Indian Institute of Management Raipur organized the 6th Aakash Entrepreneurs meet on 7th December with the theme “Secrets of the Foodie Entrepreneurs”. Conceptualized and executed by the Consulting and Entrepreneurship Club, IIM Raipur, the 6th Aakash meet saw the presence of 11 entrepreneurs in the food sector from Raipur. The entrepreneurs addressed and interacted with the gathering of budding entrepreneurs from IIM Raipur and discussed about the challenges and opportunities in the food business.
Mr. Shafique, Owner, Madrasi Group of Hotels, has been serving the foodies of Raipur with delicious food for more than four decades. He touched upon the issue of the motive behind getting into entrepreneurship. He emphasized that only money can never be a good motive behind starting a business, it has to be concerned with satisfying the customers and in turn yourself. As far as quality is concerned, he firmly believed that you should offer to the customer only what you yourself would be willing to eat. He is currently working upon developing a training centre for creating a pool of skilled staff for the food business.
Mr. Prasanth S, co-founder KAPS ice creams, Winner of 3 medals in The Great Indian Ice cream Contest, talked about handling competition in business. He followed a philosophy of promoting his brand without trying to degrade the brands of competitors. He further mentioned that it was not wise to fight with big players in the business; rather creating your own market is much more useful. For the budding entrepreneurs, his message was not to wait but just dive into entrepreneurship and rest would take care of itself.
Mr. Jaideep Chawla, Founder, Mad Bakers has differentiated his offerings from the competitors by catering to a niche market of consumers with pure vegetarian(eggless) preferences. His business philosophy is based upon the dynamism of market. Accordingly, Mad bakers introduces 2 new products into the market every month after gauging customer feedback.
Ms. Mahi, Franchisee owner, Subway, discussed about the importance of training of staff in a customization focused business like hers. She shared her experience of how she has worked to build awareness about the customizable nature of Subway products and the value they offer to the consumers.
Mr. Divvya Pritwani, owner Tafri Café, Mr. Pranit Agrawal, owner Snack Attack, Mr. Priyank Patel, owner Nukkad the Teafe, Ms. Apurva Agrawal, a food blogger also participated in the meet and gave valuable inputs. The session witnessed gross interaction among the entrepreneurs of Raipur and the budding entrepreneurs of IIM Raipur. This was followed by a networking session where the participants interacted with each other on a personal note. The event proved to be a major value addition for all.
