DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

Campuses and entrepreneurship organizations across the country have joined hands to celebrate Entrepreneurship Week India 2010, from February 6 to 13

It’s a campaign like no other. Entrepreneurship Week India 2010, from February 6-13, will see over 4,00,000 people joining hands to celebrate entrepreneurship.

This is the one time when participants reach out en masse to the "unconverted" – parents, friends, and key members of the society – to build their awareness and support for entrepreneurs. Led by the National Entrepreneurship Network, and supported by the Wadhwani Foundation, the weeklong campaign will engage over 400 NEN member academic institutes and 23 leading entrepreneurship organizations.

Open, Vibrant and Engaging
E Week India’s uniqueness rests on its ‘Wiki’ factors: It is both open and collaborative. Participants network and engage in their own creative ways to spread the message of entrepreneurship - from taking the E Week pledge to organizing inter-college competitions, startup-interaction sessions, movies screenings, bazaars, workshops and more.

Little wonder then that students are already abuzz with excitement. Exclaims Ramachandran of PSG Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, "E Week pushes us to unleash our talents and skills like no other event!"

Across campuses, plans for over 4000 events around the theme ‘India: Opportunities Within’ are already afoot. An engineering college in Chennai is hosting a TedX conference on the theme; an institute in Bangalore is organizing a Startup Day to attract internship opportunities; Pune institutes are connecting with neighboring villages to promote agri products and handicrafts.

Partners spread the E Week spirit
But it isn’t just academic institutes that are celebrating the spirit of E Week. A large number of entrepreneurship-related organizations have also joined this year’s celebrations with a variety of programs.

E Week Impact

During Entrepreneurship Week India 2008, Naya Nadargi was introduced to entrepreneurship in Mount Carmel College. She was hooked. When her mother saw Naya’s growing excitement and skills, she became a keen supporter. Naya’s mom even encouraged her to leave her MNC job and start something on her own.

Shailendra Pal of ISBR, Bangalore was ignorant about entrepreneurship till he participated in E Week 2009. Today he spots business opportunities everywhere. “When I travel on a Volvo bus, I think of solar panels to run it. I look at streetlights and think of LED. I never thought of entrepreneurship before, but now I am motivated to become an entrepreneur someday,” he says.

While TiE Chennai is holding panel discussions on education and healthcare, The Chennai Fund will be conducting a business plan competition. Headstart is merging its second anniversary celebrations with E Week, and dedicating the Startup Saturday meets in six cities to local entrepreneurs who are working on solutions to India’s key challenges. Open Coffee Club, Bangalore, will run a brainstorming session to explore business solutions to issues like infrastructure and traffic during the week.

E Week Partners
- TiE	- Indian Angel Network
- NASSCOM	- The Chennai Fund
- New Ventures India	- EMERG
- Venturewoods	- Junior Achievement
- Open Coffee Club	- Villgro
- Proto.in	- Watblog
- Headstart	- DARE
- Mumbai Angels	- MBA Universe
- EDI India	- Cool Avenues
- WIB – Woman in Business	- JAM
- Pagalguy	- Smart Techie

For Proto.in’s Kausikram Krishnasayee, who had organized two E Weeks before he graduated from Chennai’s Vellamal Engineering College last year, this year’s E Week is an opportunity to get members of Proto.in to collaborate with student entrepreneurs. In fact, on January 30, two student-run startups from NEN member institutes were invited to present at the Proto.in Startup Showcase event, without going through its rigorous selection process – a first in Proto.in’s history. "My two E Weeks in college have been powerful experiences for me. It triggered my passion for entrepreneurship, opened new doors and made me achieve more than I ever imagined I could have. I have witnessed the challenges student entrepreneurs face when they are starting up; E Week gives us at Proto.in an opportunity to show support to new entrepreneurs," shares Kausikram.

Amarinder Singh of OCC, Bangalore claims to be strongly attracted to E Week because of its "inherent simplicity". "It is not adhoc, it is not formal and it doesn’t have a rigid structure. More importantly, it carries a message that is so close to our hearts," he says.

Laura Parkin, Executive Director, National Entrepreneurship Network and Wadhwani Foundation, views E Week as one of the rare events that brings the entire entrepreneurial community together. "E Week India plays a transformational role among students, faculty, and college managements, as well as parents and the wider community. This will be the fourth E Week India, and it’s gearing up to be the biggest yet – this would not be possible without the support and efforts of all the partner organizations," she says.

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