Massive entrepreneurial opportunities exist in the area of affordable Healthcare and Education in India

Noida, February 16, 2018: Amity University in association with MSME, DI-New Delhi organized three day International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Leadership (ICEL’2018) on the theme - “Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Value Creation”, which concluded today at University Campus, Sector-125, Noida.

The Conference aimed at providing a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs, academia, industry, Government and policy makers for sharing their research and ideas to instill entrepreneurial spirit amongst students and community in general and to promote the basic and applied entrepreneurial research in different sectors of business industry.

Sharing his views during the valediction ceremony, Mr. Vijay Kumar, Director, MSME-DI, New Delhi stated that in coming years, there will be lot of potential to start small businesses in India and MSME is providing necessary support and encouragement to young students and entrepreneurs for coming up with commercially viable sources or ideas. Motivating the participants, he remarked that Entrepreneurship is not a hard thing; with determination, commitment and a planned approach one can become a successful entrepreneur .He advised them not be pessimistic since there is no dearth of financial and infrastructural facilities in India and their decisions will be supported by Financial Institutions, State and Central Government. He shared that Government of India is running special schemes and funding programmes to encourage more women involvement and entrepreneurs in MSME.

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Atul Chauhan – Chancellor, Amity University stated that there is a pressing need to nurture entrepreneurship spirit in the country to ensure that India becomes a Superpower. He remarked that youth and entrepreneurs will have to take the responsibility of leading our country to greater heights.

Welcoming the distinguished gathering, Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity Group expressed that the three day Conference was unique which witnessed in-depth discussions and deliberations related to the journey of entrepreneurship right from idea generation to entrepreneurship excellence. He shared that lot of ideas and suggestions have been generated during the Conference and assured that all of them would be translated into reality very soon by Amity.

Sharing important learnings from his own journey of entrepreneurship with the participants, Dr. Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman Emeritus, TiE Delhi-NCR advised them that if they are doing something new, it must be something that people need; something different or something done differently from the way it has been done. He remarked that the best way to succeed is to get people who are as good as them or better than them to work along which is possible only when the ideas or vision of an entrepreneur is sufficiently big and proper space is created in the venture for the best and the brightest people in the industry. He stressed that it is the best time in India to become an entrepreneur and create jobs because of the supportive environment being provided by the Government. He shared that India needs to create at least 10 million jobs every year to witness high phenomenal growth. Corroborating his view point by referring to a study by McKinsey, he stressed that 70% of the current jobs in India will not exist in next 10 years. He shared that massive entrepreneurial opportunities exist in the area of affordable healthcare and education and motivated the participants to step out and become entrepreneurs.

Mr. Vasant Agarwal, Venture Capitalist & Serial Entrepreneur, while motivating the participants during his address, called upon them to be cautious and careful while spending their resources and energy and advised them to do their homework thoroughly in order to avoid mistakes in first place. He encouraged them to follow their dreams, have defined goals, work on a different value proposition and don’t let negativity or failure hamper their dreams. He stressed that either an entrepreneur can identify a problem existing in society and offer solution to the same or he can create the need for a product or service and fulfil it through his venture, which is indeed very expensive. He called upon the participants to identify which option they want to follow for their venture and pursue the same with passion and energy.

Sharing his views, Mr. Saran Prasad, Managing Director, Technology Client Service, Accenture stated that the fear of losing holds back the innovation spirit in India; successful people are rewarded and there is no recognition for people who try but fail. He suggested that young students should be encouraged to fail and learn, then only eventually they will be able to come out with innovative ideas , which could be converted into commercially viable products and services. He opined that most of times, innovations come from finding solutions to the existing problems but sometimes it’s about coming up with disruptive idea which later on becomes the need of the people in society. He called upon the participants to innovate and take innovation to higher levels.

Also present during the occasion were Mr. Neal Foster- eminent Actor, Director, Producer and an entrepreneur of global repute, Mrs. Pooja Chauhan- Vice Chairperson, Amity Humanity Foundation, Mr. Nitin Batra, Mr. Amol Chauhan and Prof. (Dr.) Balvinder Shukla, Chair-ICEL’2018 & Vice Chancellor, AUUP

During the occasion, Entrepreneurial and Leadership Excellence Awards were conferred upon young entrepreneurs, motivating them to next levels of excellence.

Ms. Sweta Singh, Co-Founder, Group E.D, MedAchievers & Genome Analyst & CEO, HR Biocare was awarded “Amity Young Entrepreneur Award”;Mr. Yogesh Kochhar, CEO & Founder, LyfOLyf was honored with “Amity Entrepreneurial Excellence Award”; Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Founder & CEO, Kennith Parkers TM with “Amity Entrepreneurial Leadership Excellence Award”, Ms. Manjula Mishra, MD, Holosafe Securities Pvt. Ltd. with “Amity Women Entrepreneurial Excellence Award” and others.

The three day Conference witnessed a “Start-Up Expo” wherein 30 Start-Ups by Students, Women Entrepreneurs and established Startup Companies showcased their products and services. The aim of the expo was to promote entrepreneurship ecosystem amongst students.

Students and Budding Entrepreneurs from Universities, Colleges and Institutions across the country showcased their business ideas, start-ups and early stage ventures during “Lakshya 2018 – A Business Plan Competition” and competed for Incubation and In-Kind Services.

The winners of “Lakshya Business Plan Competition”, “Best Innovative Design Projects”, “Start-up Expo” were also felicitated during the occasion.

During the day, various sessions on the sub-topics of the theme of the Conference were organized such as “Family Business - Growth and Succession”, “From the Drawing Board to the Boardroom - Creative Entrepreneurs”, “Role of Government in Promoting Entrepreneurship & Start-Up Ventures”, “Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, “New Frontiers in Start-up Innovation and Business Leadership”, “Corporate Governance in Entrepreneurial Organizations” and others were organized.

Dr. Sanjeev Chaturvedi, Director, National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (ni-msme), during his address in one of the concurrent sessions on “Role of Government in Promoting Entrepreneurship & Start-Up Ventures”, highlighted that MSME started Entrepreneurship in India from 1960 onwards and has been training National as well as International participants. He briefed that MSME has been acting as a game changer and along with training the participants, it has been helping the aspiring entrepreneurs in preparing the report of the projects, getting their loans sanctioned and finally, does the handholding for one year. He announced that very soon MSME and Amity will start a Training Programme for entrepreneurs across India, which will not only address different segments of entrepreneurship but also ensure that every participant becomes a success story. He called upon the participants to learn the maximum from the Conference and give back to society.

Dr. Ajay Garg, Director International Cooperation /eCommerce/IPR, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Govt. of India, while sharing his views, stressed that Entrepreneurship is about creating something new, creative and disruptive. He stressed that Innovation is at the core of a growing economy, which ensures the wellbeing and happiness quotient of the people of a country. He averred that two main challenges faced by India are poverty and unemployment and both are inter-linked. He shared that China had 75% of its people below poverty line in 70’s and with sustained efforts over the years, today China has been able to reduce it to 13-14% whereas in India, currently 46% of people are below the poverty line. He remarked that India as a country can prosper only when those 46% of people will prosper otherwise the disparity will hold back the economic growth. He expressed that best minds in the world never work for someone else; they work for their own selves and Entrepreneurship is a service to the Nation and its people. He commented that in India there is no dearth of challenges and problems, which can provide ideas for Innovation. For instance, if energy is the problem, resources which will not deplete are the solutions. He remarked that in order for Innovations to flourish in the country, Industry, Government and Academia need to come together and realize the dreams of India.