MAM
Dairy Queen to do a promotion on ‘The Apprentice’
MUMBAI: For the first time a company appearing on the business based reality show The Apprentice, now in its fourth season, has created a promotion to find a real-life apprentice.
Dairy products maker Dairy Queen whose stores sell dairy desserts, hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages will have a featured episode focusing on its signature Blizzard brand on The Apprentice on 13 October. The company is taking that appearance to the next level by offering an apprenticeship that comes with a $50,000 cash signing bonus, an appearance in a television commercial, trips to Hawaii and Los Angeles and a chance to help create new Blizzard flavours. In India the show airs on Star World while in the US it airs on NBC.
Just like the television series, contestants for the Blizzard apprentice will vie for the title by completing a variety of tasks in the Now Hiring! Become DQ’s Blizzard Apprentice contest, which can be found online at www.blizzardfanclub.com . During round one, contestants must submit a 100-word essay describing their passion for the Blizzard and an accompanying photo of themselves interacting with the Blizzard brand. A panel of judges from Dairy Queen will choose 25 contestants to move on to the second task.
The second task requires contestants to produce a two-to-three minute video message about the Blizzard in the form of a television commercial, speech, rap, song or other performance art. The top five ‘odes’ to the Blizzard, chosen by Dairy Queen, will be posted to
www.blizzardfanclub.com along with each finalist’s original essay and photo. Blizzard Fan Club members, now totaling about 600,000, will then vote for their favourite. The contestant with the most votes will become the first-ever Blizzard apprentice.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
