25th July 2020: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Technology Business Incubation Centre in association with Startup Buddy has successfully conducted a four day workshop “Navodhyam Ki Paathshala J&K” – a unique online event that has been carried out in Hindi for broader reachout. JK Startup Association helped as Ecosystem partner in reaching out to local entrepreneurs for the event. The purpose of the workshop was to generate awareness regarding domains like Entrepreneurship, Importance of Intellectual Property Rights, Marketing Strategies, Customer Acquisitions and Management, Govt. led funding schemes, Technology interventions and importance of storytelling in entrepreneurship. This 4-day event witnessed overwhelming registrations of more than 500 students and aspiring entrepreneurs across the country.
Mr. Rahul Dev, Ex. Honorary Advisor-Speakers Research Institute, Parliament of India and Prof. Ravindra Kumar Sinha, (Padamshree) Chairperson GC & MC, SMVDU TBIC and Honorable Vice Chancellor SMVDU inaugurated the event and interacted with the participants. Speaking on this occasion, they emphasized on the changing business dynamics and how one should work towards solving common/complex problems via innovative solutions, the essence of PM Modi’s Vocal For Local call. They also shared that India is on the track to become self-sustainable and entrepreneurship could prove as one of the forces behind becoming aatmanirbhar.
The event was metaculiously designed in a way that it touched perspectives of the full cycle of Startups, from establishment, to operations, to funding through VCs and Govt. bodies and it concluded with interaction with highly successful startups. The workshop was moderated by Dr. Swarkar Sharma, CEO SMVDUTBIC and Mr. Amit Singal, CEO Startup Buddy.
Day one activity included session by Mr. Vivek Dhaiya, Director Startup Buddy who introduced entrepreneurship in his session. It was followed by “Introduction to procedures and formalities in setting up a start up” by Ms. Rakhi Singhal, Co-Founder Startup Buddy. The session generated awareness among the participants about how to initiate start-up operations.
The sessions started with Mr. Saurbah Jain, Vice President Paytm, sharing his experience on product development and strategies and many inspiring stories of his entrepreneurial journey. Next, Mr. Saurabh Trivedi, Director Startup Buddy, shared importance of intellectual property rights and how important is it to safeguard the innovations right at the beginning. It was followed by a session by Mr. Shaurya Garg, Founder Fundooworks, and shared his views on Customer Acquisitions and Management using various Marketing Techniques. He also shared his own entrepreneurial journey with the participants and inspired them to think out of the box to connect with their customers.
Day 3, started with Mr. Bibin Babu, Co-founder Blocspaze and Innowork, who emphasized on importance of storytelling while presenting the elevator pitch to stakeholders. He shared that it creates a huge impact on the potential customer/ investor and open many new avenues to explore for an entrepreneur. The event then moved forward with a very interactive discussion on various funding aspects by Mr. Amit Singal, CEO Startup Buddy and various financial aspects were discussed which gave confidence to the participants on how to deal with financial aspects of a business. Next, Mr. Mrutyunjay Suar, CEO of KIIT TBI took the session on various Government led schemes which are helping entrepreneurs and their innovative ideas to flourish. He presented a very neat description of various Govt. schemes at every stage of a Startup which generated awareness among all.
Last day of event was initiated by Mr. Amal PS, founder of Keito Works. He shared about the importance of technology and how technological interventions are changing the face of various traditional business. With it, the technical sessions concluded and it was followed up by interactions with successful entrepreneurs.
The first interaction was with Mr Vikas Bagaria, founder Pee Safe. He talked about how one incident inspired him to create a revolutionary product in female hygiene and how their Startup is expanding in other areas with many collaborations in their pipeline. He shared that one should always face the challenges and learn from them, keeping customer at priority always. The other entrepneurs were Ms. Sucharita Reddy, Co-founder Mera Cashier and Ms Varija Bajaja, founder Varija Lifestyle. They also shared their journey and challenges and how positive attitude brings success in everyday life. The session was concluded with Q&A round where the queries of the participants were discussed by esteemed mentors with many real-life examples. This 4-day event has provided a golden opportunity to everyone to share a common platform with these inspirational entrepreneurs and interact with them and get a closer look at their life and journeys.
Prof R.K Sinha, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, SMVDU congratulated Team TBIC and Startup Buddy for this event and contributing towards strengthening the culture of entrepreneurship in J&K and working relentlessly during this pandemic. He appreciated the efforts towards the goal of “100 startups JK” that was launched recently, an ambitious endeavour, powered by mentors and supporters like Startup Buddy, Indian STEP & Business Incubator Association (ISBA), We Group, K&S Partners, Adsatra IP, Boudhik Ventures and Institution Innovation Council (IIC) SMVDU and JK startup Association as ecosystem partner. SMVDU TBIC, supported by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India through various grants and schemes like establishment of Incubation Centre, NIDHI SSS and NIDHI PRAYAS etc as well as support of various stakeholders, is it anticipating the target of bringing 100 startups from the UT of J&K by 2021.
