MAM
SBI Life Insurance & Mirchi return with Spell Bee edition 14
Mumbai: SBI Life Insurance in collaboration with Mirchi, launched the 14 edition of the SBI Life Spell Bee 2024— ‘Bee Spellbound.’ The competition returns with a broader vision, empowering India’s young spellers to become future leaders by celebrating learning, creativity, and progress.
The 14th edition spans across 30 cities and over 500 schools, engaging more than three lakh students. The top 50 students will qualify for the national finale, with the ultimate champion earning the prestigious title of ‘Spellmaster of India 2024.’ The winner will receive a prize of Rs one lakh and a trip to Disneyland, Hong Kong.
The theme ‘Bee Spellbound!’ reflects the competition’s mission to nurture leadership alongside spelling excellence. SBI Life aims to equip students with the tools of empowerment, encouraging them to excel academically and in life. The competition highlights that words are not just letters but vehicles of confidence and progress.
SBI Life Insurance’s chief of brand, corporate communications and csr, Ravindra Sharma emphasised, “At SBI Life, we are always striving to create opportunities that enable individuals to unlock their true potential. Collaborating with Spell Bee has allowed us to extend this vision to young minds nationwide. Last year’s overwhelming success reaffirmed our belief in the transformative power of this platform. Through our continued association with Spell Masters of India, we are helping shape not just excellent spellers but future leaders who are empowered to make a meaningful impact in society.”
He added, “Each participant in this competition embarks on a journey that not only sharpens their intellectual abilities but instils a deeper understanding of values like courage, integrity, and innovation. Through this platform, we are discovering India’s best spellers and shaping future leaders who will embody the core values that go beyond spellings: Transparency, Courage, Humility, Integrity, Innovation, and Sustainability. These are formative values in every student’s life which help them develop their personalities while respecting those of their peers.”
Mirchi, EVP & national director – IPs, Pooja Gulati commented, “Engaging with schools through meaningful and wholesome edutainment-based properties has been a top priority for Mirchi. Spell Bee is our flagship property that we are proud to have scaled over the past 13 seasons. This year we look forward to bringing so much more value driven experience to students, parents and teachers across India. This year the property will showcase a new level of spellers who will leave audiences spellbound. In addition, we will also focus on creating engaging content across mediums to make spelling fun and interesting for everyone thereby growing the community. Season 14 will be the most stellar season of the property so far involving more than 500 schools across India.”
The Spell Bee competition represents SBI Life’s dedication to fostering intellectual growth and leadership skills in India’s youth. This initiative serves as a celebration of words, ideas, and progress, while reflecting SBI Life’s commitment to nurturing dreams and aspirations—one word at a time.
MAM
MSM Unify appoints Rohit Kumar to lead India campus business
Ex CollegeDekho COO to drive partnerships, scale campus engagement in India.
MUMBAI: From classrooms to boardrooms, the campus playbook is getting a new chief architect. MSM Unify has appointed Rohit Kumar as founding member and president of its India Campus Business, signalling a sharper push into one of the world’s fastest-evolving higher education markets. In his new role, Kumar will oversee the company’s India business vertical, taking charge of institutional partnerships, campus engagement strategy and domestic growth. The mandate is clear: build scalable, technology-led models that connect Indian universities and colleges with global academic and career pathways, while staying grounded in local campus realities.
Kumar brings over 24 years of experience across telecom, IT services and education technology, an unusually broad mix that mirrors the convergence shaping modern education platforms. Most recently, as co-founder and COO of Collegedekho, he helped scale the business into a Rs 300 crore enterprise, delivering a 67 per cent CAGR over five years and building partnerships with more than 2,000 institutions nationwide.
That growth journey also saw the platform expand into adjacent verticals including learning, marketing services and overseas education, backed by multiple funding rounds from investors such as Girnarsoft, ADQ, ETS and Man Capital.
Earlier in his career, Kumar held senior roles at companies including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Sify Technologies, Indiatimes and Videocon, where his work spanned revenue growth, operational efficiency and market expansion across key regions including Maharashtra.
His appointment comes at a time when India’s higher education ecosystem is undergoing structural shifts driven by digitisation, global mobility and increasing demand for outcome-linked education. For MSM Unify, the opportunity lies in bridging domestic institutions with international pathways through a more integrated, tech-enabled approach.
As the race to own the student journey intensifies, Kumar’s task will be less about building from scratch and more about connecting the dots between campuses, careers and a rapidly globalising education economy.
