Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme (EAP) - ENVISION 2024

The Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) and the Department of Management Studies of Saranathan College of Engineering jointly organized a one day entrepreneurship awareness and guidance programme titled “ENVISION 2024” - “Be a Unique Entrepreneur” on 05th October 2024, Saturday.

Chief Guest:

• Shri. K. Susil Kumar - Retd. AGM, Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation (TIIC), Trichy, Advisor to Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation (EDI), NIT-Trichy, Chief Business Officer for Tiruchirappalli Engineering and Technology Cluster (TREAT – Trichy).

Report on Envison2024

• The Chief Guest address was highly inspiring and informative, replete with examples of many start ups and their rags to riches success stories. The highly accomplished guest spoke about the need for the students to have a philosophical bent of mind so as to look within (inwards) for inner engineering, look out for opportunities and be a visionary and look beyond for unimaginable solutions to existing challenges in day to day life (thought leaders) and motivated the students to build the enterprise of their dreams. The need for creativity and innovation, out-of-the-box thinking, understanding the customer pain points in a product/service was emphasized. He stated that MSMEs can be undertaken in manufacturing, services and trading operations and such extra ordinary success stories are woven by ordinary people, who relished taking such initiatives. He spoke about the need for conformity as well as originality (divergent thinking) for thornier problems encountered by mankind in everyday life. The Chief Guest, in his inaugural address, stated the importance of MSMEs in providing employment and contributing to a country’s GDP.
• The Chief Guest address was highly inspiring and informative, replete with examples of many start ups and their rags to riches success stories. The highly accomplished guest spoke about the need for the students to have a philosophical bent of mind so as to look within (inwards) for inner engineering, look out for opportunities and be a visionary and look beyond for unimaginable solutions to existing challenges in day to day life (thought leaders) and motivated the students to build the enterprise of their dreams. The need for creativity and innovation, out-of-the-box thinking, understanding the customer pain points in a product/service was emphasized. He stated that MSMEs can be undertaken in manufacturing, services and trading operations and such extra ordinary success stories are woven by ordinary people, who relished taking such initiatives. He spoke about the need for conformity as well as originality (divergent thinking) for thornier problems encountered by mankind in everyday life.
• He remarked that breakthrough ideas, technology, team building, product development capabilities, building a minimum viable proposition (prototype), marketing, digital marketing, market research, a keen sense of awareness and an eye for detail, risk-taking, creativity and innovation are essential for becoming an entrepreneur. It was highlighted that MSMEs tap into benign and bountiful financial assistance provided by Government through District Industries Centre, nationalized banks and various such Government agencies such as Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation (TIIC), State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) etc. and to be successful, MSMEs must encourage financial discipline. The start ups are successful not only because they are innovative and futuristic but also because the owners of such start ups have a grand vision of organization’s growth, offering customer delight, scaling up rapidly, employing more and more people, contributing to the nation and society etc.
• Earlier, Dr. K. Karthikeyan, Professor and Head, Department of Management Studies and EDC Coordinator gave the welcome address. Dr. D. Valavan, Principal gave the presidential address, in which he stressed the importance of entrepreneurs as they are job creators rather than job seekers.
• The Chief Guest was adorned with a shawl by Prof. B.S. Chandramouli, Senior Professor, Department of Management Studies. Dr. V. Mahalakshmi, EDC Programme Coordinator, proposed the vote of thanks.
• In the afternoon session themed “MSMEs – Impact & Opportunities”, Shri. M. Ramalingam, GM, District Industries Centre spoke eloquently on business model, business plan, the competitor analysis, the financial forecasts of the proposed business, the various schemes offering assistance to MSMEs. The distinguished speaker spoke on the importance of UDYAM registration, which can be done online instantly and free of cost and added that UDYAM is the Government portal for MSME registration. He stated that there are many benefits to small start ups in the form of collateral free loans, soft loans, tax exemptions, subsidies on electricity bills, discounts on trademark, patent registration fees, exemption from stamp duty, registration fees, reimbursement benefits for ISO certification etc.
• There was another insightful session by Shri. Pranay Kumar Biswas, Senior Manager Credit, MSME, IOB, Trichy who spoke on the various financing schemes available to MSMEs. It was highly practical and informative.
• While the digital advances in the forms of mobile apps, internet have enabled people to express their creative intelligence and embrace their novel ideas and engage in such entrepreneurial ventures, there is still a stumbling block for game changing innovation in India’s start up ecosystem. User-centered design thinking mind set and ideation and lean start-up methodologies are some of the areas where students aspiring to become entrepreneurs need to work on. The eminent guest spoke on the need for learning these online by enrolling in courses offered by IITs and IIMs and exhorted the students with entrepreneurial dreams to cherish their stellar innovative ideas, approach unconventional partners, seek banks for marketing and financial assistance, think in unpredictable and non-linear patterns and yet be human centric, which calls for deep reflection. One needs to be quick enough to conceive ideas for paradigm shift in business and at the same time be wise enough to not rush through the process of ideation and launch since human centric empathetic solution requires diligent and careful, meticulous thinking. He stressed the need for such start ups to be compliant with the laws of the land, have a good relationship with the banks by ensuring a good CIBIL score, and be socially and ethically responsible in doing good and great business.
• The programme was well attended by 120 I year and II MBA students and nearly 47 students of engineering branches, interested in taking a plunge into entrepreneurship.

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