Thursday 7 March 2013 8:04am
English cricket team representative Monty Panesar meets Otago MBA student Kannan Jagannathan at the University this week. Photo: Sharron Bennett.
They are studying on opposite sides of the world, but international cricketer Monty Panesar and Otago University student Kannan Jagannathan found they had a lot in common when they met this week.
Both are studying for their Masters of Business Administration – English cricket team representative Monty at Loughborough University, and international student Kannan at the Otago Business School.
Monty’s MBA is in International Sports Management, a speciality of Loughborough, and Kannan is on the final phase of his MBA with a project on management and creation of sponsorship opportunities at local cricketing body Otago Cricket.
The pair met when Monty visited the Otago MBA to take an exam. While touring with England the left-arm spinner has been studying long-distance and needed to sit a two-hour exam.
The Otago MBA programme was delighted to offer him space and an examiner, and Kannan was thrilled to meet him afterwards.
“He was still quite grounded,” Kannan says.
Kannan, who came from Chennai in India to study at Otago, is seeking to change sports organisations’ thinking about sponsorship – from a pure philanthropic approach to more strategic partnerships.
He hopes to create a manual for sporting bodies to use to be proactive about seeking funding, and is aiming to work in sports management in New Zealand once his study is complete.