My experience of ‘Aakash’- The entrepreneurs meet

I was late for our 5^thAakash meet. With slight hesitation, I entered the auditorium. I had missed the lecture by Mr. Rahul Jain, however, by now Mr.Anand Singhania had already taken the center stage. Mr. Singhania is the MD of Avinash Group and belongs to first generation of entrepreneurs. He is commonly known for his impeccable aura, energy and enthusiasm in the circles and every bit of these qualities were reflected in him that day. There was an eagerness in his eyes to interact with the young minds of IIM Raipur.  Very vividly he touched upon the 10 lessons, which he has learnt over these years. He spoke of how he made the decision to be an entrepreneur and how he took that bold step. He ended with the note ‘follow your passion’, something which he has followed all his life. He then answered questions posted by lot of students and then made way for Mr. Ramesh Agarwal.

Mr. Ramesh Agarwal is the MD of Sambhav group.  There are very few people who remain grounded, in spite of having achieved a lot in life. Mr. Agarwal is definitely one of them. He is synonymous to humbleness and down to earth nature. He started his speech by stating that vision should be followed by perseverance in action. He said that if you really desire something and have faith in your actions and belief then the universe conspires you to achieve it. He showed a number of inspirational videos in his presentation. He explained the various challenges he faced during his initial days and how he overcame those.  He also stressed upon having good human relations and emphasized that employees should be given respect for the contribution they make. He added that the failure or success of a project depends upon the relationship between the owner of the company and the employees. He then answered questions based on attrition and business environment posted by the students.

After the motivational speeches by all the three guests, we had a high-tea event, where we personally interacted with each of the guests. It was interesting to see how each of them answered our questions and provided their valuable insights on infrastructure and power industries in Chhattisgarh. By that time it was already 8pm and it was time we see them off.  Soon arrived a sleek white colored Audi Q7 and a sporty Range Rover Evoque at the entrance of our main building to pick them up!

This is our (Junior CEC Group) first Aakaash meet which had bigwigs from the industry and we now eagerly wait to conduct our next Aakaash meet!

Navodaya J Chourasia

PGP 2014-16, IIM Raipur