EThames Business School (EBS) in Hyderabad recently launched the Teen Corporate Leadership Challenge.
This leadership competition for adolescents was created to expose schoolchildren to corporate leadership and business thinking at a young age.
TCLC, designed as an experiential leadership and business immersion program, is a first-of-its-kind inter-school career-readiness project for school and plus-two students, a press release by the College stated.
Under the programme, participants roleplayed as CEOs (Chief Executive Officers), CFOs (Chief Financial Officers), CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers), CTOs (Chief Technology Officers), and CHROs (Chief Human Resource Officers) and were made to face realistic business simulations.
Students made strategic decisions under pressure, evaluated business problems, offered ideas, worked in teams, and got structured feedback from industry professionals.
“Leadership is no longer a skill to be learned after graduation. It must be nurtured early, and TCLC is our effort to start that journey at the school level,” said Kali Prasad Gadiraju, Chairman, EThames Business School.
Addressing the initiative's bigger goal, Gadiraju stated that TCLC was created to raise early knowledge of corporate career options, particularly as India develops as the world's Global Capability Centre (GCC) capital.
“The career landscape has changed, but our guidance systems have not. While engineering and medicine remain important, today’s world needs leaders who can think strategically, communicate effectively, collaborate, and solve complex problems — skills that cannot be automated,” he said.
The challenge was accessible to Telangana students in grades 8 through 12. Over 3,000 students from more than 30 government and private schools competed in the preliminary stages, with 300 shortlisted for the finals and 12 emerging as Teen Corporate Leaders.
The winners of this year's challenge were Saanvi Mahakala (The Vista School) as Teen CEO and Teen CHRO, Mohammed Adil Raza (The Vista School) as Teen CFO, B. Sai Vaidehi Reddy (Gyanville School) as Teen CMO, and Anirwin (St Andrews School) as Teen CTO.
VV Laxmi Narayana, IPS (Retd), was also present at the competition as its Chief Guest.