabilitation and Prevention plans for Covid-19.

On Saturday 29 May, over 1000 alumni of IIMB from across India and the world attended the first ever virtual edition of IIMBueX, a leadership conclave organised by the alumni, for the alumni. The conclave was led by keynote addresses by the Honourable Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman & Chairperson Board of Governors of IIMB Dr. Devi Shetty, with a focus on not only Recovery but also Rehabilitation & Prevention.

At the event, IIM Bangalore Alumni Association (IIMBAA) unveiled an innovative fundraising initiative, to vaccinate close to 100,000 people from the underprivileged sections of society. This initiative was launched by Dr. Devi Shetty in the presence of Honourable Finance Minister of India, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman and Professor Rishikesha Krishnan, Director IIMB.

Lauding the efforts of IIMBAA, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said, “this initiative (donate a vaccine) comes at the right time and such an effort from the alumni of IIM Bangalore is emulatable; something that every institution in India can learn from.” The Minister also drew attention to the myriad Covid-19 response initiatives that the government of India has been meticulously planning on a war footing, for improvement and sustainability of healthcare infrastructure, not just in the metro cities, but creating a road map to ensure that this reaches every block. She also added, “we must all join together to deliver a three-pronged approach of ‘rebooting, reimagining and reconnecting’ India, and that technology will play a bigger role, now more than ever, for us to realise these ambitions across all sectors, be it healthcare, education, agriculture or finance.

IIMB Director Rishikesha Krishnan, welcomed the Honourable Minister and said that, “IIM Bangalore has always stood strong with its alumni community and I am pleased with this innovative Covid response drive of Donate a vaccine. The drive will help one lakhunderprivileged people in India get faster access to a paid vaccine at just INR 1000 per jab, and I am delighted that our alumni will be contributing towards this initiative.”

Dr. Devi Shetty, Chair IIMB Board of Governors & Founder Narayana Health, spoke at the launch and said that it is not just India’s villages, but a large section of India’s urban poor is also deeply affected by the pandemic. He remarked, “with more than 70% of India’s non-formal workforce out of jobs, this initiative from IIMB alumni is the need of the hour and by providing a paid vaccine, we will be able to ensure that a significant number of underprivileged people will get the first dose faster.” He also added that this will only bolster the marathon efforts that are already being taken by central and state governments.

Harish Mittal, President IIMBAA, said that there are over 25,000 alumni of IIMB across the world and reaching the 100,000-vaccine target was not too far away. He expressed his profuse thanks to all alumni and urged everyone to come together as one IIMBAA to Build Back Better.

IIMBueX concluded with a power-packed panel discussion, with Dr. Gagandeep Kang, a clinical scientist from CMC Vellore, Professor Chinmay Tumbe, author of, “The age of the pandemics”, and Dr. Ajay Nair, CEO of Swasth Digital Health Foundation. The panel shared their views on pandemic response, building resilience, financial & technology pivots and innovation to face the Covid-19 crisis, which has threatened lives and livelihoods in ways that we perhaps never imagined.

To Donate a vaccine, please write to iimbaa.support[at]iimb[dot]ac[dot]in or click here to make your contribution (for digital media publications)https://iimbaa.org/donateavax/

About IIMBue & IIMBueX

IIMBue (www.iimbue.com) is a global Leadership Conclave organized by IIM Bangalore Alumni Association. IIMBueX is an online avatar of IIMBue which is envisioned to take IIMBue to global level and increase reach to all IIMB Alumni spread across the globe. Co-organized by Bangalore and Singapore Chapters of IIM Bangalore Alumni Association, the First special edition of llMBueX was held on May 29, 2021 from 4:00PM to 5:30PM IST and was attended by 1000+ IIMB Alumni.