Aakash 8.0 - the Entrepreneurs' Meet

Aakash 8.0

There are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond our reach. – John S. Herrington

With this vision in mind, “Aakash 8.0”, the Raipur Entrepreneurs’ Meet, was organized by the Consulting and Entrepreneurship club on Wednesday, 9^th March 2016 to bring the dreamers and the innovators on a common platform with the industry to collaborate, collate and cogitate on their ideas and issues.

The event saw zealous participation from entrepreneurs across Raipur as well as entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs from different institutes like IIM Raipur, NIT Raipur and HNLU. The keynote speakers were Mr. Angad Rikhy, VC, Unitus Seed Fund, Mrs. Manjusha Pariyal, Management Consultant, ANM Consultant, Mr. Anshul Dave, Founder and CEO, Oceans Bridge LLP and Mrs. Ruhi Agarwal, Director, Shloka Birla School, Raipur and Bhilai, Prof. Sumeet Gupta, Associate Professor, IIM Raipur and Prof. Satyasiba Das, Assistant Professor, IIM Raipur.

The meet witnessed people discussing on plethora of issues related to startups that included inter alia opportunities for startups, sustainable business models, growth strategies, funding opportunities and challenges and building a healthy team. It provided a platform to the industry and academia to debate and deliberate on various issues and to collaborate to create synergies for mutual benefit.

Mr. Rikhy shared his insights on funding process and investment cycle and the need and sufficiency of external funding. Mrs. Pariyal shared her experiences on various facets like problems faced by a business right from incorporation to identification of market opportunities. Mr. Anshul Dave reminisced the challenges that he overcame to start up his own venture and urged the crowd to hold perseverance in their paths. Ms. Ruhi Agrawal shared her own life experiences as an entrepreneur and how lessons in life helped her in her journey. Prof. Satyasiba Das, Assistant Professor in the area of Strategic Management, IIM Raipur addressed the assembly on the upcoming incubation center and its benefit to the entrepreneurs of Raipur. Mr. Rajat Lakhotia, a student of IIM Raipur, gave a brief about the schemes and policies introduced as a part of Budget 2016. Entrepreneurs shared their business models, vision and challenges faced while aspiring entrepreneurs shared their unique business ideas.

The discussion ended with a unanimous consent of a higher learning curve for everyone present. With people from diverse fields, each gained newer insights with the aspiring young student entrepreneurs getting a step closer to give wings to their ideas. This was followed by an informal interaction where entrepreneurs shared experiences of their journey into the unknown, with each other and guiding the budding entrepreneurs towards achieving their dreams.

Aakash was started by the Consulting and Entrepreneurship club, IIM Raipur in 2013 with the vision to help start-ups, entrepreneurs and budding entrepreneurs to address the challenges in start-up businesses such as funding, resource allocation, hiring and planning as well as exploring business opportunities and building an entrepreneurial Eco-system in Raipur.