Okay, it is actually Z$100 bn note (Zimbabwe dollars) and not USD. Zimbabwe recently launched this note against its 2.2 Million annual inflation rate (Yes, you heard that right) This is hyperinflation at its worst.
Even this note is barely sufficient to buy a loaf of bread. At present rates, it takes atleast Z$500 bn a day to survive!!!
Read the complete article here
So, if you wanna be a billionaire, go to Zimbabwe and find a job ;)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
In India
This post comes after probably my longest break after I begun blogging last year. Needless to say I was occupied but for different reasons this time.
In June, I was occupied with elective courses which ended on 30th June (with 2 takeaway exams left). On 1st July I left Paris for India and have been in India for 2 weeks now.
Before leaving for India, I was having a really hard time with the trains in Paris - In one week, I encountered delayed trains, cancelled trains and a metro strike. For my last class of Corporate Strategy, it took me almost 2 hours to reach school on a Saturday morning because of an undeclared train strike on RER-B. When I left for India, I thought that I had left my travel woes behind. But that was not meant to be for my misfortune continued. To cut the long story short, after reaching India, I encountered a cancelled domestic flight, an unconfirmed train ticket and it finally took me a 21 hour bus journey (in a non-sleeper coach) to travel from Pune to Bhopal.
After I reached home, I was in for a surprise with the internet connection. In my hometown (Narsinghgarh), I have to use dial-up internet connection which provides data transfer rate of 3-4 kbps (yes, there is no typo). With this speed, I was barely able to check my mails and faced a really hard time accessing the net. There is no broadband facility here. After speaking with multiple vendors (ISPs) and exploring multiple connection modes, I settled with a GPRS enabled internet connection using my phone. Even this does not provide a great speed but it is definitely much better than the dial-up connection and I can do the basic surfing and communicate with people.
I have been in India for 2 weeks now and might stay here till Aug end. During this time, I will be travelling a lot. If any of the prospective HEC participants want to meet me, drop me a line and we can plan something out.
In June, I was occupied with elective courses which ended on 30th June (with 2 takeaway exams left). On 1st July I left Paris for India and have been in India for 2 weeks now.
Before leaving for India, I was having a really hard time with the trains in Paris - In one week, I encountered delayed trains, cancelled trains and a metro strike. For my last class of Corporate Strategy, it took me almost 2 hours to reach school on a Saturday morning because of an undeclared train strike on RER-B. When I left for India, I thought that I had left my travel woes behind. But that was not meant to be for my misfortune continued. To cut the long story short, after reaching India, I encountered a cancelled domestic flight, an unconfirmed train ticket and it finally took me a 21 hour bus journey (in a non-sleeper coach) to travel from Pune to Bhopal.
After I reached home, I was in for a surprise with the internet connection. In my hometown (Narsinghgarh), I have to use dial-up internet connection which provides data transfer rate of 3-4 kbps (yes, there is no typo). With this speed, I was barely able to check my mails and faced a really hard time accessing the net. There is no broadband facility here. After speaking with multiple vendors (ISPs) and exploring multiple connection modes, I settled with a GPRS enabled internet connection using my phone. Even this does not provide a great speed but it is definitely much better than the dial-up connection and I can do the basic surfing and communicate with people.
I have been in India for 2 weeks now and might stay here till Aug end. During this time, I will be travelling a lot. If any of the prospective HEC participants want to meet me, drop me a line and we can plan something out.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Some interesting articles
Found the following articles interesting:
An article in Independent on MBAT
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/mbas-guide/on-your-marks-get-setits-the-mba-tournament-845769.html
Article by David Maister in Consulting Magazine. Some of the points mentioned in this article are really worthwhile
http://www.consultingmag.com/articles/781/1/Advice-to-a-Young-Professional/Advice-to-a-Young-Professional.html
An article in Independent on MBAT
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/mbas-guide/on-your-marks-get-setits-the-mba-tournament-845769.html
Article by David Maister in Consulting Magazine. Some of the points mentioned in this article are really worthwhile
http://www.consultingmag.com/articles/781/1/Advice-to-a-Young-Professional/Advice-to-a-Young-Professional.html
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Elective Courses
Yesterday, I had exams for two of my electives- "Financial Dimensions of Strategic Decisions" and "Economics and Finance of International Business".
Don't get intimidated by the names - the first course was mainly about Corporate Finance and understanding the non-financial dynamics behind financial decisions. This course, taught by Proff Pascal Quiry, has been among the best courses I have had. In each session, we discussed cases which were mostly based on the proff's experience in advising companies in his illustrious career. What made the class more fun was proff's sense of humor and the concept of "Mr/Ms Summary"; the last person in class had to write the summary of the discussions in class and email it to all participants. This meant there was a sudden last minute rush and people trying to outrun each other to enter the class ;)
The second course, by proff Laurent Jacque was about International Finance and taught us about the dillema faced by MNCs while making international financing decisions. It was a very interesting course, by a very senior and knowledgable proff (he has also written a book on foreign exchange risk management). This course was very demanding - I must have spent atleast 50 hours for this course which is quite high considering that an avg elective course is about 18 hours. But, at the end of it, I would say it was completely worth it.
This is the advantage of being in Sep intake. We have much more choice of electives and some great proffs to learn from. Jan intake, does not get this luxury but they have some other advantages.
Things have been steady on the strategy consulting elective. We have been practising case-cracking regularly and will have mock-interviews with real consultants soon. Am really looking forward to it because that would give me an indication about my current level.
Another development here is that some of my classmates will leave HEC for good this week. They will finish their classes for this term here and will go on exchange programs with other schools in next term. I am really sad at the prospect of not seeing them in future classes. Having spent so much time together, it will be really difficult to watch them leave... But I guess C'est la vie....
Don't get intimidated by the names - the first course was mainly about Corporate Finance and understanding the non-financial dynamics behind financial decisions. This course, taught by Proff Pascal Quiry, has been among the best courses I have had. In each session, we discussed cases which were mostly based on the proff's experience in advising companies in his illustrious career. What made the class more fun was proff's sense of humor and the concept of "Mr/Ms Summary"; the last person in class had to write the summary of the discussions in class and email it to all participants. This meant there was a sudden last minute rush and people trying to outrun each other to enter the class ;)
The second course, by proff Laurent Jacque was about International Finance and taught us about the dillema faced by MNCs while making international financing decisions. It was a very interesting course, by a very senior and knowledgable proff (he has also written a book on foreign exchange risk management). This course was very demanding - I must have spent atleast 50 hours for this course which is quite high considering that an avg elective course is about 18 hours. But, at the end of it, I would say it was completely worth it.
This is the advantage of being in Sep intake. We have much more choice of electives and some great proffs to learn from. Jan intake, does not get this luxury but they have some other advantages.
Things have been steady on the strategy consulting elective. We have been practising case-cracking regularly and will have mock-interviews with real consultants soon. Am really looking forward to it because that would give me an indication about my current level.
Another development here is that some of my classmates will leave HEC for good this week. They will finish their classes for this term here and will go on exchange programs with other schools in next term. I am really sad at the prospect of not seeing them in future classes. Having spent so much time together, it will be really difficult to watch them leave... But I guess C'est la vie....
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