In the last decade, too many new things have made their way to the daily-lives of Gen Y - Facebook, iPods, Farmville - and what not! Now, you can also add startups to the list.
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| Indus Khaitan, General Partner, Morpheus Ventures gives some quick advice to student |
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| IBM Smarter Planet 'On the Dot' challenge in progress |
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| NEN First Dot organizing team |
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| PV Sreenath and D Seetharam of IBM and Laura Parkin of NEN meet the top 30 student startups at the NEN First Dot Roundtable |
Way back in 2000, entrepreneurship was a rarely-used term that didn’t make it to any of the cool conversations that happened at the University. Carrying forward family business may have been considered as a career option for a few, but ambitions of being a first-generation entrepreneur – no, not then.
Today, however, it appears more and more students in India are beating a path to entrepreneurship. Driven by the growing number of opportunities opening up in the country, and supported by the increasing array of entrepreneurship programs available on campus, students are juggling both coursework and cash flow to test their entrepreneurial mettle.
Nothing proves this better than NEN First Dot, a first of its kind student startup showcase held at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai on January 10 and 11.
NEN First Dot, run by the student-led NEN Entrepreneurship Cells (Chennai) and the NEN Trust team, attracted over 140 nominations. It covered a wide range of sectors and geographies – with startups from over 30 cities spanning over 15 industry segments, making it India’s largest student startup showcase. The participating startups reflected the diversity and dynamism of today’s entrepreneurial India, cutting across education, cleantech, IT consulting, agriculture and retail.
All nominations were vetted by an eminent jury to identify a shortlist of promising 30 student startups, based on the market opportunity they tapped, their business model, competence and growth potential. Startups that made to the top 30 included an egg specialty restaurant, a shoe-design firm, and a staffing company for kabadiwalas! The winning startups received visibility, professional mentoring and an opportunity to network with leading investors and entrepreneurs.
NEN First Dot witnessed the joint support of IBM, Wadhwani Foundation and the Department of Science and Technology, GoI.
Events unlimited
In keeping with the premise of the showcase, to provide value not just to final winners but also to every participating student entrepreneur, NEN First Dot featured an exciting mix of sessions: ‘Unconferences’ on topics like social entrepreneurship, social media and technology, breakfast with entrepreneurs and business simulation exercises. In addition, over 50 startups set up kiosks to exhibit their products.
One of the key events at NEN First Dot was the IBM Smarter Planet ‘On the Dot’ Challenge - a contest that engaged new and future entrepreneurs in thinking about possible solutions to challenges related to water, energy and transport sectors in Indian cities. The Challenge was led by P V Sreenath, Vice-President, Government Practice, IBM and D Seetharam, Executive - Government Programs, IBM.
A Community Effort
16 student-run NEN Entrepreneurship Cells across Chennai, comprising over 60 students came together to organize and run NEN First Dot. “Being students ourselves, we wanted to reach out to student entrepreneurs who were doing an incredible job balancing their studies and startups at the same time. We wanted to recognize their passion,” shares Yuvi Panda, an E Leader from KCG College of Technology.
For shortlisted entrepreneurs, it was an opportunity to look at their startups in a whole new way. “My startup has taken a much bigger shape at NEN First Dot. With the mentoring support and knowledge I gained, I now plan to concentrate on marketing, review my pricing strategy and build my cash reserves,” says Ajay Kiran, founder of event management startup Rocket Events.
Annapurani Venkatesan, an E Leader from Chennai’s Alpha Arts and Science College who runs a coaching centre herself, knew not more than 10 student entrepreneurs before the event. “Today I know over 150. It was a revelation – to find so many young people like me driven by a passion for entrepreneurship,” says Annapurani.
| FINAL 30 STUDENT START-UPS |
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A.J.S Services, Founded by Sanjay AJ |
Enviro Mitra, founded by Gayatri Hegde, Pavan Murali Fizzy Goblet, founded by Laksheeta Govil, Abhinav Mehra |
Recom (Campus Company), founded by Subrata Biswas and team Institute: Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur A campus company, Recom is a social entrepreneurship venture that provides computers to schools in rural areas at low costs. Renewable Bazaar, founded by Gunajit Brahma and team Institute: Indian Institute of Management, Indore Renewable Bazaar is a portal that acts as a platform for exchange of information, commerce, social networking, multidisciplinary resource-sharing and utilization, development of renewable energy project opportunities. Rocket Events, founded by Ajay Kiran P, Somanna T P, Jeevan R, Avinash M J Institute: Maharaja Institute of Technology, Mysore An event management company, Rocket Events organizes corporate and social events and fund raisers. Saraf Engineers, founded by Akshay Saraph Institute: Cusrow Wadia Institute of Technology, Pune Launched in January 2010 as a consultancy and electrical project service, Saraf Engineers has further expanded into trading of electrical products as well. ShareSWF, founded by Neeraj Agarwal, Harsh Hemani Institute: Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Bhopal ShareSWF is a platform designed to discover and share flash animations. Today, ShareSWF has over 6000 animations submitted by users. Tatsam Sports, founded by Bipul Kumar Institute: Institute of Management and Technology, Ghaziabad Tatsam Sports is an end to end sports solution company that provides infrastructure development, training and support and sports equipment. The startup has IMT, a government body - the CBI Academy and a residential society as customers. Thirst-E (Campus Company), founded by Ajith T E, Karthigeyan M, Logeswaran K, Manigandan S, Niveda Krishnamoorthy Institute: PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore Thirst-E is a juice shop that provides a variety of fresh fruit juice to students on campus. The start-up records a monthly profit of over Rs 10,000 and has recently established a second branch. Tiszta Cleaning Solutions, founded by Srihari BT, Chirag Anand Institute: Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore Tiszta Cleaning Solutions specializes in machine cleaning services, which is more effective, cheaper and faster than manual cleaning. Vilikh Technologies, founded by Bahul Arora, Harsh Mani Tripathi Institute: SRM University, Chennai Vilikh Technologies focuses on embedded systems and robotics. It also trains engineers and provides the latest tools for technical development. Voicetap Technologies, founded by Mrigank Tripathi, Vivek Khandelwal Institute: Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Voicetap Technologies offers voice based solutions for telecom operators, large businesses and end users alike. Voicetap’s flagship product – CustomerTAP – helps businesses convert the leads that they generate into warm inbound leads – thus enhancing conversion ratios exponentially. |
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written by armani key holder, March 18, 2011
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