In 2005, the vision of a few budding managers led to the formation of Interest Group in Food and Agri-business (IGFAB) as a reflection of agri-business management in Indian Institute of Management Lucknow. From there, the IGFAB went on to be the face of IIM Lucknow in the domains of agri-business, environment and rural management, standing tall as the sole committee on campus to represent IIM Luck
now in these domains. Over the years, the brick and mortar of perseverance and hard work put in by the members, has helped it to build on the foundation. It is the sole initiative in IIM Lucknow offering a platform for the budding managers who are passionate about food & agribusiness sector, irrespective of their educational background. Apart from being in its growth phase, IGFAB promises real time learning experience in all aspects of management to its associates. IGFAB, under the umbrella of IIM Lucknow, acts to disseminate awareness about agri-business, to carve paths for conserving the environment and to diffuse subtle prosperity in rural India by:
• Supporting innovations in agri-business to address the threats viz. food shortage, food wastage, water scarcity, low crop productivity, destructive urbanization etc.
• Promoting entrepreneurs in the field of agribusiness by offering them vital opportunities to showcase their vision through various events
• Generating awareness for relevant environmental issues and their effects on the animals, plants and people
• Creating platforms for an elusive learning across streams viz. rural finance, rural marketing, rural retail, farm management, business sustainability, IT applications, microfinance, commodity trading etc.
• Campaigning for sustainable agriculture to target the food security of India, thereby increasing the contribution of agriculture to GDP. IGFAB plans to conduct, a food retailing event with participation from over 2000 students and many top corporates, the first of its kind in India.
• Prospective collaborations by joining hands with leading NGOs & other socially responsible national & international organizations to fight climate change and work towards promoting green strategies. IGFAB organizes events in association with WWF & Greenpeace to raise the voice of IIML community against global warming and its adverse effects. In association with ‘Manfest’, IGFAB conducts C- Trader based on the theme of carbon credits. In partnership with Infosys, IGFAB plans to conduct an event on Sustainability Auditing this year.
• Making prosperous ‘Rural India’ through exploring the untapped potential via rural finance, rural marketing, supply chain management etc., thereby empowering the population. Events like ‘VALORACION’ lead the way. In addition, IGFAB tries to spread its core ideologies by way of its annual magazine ‘Sylvan’ which is an online initiative circulated across the entire premier B-schools in India. Log on to http://www.igfabiiml.com/ to get detailed information about the group and its activities.
