with a view to familiarise PG students from both PGDM and MBA courses with the issues relating to starting entrepreneurial ventures. The two resource persons invited for the same were Dr Nikhil Agrawal, CEO, Foundation for Innovation and Research in Science and Technology (FIRST), IIT Kanpur and Mr Amitava Pal, Associate Dean IISM and Mentor AIM, NITI Aayog.

Welcoming the guests on the occasion, Director (Management) and President, IIC ITS, Dr Vidya Sekhri spoke about the goals of the IIC initiative and highlighting the objective of the session emphasized on the need and importance of Entrepreneurship during these turbulent times. She also referred to how, in spite of the constraints imposed by the pandemic, technology had afforded us the ability to have this interaction. She urged the students to use this pandemic as an opportunity to explore new business ideas and convert them into a venture.

The first eminent speaker Dr. Nikhil Agrawal discussed the various facets of incubating entrepreneurial ventures and the support provided by IIT in this regard.  He discussed the types of ventures that the IIT would willingly take into consideration irrespective of the educational institution of the student innovator with its nondiscriminatory approach. Frequently referring to his experiences at FIRST, he stressed on the fact that it was not necessary to have a background in the IITs to be an innovator. He pointed out that anybody with a promising idea was welcome to approach incubation centres such as the one he was associated with. He also referred to how innovative ideas from India had helped to combat the Covid crisis and oriented the students on design thinking. He exemplified this through the masks developed by his institute which were being used by leaders like the Prime Minister as well as other public figures and alluded to the development of ventilator technology.

The second distinguished resource speaker Mr. Amitava Pal shared his views on how venture capitalists and investors needed to be approached for any new project. He emphasised that what mattered was the idea and not where it came from. Accepting that it was not always easy to come out with an original concept, he said that it was necessary to distinguish one’s own creation from other competing ideas. He focused on ideation and the relevance of it from the customer perspective and also shared inputs on the precise extent to which ideas can be shared with investors.  While words like ideation are thrown about a lot, it was important to give proper thought to the same as the corporates are always interested in contributing to anything which holds promise. While an individual may have several ideas, one needed to start from the low hanging fruit, viz. those that are most possible to convert into reality. It was also necessary to speak to several people and develop one’s own network so as to have a better conception of one’s creation. He discussed the importance of strengthening networks and focusing on creation of a self brand that is able to pull people rather than creation of the product brand. He also highlighted the extreme hard work that needs to be put in by the innovator.

All the student participants were actively involved during the entire session as reflected in their rapt attention and they raised their concerns and doubts throughout the session. Such an interactive session definitely goes a long way in nurturing young innovators.

Wrapping up the session, Dr Rajeev Johari, Convener, IIC ITS followed the Director (Management), President- IIC in thanking the corporate guests along for making time for the interaction with the students and hoped that ITS would have the pleasure of having them for many more such occasions of thoughtful insights in future.