You don’t have to have an MBA to know the value of basic business skills. Just ask Greg Shaw, 22, and the 54 other recent graduates of the Carolina Business Institute at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

These new biologists, psychologists and arts majors added the business course to their resumes before stepping out into the real world. Many think it will give them a competitive edge in the workplace. Some think such skills are necessary if they want to one day run their own businesses. And others want the confidence of knowing how to manage personal finances.

UNC’s Friday Center has offered a 4-week business boot camp to non-business students for 16 years. The intense course covers basic business practices including marketing, accounting, finance and operations management.

Its latest class graduated in June.

Among them was Shaw, who received a bachelor’s degree in biology at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Shaw said that in addition to helping with his personal budget, the class gave him the skills to one day manage his own medical practice. “Running a clinic is a business,” he said. “You have to know what to pay people and how to buy equipment and machines.”

Other schools across the nation offer similar programs, including the Tuck Business Bridge program at Dartmouth College and the Summer Institute for General Management at Stanford University.

At North Carolina State University, nonbusiness students are offered four business minors, in accounting, business administration, economics and entrepreneurship, said Steve Barr, a professor who heads the department of management, innovation and entrepreneurship.

In the past, students took such classes mainly to bolster their resumes. But the curriculums have been enhanced to help with a variety of business practices, and students are gleaning practical use from such programs.

Will Aldridge, 28, a UNC psychology graduate who completed the institute in 2006, said the courses give him a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Aldridge was working as an intern at a workplace consulting firm in Atlanta when a client needed advice about the benefits of Six Sigma. It’s a management program that identifies and replaces the causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and business processes.

“I told them, ‘Hey, I just had a class on that,’ ” Aldridge said. His boss was not familiar with Six Sigma, so Aldridge used what he had learned to help the client.

More : courant.com

Oil and Gas Corporation (ONGC) has submitted a government proposal to increase paid up capital by ONGC Videsh of Rs 300 crore according to RS 500 crore.

ONGC Videsh is a subsidiary of ONGC, is investing in oil ventures abroad.

“The registered capital of ONGC Videsh is relatively low compared to debt on its balance sheet. The issue of debt-equity compared sometimes the way of smooth running of our business abroad. We also proposed that the authorized capital of ONGC Videsh, up to Rs 5000 crore, “Mr. Subir Raha, Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC, said the edge of the newspersons launch of the “super-Unnati Prayas programme for ONGC employees.

Under this programme, ONGC sends his career in the mid-leaders of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) for an MBA 18-month residential program.

The program, under the direction of IIFT for ONGC workers should pay special attention on trade and international affairs.

For the first part, twenty leaders were selected from about 340 nominations received from ONGC employees.

Mr. Raha said ONGC and spend over Rs 25 crore per annum for the training of its leaders in management and engineering programs.

The company will also soon in a tie-up Management Development Institute to offer a general programme management of his career in the mid-leaders.