Entrepreneurship Week India 2010 concludes with record number of events and participants from all over India
From February 6 to 13, over 6,00,000 people across 30 cities engaged in a celebration of entrepreneurship for Entrepreneurship Week India 2010.
Over 4,000 entrepreneurial activities were led by 70,000 students of E Cells (Entrepreneurship Cells) from 512 member institutes of the National Entrepreneurship Network as part of E Week India – making it the biggest entrepreneurship activity in Asia. The unique, week-long campaign advocating support for entrepreneurship was based on the theme ‘India: Opportunities Within’. In line with the theme, participants organized a range of activities and programs to explore opportunities in solving India’s biggest problems: from education to healthcare to energy to water and more. Panel discussions, expositions, tech-bazaars, idea-generation competitions, awareness rallies were all part of the campaign – and were conducted with vigor in campuses across the country.Mumbai
800 ventures in two days
Padmashree DY Patil turned its entire campus into a Special Economic Zone for two days during E Week. Each of its 800 students started a small venture during those two days, ranging from yoga classes to career counseling to organizing DJ parties. Thakur Institute of Management Studies tied up with local NGOs to host a bazaar on campus, and also held a workshop on eco-Ganesha model-making, enabling E Cell members to make and sell their own paper mache models in the festive season.
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| IIT Bombay E Cell organized a Global E Cell Summit, bringing together 30 E Cells from campuses across India, to discuss strategies to strengthen entrepreneurship among students |
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| Students of Padmashree Dr. D.Y. Patil University, Department of Business Management spread the E Week message in buses, in Mumbai |
At Atharva Institute of Technology, student entrepreneurs showcased their campus companies, including a stationery shop, a college magazine, a tiffin service and an information portal for students. "We have learnt so many new things in our NEN E Cell, and we cannot wait to put them to practice. A campus startup is the best way to start," says NEN E Leader Ishani Ghosh.
Pune
Villages become ‘party’ zones
Students of MES Garware College created new market places in the villages of Deagon and Asde near Pune, by organizing Hurda (corn) parties there, this E Week. The Hurda parties, launched to promote agritourism and agriproducts, were designed for young urbaners to give them a taste of rural India.
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| Indira School of Business Studies, Pune |
Following the success of these ‘parties’, Borade Vasant, a school teacher in Asde has volunteered to support agri-tourism in the village, and his wife Alka even wants to teach visitors how to cook traditional Maharashtrian food. “The village will certainly prosper from tourists from nearby cities. We see hope,” Vasant says.
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| Students of DY Patil Engineering College in E Week gear, in Pune |
The E Cell members now plan to take three-four families in a mini bus to other villages where agri-tourism is working, to encourage them to implement the same in their own village. “Agro-tourism will flourish only when the local villagers participate actively in it, and our E Cell wants to facilitate this,” says NEN E Leader Sagar Muluk of Garware College. Incidentally, two more hurda parties have already been booked for the month.
Kolkata
More than 3 idiots set E Week rocking
The cool innovator of 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan’s Rancho, will find plenty of company in the E Cells of Kolkata. An SMS system to control 16 home appliances, a ‘glowing’ walking stick to aid the blind and biofuel using vegetable oils were some of the innovations and inventions that E Cells at Institute of Engineering and Management and Heritage Institute of Technology are looking to commercialize to solve some of India’s key issues. “The crux is commercialization. How do you convert these models to ready-to-use products? We are trying to look at our technical projects from the market’s point of view and use technology as a way to meet the market needs. Our E Cell has tried to build this mindset this E Week,” said Souvik Bhattacharya.
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| Engineering students of Institute of Engineering and Management showcase their innovation, an SMS controlled home remote and security system, during E Week |
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| ISB&M students in Kolkata find a creative way to share their E Week passion |
Indore
Ten startups launched in a week
Running a very large public campaign this E Week, the E Cell at IPS Academy painted the town, literally. They painted the E Week message on bridges and on walls across Indore. In the midst of all this, they also launched ten ventures, ranging from breakfast service to medical kits for rural poor to even a US education office. It also launched a campus company – a library for entrepreneurs. In a week, the library raised Rs 70,000 in funds, and 107 books on entrepreneurship.
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| Student entrepreneurs at IPS Indore come together to launch 10 startups this E Week |
Jaipur
Princess Padmini Devi, Vasundhara Raje, Chetan Bhagat support E Week
The entire city of Jaipur, including its princess Rani Padmini Devi, ex-chief minister Vasundhara Raje, actress Vidya Balan and the award winning author Chetan Bhagat acknowledged and were inspired by E Week because of the efforts of institutes in Jaipur. SKIT’s E Week campaign at the Jaipur Literary Festival was just one of the 100s of events it organized during E Week, where it reached out to 33,000 people. Meanwhile, Biyani Girls College organized a B Plan competition and a series of entrepreneurship workshops in schools.
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| Actress Vidya Balan inaugurates E Week at Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jaipur |
Durgapur
The ‘E’ word rules Durgapur
Apart from running full-fledged programs throughout E Week, Bengal College of Engineering and Technology ran very large public awareness campaigns all over Durgapur. Despite being in a disadvantageous location (there are not many entrepreneurs in Durgapur), the speaker events at BCET were among the largest in the country. Demonstrating leadership, they have even started to mentor a new institute, which is interested in entrepreneurship. Dr BC Roy Engineering College organized 115 events during the E Week.
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| Bengal College of Engineering and Technology take out a public rally to spread awareness about entrepreneurship, to promote rural tourism |
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