INTERACTION WITH AN ENTREPRENEUR

18th March, 2017

An interaction between a practicing entrepreneur and students of MBA was organized on Saturday, 18th March, 2017. The guest entrepreneur was Mr. Vicky Daswani, who is an active entrepreneur in the field of medical appliances and who likes to motivate young students to take up entrepreneurship as a career option.

After self-introduction, Mr. Vicky opened his discussion on a very informal note with why there is a need to promote entrepreneurship today and mentioned that entrepreneurship is a means and not an end. With help of a PPT prepared specially for the day, he went on to discuss how entrepreneurship among the young can contribute to job creation and formation of socially responsible organizations. But at the same time also cautioned the gathering of MBA students that extreme care needs to be exercised during the thinking and planning process and that entrepreneurship should never be an emotional decision.Entrepreneurship operated in an environment that has no entry barrier, many competitors, has very low margins, labour intensive, no proprietary technology, few economies of scale, weak brand distinction and no regulatory protection.

Mr.Daswani, however, exhorted the young crowd not to get discouraged and went on to discuss the support systems, old and new, existing in our country and how youth can take advantage of them – broad youth entrepreneurship programmes, business start-up programmes and those designed to foster a strong entrepreneurial culture. He discussed this in terms of a framework for effective programmes and also effectiveness of such programmes.

Later, Mr. Vicky brought to notice the dark side of entrepreneurship and its pitfalls only with a view to explain it confrontation with risk and what strategies need to be designed for this. He, however, made the interaction very interesting and exciting for students by explaining to them the various self-employment opportunities available to them, based on their basic education like B.Com., with practical examples in fields like commerce, arts, other common fields and also in traditional field like farming and some out of box areas. Few of the many careers he discussed were import-export, insurance surveyors, business reporters, e-commerce, KPO, elder care, video production, blogging, graphic artist, stand-up comedian, travel agency, etc.

Mr.Daswani finally discussed the book principle to entrepreneurs along with some critical observations he had to share with students. The students were very excited at the end of this session when they fired Mr.Daswani with a volley of questions and doubt, which he dealt with very professionally and practically.

Prof.PrashantRajurkar thanked Mr. Vicky Daswani for his being here, for spending his valuable time with TIME students and for his practical and motivating insights in the area of entrepreneurship. Prof.AbhishekShahu presented Mr.Daswani with a memento as a token of our appreciation for interacting with students.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME

A programme was organized under the ED Cell with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. This was in the form of a guest lecture and it went on for over two hours. Mr. Nishant Mehta from the company’s Mumbai office was the resource person.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co Ltd is the leading private insurer of the country with 220 offices, 400 Virtual Offices and 7000 employees. Operational since 2002, Bajaj Allianz was awarded in various fields like business innovation and diversity, claim servicing, customer service. The company foresees Digital Insurance as the next step for the Indian Insurance Industry has developed an Android based App as a stepping stone to Digitalising Insurance in India. The application allows a zero paper working with freedom of time and space for a digital distributor. The Digital Distribution Application is expected to create genuine value for customers.

This programme was held to foster entrepreneurship amongst youngsters and enable them to walk on the entrepreneurial path. This Young Entrepreneurship Program  is aimed at students wherein they would get a chance to taste entrepreneurship while studying and gain certified work experience using Digital distribution platform, thus strengthening their job prospects after their graduation/post-graduation. The programme was very interactive with use of LCD projector & audio support, which generated curiosity among about 100 participating students. The programme also included Q&A. Further enrolment for interested students was also undertaken and 22 students registered for this.

Under the Young Entrepreneurship Programme students will be trained for four hours on insurance basics and will undergo a test to evaluate their competence. Further they will undergo a qualifying exam held by IRDA at a nominal fee. They will then be recruited by the company under an agreement for one year for developing business and earning out of it.

EAC Programme with IIT – Kharagpur

Tirpude Institute of Management Education conducted an Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp (EAC) in association with IIT Kharagpur’s E-cell.  Eminent entrepreneurs and industry leaders narrated their entrepreneurial journey and the trials and tribulations associated with it. They also counselled students on the pros and cons of entrepreneurship as a career and how it is different from the usual run-of-the-mill job culture known to us.

The purpose of the EAC was to educate the college youth on entrepreneurship and inspire them to venture on their own.  The event involved guest lectures by eminent and highly successful entrepreneurs & business leaders, their presentations, Q&A and networking sessions.

The Vasantrao Deshpande hall was overflowing with Nagpur youth from management and engineering colleges. The programme was free of charge and only online registration were to be done at: ead.ecell-iitkgp.org

Speakers of the day were:          

  1. Prasanath Mohanachandran
    Founder and CEO, AgencyDigi
  2. Siddharth Deshmukh
    Co-Founder and CEO, PlatLabs
  3. Nitin Katiyar
    Investor and Founder, Kratin Group
  4. Manoj Munna
    Co-founder, Testbook.com

 

Date:                     October 9th 2015

Time:                    1.00 PM to 4.00 PM

Venue:                 Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande Hall,

Opp. MLA Hostel, Civil Lines, Nagpur.