Gandhiji said “India lives in its Villages”. Most Managers who generally grow in an urban setting, hardly get to see the trials and tribulations of rural India. To play an effective role in shaping modern India, its managers need to get exposure to rural life and understand problems of farmers and rural entrepreneurs. MPBIM, with a view to expose students to the entrepreneurship that exists in rural India besides giving them a glimpse of rural life, provides an insight into these aspects at Kollegal, a taluq headquarters in Chamarajnagar district. Kollegal is 125km from Bangalore, surrounded by hillocks and known for silks and sericulture farming, pottery and jaggery manufacturing units. This picturesque town is surrounded by Male Mahadeshwara Hills, and the waterfalls at Hogenakal near these hills and Gagana Chukki & Bhara Chukki at Shivana Samudra (also known as Bluff). Kollegal has a hillock called "Maradi Gudda" located in the heart of the town.

At Kollegal the student executives get to understand the hard ships of rural people who are working in agriculture & rural Industries, working condition of labourers, marketing & exploitations, rural culture, festival and distinct sports activities. In this two day programme, the student executives get to stay in a 300 year old ancestral home of Sri N. Ramanuja Chairman, MPBIM, in Kollegal, called Dodda Mane (Big House) located in a popularly known street called Iyengar beedhi. Visiting nearby temple during morning stroll, enjoying the tender sugar cane, sugar cane juice, tender coconut, walking through the lush paddy and sugarcane fields, climbing Maradigudda (small hill) taking in the serene and scenic landscape enliven the spirits. Village games like Kabaddi, Lagori, Top or Buguri, Marble or Goli and Marakothi on the branches of lush green trees bring back the childhood memories in people.

One of the best events students enjoy is playing ‘lagori’ in flood light, where students freak out playing till late night. Students also enjoy playing indoor games like ‘Aluguli Mane’ and Chowka Bhara’ which are local versions of chess. Next morning, students make a visit to ‘Alemane’ or Jaggery Producing Unit. Here they get to know how the sugar cane is brought from the field? crushed in a cane crusher to produce sugar cane juice from then on to making of jaggery by boiling the juice in large containers at a particular temperature. Certain chemicals are added to get the requisite color to the jaggery.

During the visit to the sericulture (RMC) yard the students are exposed to the buyers and sellers meet for carrying out the business of sale of silk cocoons. From here Students move to the basin unit where silk worms are separated from cocoons, preparation of the fibre, from fibre to coloring and into the process of weaving. The weaving of silk thread into a sari with different patterns is worth watching. It is interesting to note how a silk worm has created so many job to so many people, from rural to urban and from national to international draping women across the continents.

Students are also taken to Pottery unit to understand the process of making pots and how they market it. The visit to Kollegal exposes the student executives to a positive interaction with the rural entrepreneurs. Besides, the students get to feel the pulse of the life in rural India. This creates a better empathy while dealing with rural supply chain in their future careers. On their way back to Bangalore, students also visit few breathtaking spots like Biligiriranga Hills, Talakadu, Shivanasmudra and Madhyaranga temple.