The 10th
edition of Aakash Entrepreneurs Meet was organized by IIM Raipur on 16th
September 2017. The event was organized
with the purpose of bringing together the entrepreneurs and students to network,
exchange ideas, discuss problems and deliberate on pertinent issues related to
entrepreneurship.
Aakash 10.0 saw the
presence of five successful entrepreneurs from Chhattisgarh. The dignitaries
included Mr. Rajeev Roy – CEO 36 Inc. which is the first business Incubator cum
Accelerator supported by Government of Chhattisgarh., Mr. Vikram Aditya –
Founder of Mediklik, Mr. Manish Raj Singhania – Founder of Ralas Mahindra
Dealers who is also the president of Raipur Automobile Leaders Association, Mr.
Gaurav Agarwal – Owner of GM TMT and Director at Real Ispat and Power Ltd. and
Mr. Kappil Jaswani – Founder of NextIdeas and Co-founder of SteelMint Group.
The speakers discussed several tangents of the common theme - "Myths and
Realities" associated with being an entrepreneur.
The event
kicked-off with the address from Mr. Rajeev Roy who shared from his experiences
the growing technological advancements across the world and the need for us to
be at par with those changes. He also expressed his concern about the limited
number of quality ideas emerging from Indian startups in an ecosystem with
abundant angel investors .This was followed by the address from Mr. Manish
Singhania who talked about the changing business landscape in Raipur and
further opportunities opening up in a rising service sector in the state of Chhattisgarh.
The discussion was further taken forward by Mr. Vikram Aditya who talked about
the need of being persistent and committed to one’s idea and having a firm
belief in the change you want to bring about .He substantiated this with his
own personal experiences and his self-belief that helped him move forward with
his ideas. He also emphasized on the significance of the timing of one’s idea
and how that can make a huge difference in the long run.
Mr. Gaurav Agarwal
then took the proceedings forward by using an analogy, comparing good business
opportunities with buses that are always running by thus emphasizing the need
of identifying good business opportunities in a rapidly changing environment. Mr.
Kappil Jaswani concluded the discussion and talked about the importance of
having dedicated people working towards a goal than the goal itself. He also
talked about the need of taking risks and embracing the outcomes while still working towards the vision.
The panel
discussions were followed by a networking session where the entrepreneurs
interacted with each other and conducted a Question and Answer session with the
students. The attendees asked several questions regarding the nuances of
entrepreneurship and businesses in general. A major take away from the
discussion was the need to embrace the change which is the only way to move
ahead in a fast moving business world.
