Entrepreneurship Summit
20th August, 2017
Four Students namely Nitish Arora (APS -20754), Harshita Singh(CSE-19063), Jagjeet Gandhi(CSE-19070) and V.SaiAnila (IT- 18562) of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended “Entrepreneurship Summit” organized by Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi on 20th August, 2017.
The Summit was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Mr. Amitabh Kant (IAS) CEO-NITI Aayog along with Mr. H.K. Mittal, adviser and member secretary (NSTEDB).
Mr. Amitabh Kant in his address said, India is growing at more than 7%, like an oasis of growth in the midst of a dynamic economy landscape across the world. However, there’s a huge need for innovation so that India can continue to grow thereby lifting its youth population out of poverty. He also explained, there are number of young startups doing remarkable things, especially in the fields of health care and education. The government has also been doing its best to provide an amiable ecosystem for startups.
The first panel consisted of Mr. Kaushik Saha, Chief Technology Officer at Samsung R&D Institute India, Ms. Kanupriya Seghal, Founder at Beepositive++, Mr. Vivek Dhaiya, SBU Head at Sagacious Research and Mr. Juergen Hase, CEO at Unlimited- Reliance Group IoT.
Many important questions were answered such as- how does one identify a viable ideation, how to build a team and cultivate sense of partnership among them and lastly how to deal with rejection at ideation stage. The speakers agreed, while failures are inevitable in start-ups, what matters is one should get up and do it again but differently.
The second esteemed panel consisted of Ms. Priyanka Chaudhary, Co-founder -
Gracia Raina Foundation, Tripti Shinghal Somani, CEO - KGS Advisors, Niraj Sharan, Chairman and CEO - Aura Inc., Mukesh Malik, CEO- Project GK and Manasvi Singh Co of buddy4study.
In the session queries regarding what drive a social entrepreneur, how criticism helps in validation and how to draw learning from it without being afraid and lastly what are the most necessary steps to a successful entrepreneurship journey were answered. The speakers agreed each of the journeys had different starting points, what kept them going through is their dedication and belief in their ideas.
The third panel consisted of Mr. Vikram Gupta, Founder & MD -IvyCap Ventures, Mr. Gagan Ghai, Business Mentor – IvyCamp , Mr. Dhianu Das, Angel Investor & Serial Entrepreneur, Mr. Amit Kharabanda, MD - MyBox, Ms. Roma Priya, Founding Partner - Burgeoning Biz Support and Mr. Rajan Bhatia, Director - Rajan Bhatia & Company.
The discussion covered a wide variety of topics such as why it is important to find the right investor and how to go about it, build the right team and come up with a correct valuation for your start-up. The panelists also highlighted how these aspects influence the decisions of a potential investor.
It was overall a very gaining experience and a proved to be a kick starter for the students as they were embarking on a startup business themselves.