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By: Anupama Mathew (2012-14 Batch)
Forming RCBS Alumni - UAE Chapter
Dubai is a very busy place and it’s tough to catch up with friends. I came to Dubai around September 2016, after my marriage. One evening I was browsing through my old pics on FB and missing those golden days, and I thought why not have a classmates get together as it had been some days since we met. I contacted Naveed Anjum, my PGDM classmate, who was also in Dubai and suggested the get together plan. As we talked on the plan, it struck us that it might make more sense to broaden the idea and make it Dubai based RCBS Alumni Meet rather than focusing on a single batch. So we called up our classmates to explore the idea. It was Rameez, Ashish and Krishnanunni (all 3 were 2012-14 batch) who helped us take this ahead from that planning point.
Formation Phase
We started with a whatsapp group on July 10th with the 5 of us from 2012-14 batch and Sunaina from 2014-16 batch (Mrs.Naveed). We fixed a target date of Aug 4th2017 for the Meet and all of us started our hunt for Rajagirians in UAE. We asked our juniors and seniors to help us connect to their batchmates and others they knew. We also got great support and assistance from college through Dr.Manoj Mathew. We personally called up each new contact -working as well as jobseekers and newcomers to Dubai - and invited them to the first get-together of the UAE RCBS Alumni on Aug 4th.
Event Planning Phase
Naveed, Krishnanunni, Rameez, Ashish and I meet next on July 21st and discussed on how to move ahead with event planning. Naveed and Sunaina took up the venue finding, buffet menu planning and hall decoration part, Rameez took up the transportation, giveaway mugs and momento part, Krishnanunni the backdrop design and printing part and Ashish offered to handl the finance side. It was almost like we were back to our INFLORE preparation days! We even contacted few companies for sponsorship and giveaways, to make the event bit more colourful. And that was a great success. Four companies sponsored the event with vouchers and giveaways for all.
Great support from College from the very beginning
We used to update Dr. Manoj Mathew about the planning and he gave us confidence and strength by supporting from college. He linked us to Dr. Injodey, who supported and said yes the meet will be considered official and Dr. Manoj Mathew will represent the college on their behalf for the event.
The Big RCBS Network
We planned this event considering a small crowd of 30-40 persons. But, as the days passed, the numbers kept increasing. Twenty four days after the group creation, and the day just before the event, we were so happy to see that there were 100 members in our group and among them 71 members confirmed their participation for the event! We were elated and as well as tense.
Successful Launch of RCBS UAE Alumni Chapter
So finally on 2017 August 4th evening, we all gathered and Dr. Manoj Mathew inaugurated the RCBS Alumni Association U. A. E Chapter. The air was filled with nostalgia and hugging and smiles and laughter and we all were so happy to meet our RCBS family members for the first time. There were Rajagirians from 2002 to 2016 Batch. It was more like a family meet.
We selected the association office bearers for the year 2017-2018.
President: Glisha Gleetus 2006
Secretary: Nishanth 2006
Vicepresident: Anupama 2014
Treasurer : Hari 2007
Executive committee : One from each batch
Jeremy 2005
Sajid 2008
Giju 2009
Sherin 2010
Shad 2011
Rithu Rajan 2012
Jithu 2013
Denish 2015
Sunaina 2016
Special executive additional members : Naveed, Krishnanunni, Ashish and Rameez from 2014 Batch.
Aim of this Group in UAE
- Strengthen the RCBS Alumni Network
- Help each other in career building
- Help the newbies in job seeking by job leads and references.
- Maintain a directory of companies we work for, along with their products and services.
- Be clients, suppliers or mentors for each other.
- Assist the RCBS placement cell by linking them to international companies thereby improving placement opportunities.
you can contact Anupama at anupama.mathew58@gmail.com