NEN - Faculty Inspirational Stories

FACULTY INSPIRATIONAL STORIES

INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurship education calls for a revolutionary approach driven by inspiring, progressive, skilled and experienced faculty leaders. These faculty leaders work with successful entrepreneurs to initiate, support and drive entrepreneurship activities on campus, convince their Directors and Owner managers to focus on entrepreneurship education and development holistically, invest in their own understanding of venture creation, entrepreneurial issues and entrepreneurs’ attitudes, launch courses, drive campus companies, support student entrepreneurs and help graduating students launch their entrepreneurial careers. They also play the role of mentors to entrepreneurs in the community to help them manage and grow their ventures successfully.

The National Entrepreneurship Network’s decade long experience in Institutional Capacity Building in India shows that such inspired, skilled & networked faculty are a force by themselves and are creating mini entrepreneurship revolutions on campuses across India! NEN has 3000+ faculty members in various core disciplines engaged in entrepreneurship and trained nearly 2000 faculty members at various levels including teaching and mentoring till date from inception.

NEN has a key focus on continuing to identify and develop such faculty leaders, resourcing them with knowledge, skills, networks and relevant content so they are more successful. We believe emerging nations need such faculty in hundreds and thousands to transform their countries through entrepreneurship education.

The transformational stories featured herein showcase the development of robust campus ecosystems led by sheer commitment and passion of the faculty to create meaningful impact.

We hope that many more dynamic faculty will emerge in the network inspired and motivated by these pioneers in entrepreneurship education and their contribution to vibrant campus ecosystems.

Not just an entrepreneur educator, Prof Atul Bharat is also a key player in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in and around Indore. While his initiatives have supported hundreds of students and entrepreneurs in starting their ventures, his plans of spreading the spirit of entrepreneurship among school students is set to have an even bigger and far-reaching impact.

A key resource in Indore’s entrepreneurial eco-system

Atul N Bharat - A pivotal resource in the local entrepreneurial eco-system Subrat Kar, a final-year engineering student at Indore’s IPS Academy, built Ooggi.com, an SMS-based search engine network that delivers search results on a mobile phone, a few years ago. The idea was nurtured when he was mentored by Prof Atul Bharat, then faculty at IPS, and current faculty of Acropolis Institute of Technology and Research, Indore.

For Ooggi to work, Subrat realized that it had to be either heavily subsidized or offered for free. He was however not sure which strategy to adopt. Prof Atul helped him to convert his idea into a full-fledged business model that explained how the search service could be monetized through advertising revenue.

Equipped with the knowledge and skills gained and strengthened as a result of attending NEN’s various courses, in particular, the Prototype to Market: Commercializing Your Idea course, Prof. Atul was able to effectively guide Subrat. Conducted in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology and the Wadhwani Foundation, ‘Prototype to Market’ equips faculty members with the skills to help entrepreneurs get their products off the drawing board and into the market.

Subrat did indeed get this product off the drawing board. He acknowledges Prof. Atul’s support saying, “By the end of (his session), I had understood my market... I also realized that it made no sense to target only the poor. Even the rich need quick, convenient access to information.” Prof. Atul helped Subrat in customizing his marketing strategies and getting customers.

Ooggi soon signed up retail giant Future Group, and four local restaurants.

Over a hundred students under Prof. Atul’s guidance have graduated and stepped into a career of entrepreneurship in the last four years alone. He re-energized Syem and Srijam, the E Cells of ‘IPS and Acropolis’

“Prof Atul helped me to convert my idea for a mobile based search engine into a full-fledged business model. By the end of Prof Atul Bharat’s session, I had understood my market, identified my customers, and assessed my competition. ” - Subrat Kar, Founder, Ooggi.com

respectively. His drive and inspiration resulted in Acropolis seeing 29 student ventures and Campus Companies starting up! 14 of them including Papyrus Paper Recycling Company, EventTricks, ByteSplit Technologies, Heaven&Hell Events Indore and Virtual Indore also competed in the TATA NEN First Dot contest.

At the national E-Week 2013, organized by NEN to encourage entrepreneurship, Prof Atul was instrumental in the Acropolis Group winning three national-level awards including the Overall Championship Award. It was a noteworthy performance, given that a total of 530 colleges from 30 cities of India participated in the events!

organic farming, as well as various Campus Companies, in both IPS Academy and Acropolis, that sell t-shirts, gift items and confectionaries.

Under his stewardship, IPS won the E Week championship a number of times. Another feather in his cap was that around 80% of the students selected by TCS during campus placements were E Cell / NEN members. In the Acropolis campus, Atul identifies around 15-20 strong venture ideas each year and works with them as they build the start-up.

Prof. Atul practised mentoring with a ‘reverse approach’ -- he started mentoring practising entrepreneurs first. He believes that since it helped him understand the work approach, expectations, problems and challenges of established Becoming an entrepreneur entrepreneurs, it made it easy for him to guide student educator and aspiring entrepreneurs with practical/industry knowledge and Currently the Group Director of add more value to their ventures/ the Career Development Cell ideas. and Chairperson of the Center • Helped create 111 graduate for Entrepreneurial Innovation at A key resource entrepreneurs in just four years Acropolis, Atul has personally and professionally benefited a lot after in Indore’s • 29 student ventures and Campus attending various NEN courses.

Companies were started under his entrepreneurial guidance.

Atul’s journey as an entrepreneur

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eco-system

educator started with the • Supported over 507 entrepreneurs in Being an inspiring Entrepreneurship Educator various stages of starting up. entrepreneurship educator has Course (EEC) that he attended • 14 ventures guided by him competed made Prof.

Atul Bharat a wellin 2007-8 while at IPS Academy. in the TATA NEN First Dot contest. known name, especially as he has Co-developed by NEN and been a long-time member of NEN Stanford University’s Technology • Supported eight institutes in the as well as industry bodies like CII, Ventures Program (STVP), EEC region in setting up entrepreneurship Young Indians, PHD Chamber of helped him provide students with training for students Commerce and FICCI. knowledge of entrepreneurship and choose that as a career Atul is a sought-after speaker option if they so wished. He for conferences, workshops and other events related to subsequently conducted workshops for students on various entrepreneurship. He is regularly invited by various institutes entrepreneurial topics like idea generation and opportunity in and around Indore to talk on establishing entrepreneurship evaluation, prototyping, marketing, e-commerce and legal ecosystem on campus. He supports around 8 institutes in the compliances. region in setting up entrepreneurship training for students.

Atul strengthened his skills by attending NEN’s Mentor He is also assisting an equal number of faculty across the Development Program and Advanced Level courses. institutes, in establishing the entrepreneurship ecosystem The Tools for Growth Workshop helped him work with on their campuses. entrepreneurs at the growth stage, to help them assess Well connected in the entrepreneurial community, Atul is growth opportunities; learn how to manage cash for growth; able to help both his students and graduate entrepreneurs and develop the required organizational capabilities. with the right references. He has advised and helped six Over the past few years, Atul has supported over 507 other institutes in the region including Sanghvi Institute entrepreneurs at various stages of their ventures. He has also of Management and Science, Sushila Devi Bansal College mentored a few start-ups in diverse sectors, from training to

of Engineering and Govindram Seksaria Institute of Management And Research (GSIMR-earlier known as IITM) set up entrepreneurship training for students in their campuses.

Atul and Acropolis management have recently initiated the Indore Entrepreneur Network, a start-up chapter involving around 25 early-stage entrepreneurs. IEN organises events to provide guidance and solutions to problems faced by member entrepreneurs.

Nurturing Innovation and Managing IP Prof. Atul has helped launch a patent cell, the Acropolis NEN CII Intellectual Property Protection Centre (IPPC) at Acropolis campus as a part of the Young Indian (Yi) initiative on campus. This initiative, in partnership with CII Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) and NEN, caters to NEN member institutes across Central India and engineering colleges across the state. It helps support students, faculty and community entrepreneurs in knowledge dissemination regarding Intellectual Property and in filing patents. By helping students and budding entrepreneurs in activities and understanding of laws related to patents, protection, copyrights, trademarks, etc., the IPPC aims at encouraging them to be more innovative and in the process benefiting the entire region in terms of industrial growth and overall socio-economic development.

Plans for the future To set up infrastructure on campus, he, along with his team, is planning to start up an incubation centre and a mentoring unit for start-ups. He also wants to develop a school of excellence, with all facilities for entrepreneurial communities, where established as well as aspiring entrepreneurs can interact, share knowledge and grow together.

What’s more, he has already started laying the foundation for his dream of taking entrepreneurship development to schools.

Atul feels the trait of leadership and entrepreneurship need to be ingrained into the minds of students during their school days.

Atul also helped Mr. Awasthy, the Principal of Chotram Public School start an E Cell in the school. This won the school NEN’s recently launched School Innovation Award.

In NEN’s E Week 2013, the Acropolis team took up the initiative to raise awareness on entrepreneurship in school students with the help of the 50 Rupees exercise. This involved getting student teams in schools to think of an idea, start a ‘company’ investing a maximum of Rs. 50, and by the end of the exercise, evaluate how much they have earned and learned. The idea behind this activity was to encourage the entrepreneurship capabilities and creativity in students right from their young age. Acropolis reached around two lakh students from 1400 schools in Madhya Pradesh – this helped them bag the NEN E Week @ School Award for engaging the highest number of school students.

Prof. Atul Bharat’s initiatives have already helped hundreds of students and entrepreneurs; his plans only promise to impact thousands more!

Atul believes a mentor should treat the venture as his own, without any ulterior motives, while supporting a mentee in his/her business. This spirit has ensured he is able to provide the best possible advice to his students and entrepreneur mentees.

At the We School, Mumbai, entrepreneurship, innovation and design are not just taught, they are put in practice. One faculty member has played a significant role in creating this environment.

Enabling the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

In November 2011, Priyanka Amar wrote a business plan for a venture to help people set up urban farms or kitchen gardens in densely populated Mumbai. She was a student of the Business Design Program at the We School (formerly Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research), and was mentored by NEN Faculty Leader Prof. Kaustubh Dhargalkar in her initiative.

Having developed kitchen gardens at home, she wanted to take it up at a professional level and help others do the same. Kaustubh vetted her plan; with his help, she carried out extensive market research to understand what impact the business can make. She started off soon after graduation with just one maali (gardener) and an investment of 50,000 Rupees from her personal savings. Kaustubh helped her in networking with customers, including households, builders and corporates, and reaching out to investors. He had also helped plan for scaling up, getting visibility and brand positioning.

Cut to 2014, Priyanka and her venture iKheti has a growing list of customers and plans to pitch to investors. In no time, her venture had matured into a team of eight. Priyanka credits her mentor for showing her the right direction – helping her decide to take up entrepreneurship, instead of opting for placements!

Prof. Kaustubh had joined Welingkar as a professor in 2006. Soon after, with his deep interest in entrepreneurship, he reached out to NEN and started engaging with the network’s activities. This also helped him setup the E Cell as a student-run initiative to encourage entrepreneurship.

In the last three years (2010 – 2013), more than a dozen businesses have been started by We School students on campus and many of them continue to build their ventures even after passing out. Apart from iKheti, Campus Companies that became full-fledged ventures include Opulent Infotech, Vibrant Holidays and Zapp Party Solutions.

Even after five years, Springs Innovations! was not out of the woods.

Prof. Kaustubh started mentoring me actively specially in revenue generating options, marketing, and product development and delivery. He helped me steadily gain confidence in my ideas, decisions and most importantly, my imagination.”

— Savita Rajeev, founder of Springs Innovations!

Innovation at Welingkar

My introduction to structured and formal mentoring was through NEN. Their Mentor Development Programs organized in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, was very useful. I got handson experience in mentoring, with a couple of entrepreneurs allocated to each of us faculty members to mentor, as part of the program.

- Prof. Kaustubh Dhargalkar

In 2008, We School launched an innovation lab called InnoWE Center for Innovation and Memetics, under Kaustubh’s leadership. One of the key focus areas of the lab is business design management, which helps businesses to improve their ability to solve problems and innovate, based on design thinking methodologies. The centre also looks at memetics, an emerging field that explores the relationship between socio-cultural trends and business opportunities.

The innovation lab was a pioneering concept – the earliest such initiative in any B-school in the country. Completely self-funded by the institute, it is open to all students on campus and serves as a space for students to brainstorm and prototype their ideas. According to Kaustubh, “It has become a magnet attracting more students and an effective support system for ventures.” InnoWe also organizes activities like ideation contests, toy-making contests, concept shows, meetings with entrepreneurs, and film-making contests.

The success of the lab and the impact of Kaustubh’s innovation-centric approach are evident in the number of students associated with the Business Design Program, one of the programs at InnoWE. From just 30 students initially, over 60 students are part of the program today. Many of these students are actively starting new ventures based on what they have learnt in the lab.

The Business Design Program integrates design thinking and innovation process into mainstream management subjects. It offers a holistic view of the human aspects in business, the economic, social, cultural and technological context of the environment, and a research orientation, analytical and leadership skills.

The Business Design Program also includes a credit-based elective on entrepreneurship in the second year of the course. Kaustubh incorporated many ideas from NEN programs he had attended into this course. His own experience as an entrepreneur — he had had a 15-year stint running companies he had founded, before moving into teaching — helps him give students a practical view of entrepreneurship.

Personal Growth With a passionate interest and belief in innovation and entrepreneurship, and his experience as an entrepreneur, Prof. Kaustubh is now an effective educator, start-up mentor and academic leader. He currently is: •

ssociate Dean, Business Design and Innovation, A We School

•

Head, InnoWE Center, We School

•

entor at the Center for Innovation and Enterprise, M IIM, Ahmedabad. Facilitator of workshops for entrepreneur associations

•

Contributor of articles on entrepreneurship.

Women Program help their mentees assess growth opportunities, learn how to manage cash for growth, and develop the required organizational capabilities.

In 2011, Kaustubh participated in the year-long Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (CBFW) - NEN Mentor Development Program. This program aims to build mentoring skills, and give information on entrepreneurial marketing, finance and fundraising, so participants could hand-hold women entrepreneurs starting businesses.

The CBFW-NEN program sessions involve both faculty mentors and entrepreneurs in its two modules, Getting to Market and Entrepreneurial Finance. This helps faculty participants build on their knowledge of taking a product or service successfully to market, as well as learn critical concepts and tools for financing options, valuations, structuring deals and exit strategies.

Over the years, Kaustubh had sought out various courses to enhance his own learning. In 2007-8, Kaustubh had attended the yearParticipants get to apply their long NEN Entrepreneurship learning by mentoring the Educator’s Course (EEC) • Established an innovation lab on entrepreneurs who are part comprising of a series campus of the program. Kaustubh of Faculty Development • Developed a number of programs on was assigned Savita Rajeev, Workshops, co-developed entrepreneurship for this students who had founded Springs

by NEN and Stanford Innovations! to nurture the • Enabled starting up of over a dozen University’s Technology creative thinking of young ventures by students on campus Ventures Program (STVP). The people, in 2006. In the five training under international • Successfully transformed from an years, Savita had executed entrepreneurship educators entrepreneur to an entrepreneur over 130 projects. She had like Tina Seelig from Stanford mentor, supporting students and reached out to more than and John Mullins from growth stage entrepreneurs 3000 children and her London Business School, and products were well received. access to world-class content However financially, her helped develop programs venture was still not doing for his own students. well.

He started conducting workshops for students and motivating them to view Kaustubh helped Savita focus on revenue generating entrepreneurship as a career option. options, marketing, and product development and While the introductory courses gave Kaustubh the delivery.

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knowledge, skills to start facilitating entrepreneurship, Tools for Growth, a Mentor Development Course that Kaustubh attended in 2010, exposed him to a formal mentoring process. It equipped him to support growth stage entrepreneurs. Participants in this course conducted under the Goldman Sachs 10,000

One of the critical steps was to profile the market.

Kaustubh asked her incisive questions like: Who is your market? Who understands you? By addressing these questions, she was able to zero in on the needs and requirements of her market and customize her products accordingly. Kaustubh encouraged her to re-

think the venture’s core offerings and position it better so the audience could connect with it. She realised the venture’s core offerings – innovation and creative expressions were not tangible concepts. She needed to communicate her offerings clearly to her customers.

She created strong messaging using videos and visual presentations, that helped them understand what she could do and how it would benefit them.

Kaustubh facilitated a tie up of the We School with MIT, Massachusetts for a Venture Mentoring Platform. We School has now set up a formal six-member mentoring board on campus to support entrepreneurs. Kaustubh himself is currently supporting 5 student entrepreneurs and an equal number of practicing entrepreneurs; 12 students mentored by him have successfully started ventures in the last three years.

From targeting individual students directly, Savita started looking at corporates. She acquired Kokuyo Camlin, Kelloggs and others Fortune 500 firms as customers. Thanks to Kaustubh’s guidance, she was able to increase her impact – reaching six times the number of young people that she could earlier, in a given time.

Prof. Kaustubh is not just an inspiring entrepreneurship educator and mentor, but also evangelizing entrepreneurship on campus and in the community. He is a driving force behind various initiatives on campus, like the innovation cell and Business Design Program, and We School’s focus on innovation. He is clear proof of the heights faculty can reach when it comes to equipping themselves, tapping into community resources and making an impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

A sustained period of one-on-one mentoring with Kaustubh helped – Savita says, “Kaustubh helped me steadily gain confidence in my ideas, decisions and most importantly, my imagination.”

Knowledge and skill building through NEN’s training are very practical. For example, I have absolutely no credentials to teach anything related to entrepreneurial finance. The Entrepreneurial Finance course offered by John Mullins of London Business School has however helped me a lot in terms of structuring commercial facts to run businesses and giving it a theoretical framework. Today I offer the Entrepreneurial Finance course on campus and the students like the practical approach to complex information on finance. NEN intervention has helped me a lot.”

— Prof. Kaustubh Dhargalkar, L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Mumbai

Armed with formidable experience in teaching entrepreneurship for over two decades, Radhika Meenakshi is an entrepreneur, educator and mentor specializing in support for SMEs and women entrepreneurs.

A Resourceful Mentor Impacts Thousands!

While working at her husband’s automotive-machinery manufacturing unit, Bala Tripura Sundari saw how the industry struggles to find adequately trained technical professionals. This galvanized her to start Involute Institute of Technical Training, which trains students with diplomas and engineering degrees, for the automotive industry.

Bala soon realized that she needed help in grasping the fundamentals of running a business: for example, which markets should she tap into? How? While she was making strategic decisions, how could she be sure that those were the right ones?

This was when one-on-one mentoring sessions helped bring the required focus and rigour. Her mentor, Prof. Radhika Meenakshi Shankar, an NEN faculty member helped her analyze the market and the right resources to tap into. For example, while she initially targeted markets in Karnataka, Chennai and Maharashtra, she had not really paid attention to the market in her own city, Hyderabad. Radhika advised her to tap into the local market, showing how there was actually a huge market and potential for what she was doing.

This turned out to be the critical turn-around for her business and Bala shares she starting making revenues right away!

Prof. Radhika started her career as a management faculty in finance and commerce. For over two decades, she has taught at many reputed colleges

TechWINE, Bhupendra Singh’s Delhi-based venture, was constantly strapped for cash. Client payments were always delayed and he was never able to pay vendors on time. Running a company that installed fiber cables, and maintained software and hardware systems, Bhupendra’s primary issues were lack of product clarity and a haywire cash flow process which was affecting his working capital.

Identifying this, his mentor Prof. Radhika Meenakshi Shankar helped him re-organize and streamline the way he managed his finances. She worked with him to do an activity-based costing in order to prioritize his business segments; restructured payments to allow an advance payment cycle from clients and a delayed payment cycle to vendors; and trimmed needless expenses by moving all transactions online.

I had reached the stage where my business was surviving literally hand to mouth. Thanks to Prof.

Radhika Meenakshi Shankar, all that is an old story now. She helped me re-organize and streamline the way I managed finances.”

— Bhupendra Singh, Founder, TechWINE, New Delhi

and universities across India. She is a consultant at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, ALEAP and has recently turned an entrepreneur, having founded Wise Owl Consultancy in Hyderabad.

WiseOwl provides consulting, training and mentoring for entrepreneurs and corporates. Radhika supports a number of academic institutes and non-profits. She is also on the advisory board of a few start-ups. She has established a personal network with investors and banks and, very importantly, entrepreneurial organizations too.

Engaging students Radhika’s interest in entrepreneurship development was kindled while she doing her doctoral study on Change Management of MSMEs. As a faculty of finance at BITS Pilani, Goa campus, Radhika had got involved with the E Week 2006 celebrations, when the students asked her for help in creating an entrepreneur case, ‘The Lala’s Hotel’ which looked at how an MBA graduate innovates his father’s small business operations.

The experience encouraged her to attend NEN’s Faculty Development Program during 2007-2008. The experiential format and well-designed pedagogy of NEN’s courses equipped her with extensive knowledge and skills in the area of entrepreneurship. She soon took these courses to her college students and community entrepreneurs, customizing them as per their needs.

At Amity University, an NEN member institute, Radhika launched an E Cell ‘Ideate’ that engaged students in entrepreneurial activities. The E Cell raised awareness on entrepreneurship through social media and blogs.

It also organised E Melas, where students whose ideas were vetted, setup stalls to sell various items on campus. Creating a business plan and accounts after the exercise gave students a hands-on experience of running a venture.

Teaching courses in Entrepreneurship and Finance, with an NEN-influenced syllabus, gave her an extra edge, says Radhika. There was a sea change in her teaching methodology – she reworked the content to make it very application-oriented and experiential, using practical exercises and real-life cases. “Students loved it,” she says, effusive in her praise for NEN’s pedagogy.

One of Radhika’s mentees was Krishna, an entrepreneurship graduate from Babson’s College, volunteering with Bhumi, an NGO working for the upliftment of the poor. Krishna was setting up a micro-entrepreneurship platform for residents of Rasoolpura, a large slum in Hyderabad. With Radhika’s support, she worked out a model where micro-entrepreneurs like carpenters, electricians and plumbers could team up to provide household management services.

Though the group disbanded later when Krishna moved out, Radhika considers the initiative a success – she says, “It brought awareness of entrepreneurship and showed how people can work together.” They also brought out a database of micro-entrepreneurs. Radhika continues her association with Bhumi and its women’s Self Help Groups, helping small entrepreneurs with advice and funding leads.

Not only did Radhika evangelize entrepreneurship in her own campus and E Cell, she also reached out to E Cells in other institutes like IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur, soon becoming an advisor there as well.

Radhika also helped launch Amity’s BBA program in Family Business Management, that provides students skills and knowledge to deal with the complexities and intricacies of running a family business. Further, as part of Amity’s contract with the defence department, she developed an Executive Education Program in Entrepreneurship for the Armed Forces under the Defense Rehabilitation Program. She continues the engagement with the armed forces at Hyderabad through her consultancy WiseOwl. Through WiseOwl, Radhika also consults with Vignan University Guntur and Vasavi College, Hyderabad. She is helping the Vasavi management with entrepreneurial activities, setting up a formal MSME incubator and designing IP strategy. She is also helping her alma mater, PSG Krishnammal College set up an incubator at Annur and the Periyar Maniammai University at Thanjavur to setup a Technology Business Incubator.

Community impact In 2009, Radhika attended ‘Tools for Growing your Business’ , a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs’ Workshop. It provided faculty participants with the content, delivery, and application techniques to enable them to deliver a Growing Your Business (GYB) workshop to women entrepreneurs in their own communities. The Goldman Sach’s 10000 Women initiative seeks to expand “the entrepreneurial talent and managerial pool in developing and emerging economies - especially among women.”

In 2011, she followed up with the Kick-Starting Ventures workshop. The course had John Mullins of London Business School providing a framework for evaluating business ideas and setting business goals. It helped attendees provide mentoring and run short-duration courses for entrepreneurs on the critical issues in starting a new venture.

Help Groups and micro-entrepreneurs. ALEAP is a 20year old organization supporting women’s economic empowerment. The CED division focuses on training and consultancy for women entrepreneurs.

Radhika is working with Dr Reddy Foundation on skills training, and supporting their Train the Trainer program. She supports ventures with starting up, business model, cost efficiency for business process etc.

Radhika’s programs reach out to rural corners of Andhra Pradesh where she teaches ideation, business modelling, costing and setting up a venture. She has also taken sessions in about 10 entrepreneurship awareness camps across Ranga Reddy district, Warangal, Ongole, Vijayawada, Tirupati, and Hyderabad reaching out to more than 200-250 students each time.

Radhika also heads the South East Chapter of BYST, a youth business mentorship organisation. They identify Radhika says, “The program opened up new young growth entrepreneurs, especially women, help perspectives and opportunities with its hands-on them get loan-ready. She was instrumental in getting approach. It changed the an MoU with Indian Overseas way I teach.” The program Bank for loans for women attendees went through entrepreneurs. For instance, several case studies and she helped Usha, a young mentoring dry runs.

• Developed a course in family business businesswoman expand for students her 12 year beauty parlour Since then, Radhika has operations, with a loan of Rs • Developed an Executive Education engaged and taught nearly 6 lakhs. She is also helping Program in Entrepreneurship for the 1400 entrepreneur aspirants her refine her revenue model Armed Forces. over 27 workshops. Of beyond beauty services, the 1400, more than 612 • Supports a number of academic getting into retail sale of are women. She has also institutes and non-profits. On the beauty products. conducted seven programs advisory board of a few start-ups. for women entrepreneurs.

Prof. Radhika Meenakshi is • Taught nearly 1400 entrepreneur a multi-faceted personality Radhika teaches the Acara aspirants over 27 workshops. Of the and has created a strong – IIHS course on Funding 1400, more than 612 are women. She personal brand for herself, for Social Entrepreneurs, has conducted seven programs for over the years. With a 2 day program. She is the women since August of 2011. special focus on women facilitator for workshops at and MSMEs, she has helped National Institute of Micro, hundreds if not thousands Small and Medium Enterprises (NIMSME) conducted of entrepreneurs learn and execute better, as they for participants from India and other SAARC countries. launched and build their businesses.

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As a consultant for Association for Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh (ALEAP), she supports Women’s Self

Young achiever

Sheenu Jain: Young academic supports Jaipur’s entrepreneurs Former students of the Jaipuria Institute of Management in Jaipur running their own ventures often turn to their alma mater for support. It is not just these entrepreneurs who benefit; the current batches of students too gain in terms of knowledge and network.

“We have a mentoring cell here, so they come, speak and share ideas,” says Dr Sheenu Jain, Assistant Professor at the institute and winner of the ‘Emerald Educator’ award for significant contribution in developing a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem on campus.

Dr Sheenu Jain’s association with entrepreneurship and NEN started almost a decade ago in Kolkata when she was a young management scholar at IIM Kolkata. As it was an NEN member institute, she got the chance to handle summer projects of interns and connect with entrepreneurship networks.

This was followed by a stint as an assistant professor in IBS, Noida where she was also its E Cell coordinator. Her involvement in entrepreneurship continues to this day and can be clearly seen in her current engagement with Jaipuria Institute of Management.

Sheenu is also one of the youngest faculty members who has been able to gain knowledge, skill and credibility as an entrepreneurship educator in a very short time span.

Impact on Campus Sheenu received her Ph.D. in Green Marketing (incorporates a broad range of activities including product modification, changes to the production process, sustainable packaging, and modified advertising), after an MBA (Marketing), Master of Commerce and MSc in Applied Psychology.

“Sheenu though younger to me, is such an inspiration and I’m truly grateful to have her as a mentor. After spending time with her, I get a sudden boost of confidence about my business idea and always feel as if I can accomplish anything; that it is possible for someone like me to reach this level of success.”

-Akanksha Patni, founder of Kalakriti, a business that makes coconut and sea shells handicrafts.

With more of a marketing background and no formal training in entrepreneurship, NEN’s Entrepreneurship Educator Development Course was the trigger that gave Sheenu the drive to create awareness and inspiration among students and engage them in entrepreneurship activities. “It was more exciting to get students to be employers instead of just employees,” she says.

Subsequent to completing the NEN Goldman Sachs Mentor Development Program in 2010, Sheenu has been certified as an NEN Goldman Sachs Faculty Scholar. She was also the London Business School and Goldman Sachs sponsored candidate for certified workshop for 10000 Women Entrepreneurs: Tools for Growing your Business, Nov 2009 – Jan 2011.

Sheenu was instrumental in introducing a core course in NEN’s courses have inspired and guided Sheenu as she Entrepreneurship as part of the PGDM curriculum in Jaipur. designed and developed the various entrepreneurship Other Jaipuria colleges at Noida, Lucknow and Indore modules at Jaipuria. “Most of the content I use is from the different NEN courses which I have also adopted this course. have attended. Almost 60 percent Jaipuria has a capsule course for is from the NEN course material, students in the second semester including the pedagogy learnt that offers hands on experience in during the faculty development entrepreneurship, right from the • Created awareness about programs,” she adds. idea generation to opportunity entrepreneurship activities on campus evaluation, activities, webinars and Interactions with senior faculty • Instrumental in introducing the story sessions. The capsule course during training programs further

Entrepreneurship course as part of the

differs from the regular curriculum enhanced Sheenu’s knowledge

MBA curriculum in Jaipur.

Followed by

as it is more experiential as and helped her develop impactful

other Jaipuria institutes countrywide. opposed to classroom teaching. workshops and courses. She also • Mentoring 5 student entrepreneur and credits the international faculty in A third semester three-credit 1 graduate entrepreneur, including the NEN courses. “I got a chance entrepreneurship course two student ventures from other to be with professors like John combines theory and practical campuses Mullins from London School of learning, right from converting Business and learn from them.” one’s business idea to a business • Initiated tie ups with industry bodies model and creating a business like CII, TiE, etc to foster plan to building advanced skills in the entrepreneurial students. It gets those interested spirit on campus.

Sheenu is the Chairperson in pursuing their ideas ready to for Prayaas - Centre for • Manages EDC, mentoring clinic and launch their ventures. The institute Entrepreneurship Skill and innovation centre on campus in is planning to launch New Venture Development, the E Cell at addition to being an advisor for electives in the fifth semester Jaipuria.

The E Cell was started Prayaas, the E Cell where such students will be with the support of NEN and a assisted with related formalities • Leveraged alumni entrepreneur grant from AICTE. It was set up such as registrations and licenses network to support students with the objective of creating a and connections to useful robust entrepreneurial ecosystem networks. in Jaipur.

NEN IMPACT

Sheenu credits NEN training, guidance and pedagogy for much of her interest, education and success with entrepreneurial coaching. Attending sessions like IP strategies for Business, Business Plan and Business Models and Getting to Market have equipped her to work as a resource in different entrepreneurial activities in and around Jaipur.

Besides boasting an impressive library on entrepreneurship topics, Prayaas organizes guest talks, mentoring for student and non-student entrepreneurs, case presentations and training programs throughout the year to promote entrepreneurial culture at the institute. Sheenu has helped mould the E-Cell to become an independent body.

Sheenu also manages the institute’s Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC), innovation centre and mentoring clinics. Her future plans include starting an

incubation centre on campus in collaboration with technical institutes.

• Ravi of Robotonics that conducts robotics courses at engineering colleges,

Sheenu has initiated collaborations with other entrepreneurial associations like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Young Entrepreneur Forum, StartUp Oasis (a Jaipur-based incubation centre), Google Business, Time Startup Network, FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Milagrow (an organization which runs SME series, entrepreneur conclaves, cluster studies based out of Delhi) and PhD Chambers, an industry association.

She has also organized workshops like Kickstarting Ventures and Strategies for Growing Businesses, in other colleges in Jaipur including Global Institute of Technology, Poornima Institute of Technology and Banasthali Vidyapeeth for both students and faculty.

• Nishant of Schoolmates, a modern alert system for parents to keep track of their child’s academic performance and class schedule.

Young and enthusiastic mentor Sheenu’s engagement with students extends right from creating awareness and inspiring them to motivating and mentoring, support and planning all entrepreneurship activity on campus. She says, “I also support them on their business ideas.” Sheenu also connects students to the right leads often from the NEN network, for funding or sales for their business as and when needed.

On campus, Sheenu has been mentoring three Campus Companies. They include Dip n Dry an on-campus laundry facility, Print Station, a much-needed facility to serve the students’ printing needs, and P Kubes, a one-stop tuck shop for their snack needs.

Sheenu also mentors an alumni entrepreneur and two student ventures from other colleges. Her mentee and Jaipuria alumni Abhishek Soni started Brand Kahani, a portal that shares stories behind brands. Other mentees of Dr Jain include: • Swati Jain, founder of Srajan, a venture involved in making wedding gifts and bridal trouser decor • Archana Surana, founder and director of the Arch Academy in Jaipur that offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Fashion and Textile Design, Jewellery Design, Crafts and Accessory Design, Interior Design, Design Management and Design Communication, with national and international certification

Mentoring sessions with Sheenu are energising entrepreneurs’ experiences. Parul Bhargava of ‘New Creations’, a new venture that makes paintings out of industry waste says, “The first session alone has been an amazing and an incredibly boosting experience to start my own business.” She adds that she gained knowledge and got to meet people, many referred by her mentor, who could help her in venture.

Sheenu also works with students from IIM Udaipur and from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun on their business plans and proposals.

Personal Growth As a popular and well-acknowledged entrepreneurship educator at the institute, the B-school community in Jaipur invites Sheenu Jain to lead workshops and courses.

As a certified trainer from the first batch of “Train the Trainer” NEN program, Sheenu was among the top 15 faculty members selected across the country. NEN’s constant support has helped her to strategize on improving the quality of entrepreneurship initiatives on campus, while NEN’s resources have helped her to leverage her research and case writing skills. With her continued effort and support from NEN, Sheenu Jain is now a recognized name as an Entrepreneurship Educator and mentor in Jaipur.

From a new faculty without any exposure to entrepreneurship, Prof. Radha Iyer has transformed into a leading entrepreneurship educator and award-winning mentor, inspiring and enabling countless students to start their own ventures.

How she is evangelizing entrepreneurship and changing the mindset of several 100s of students

Prof. Radha Iyer - Inspiring and Championing Entrepreneurship “I came to college to get a good job. Two years on, I walked out with a job in hand but with entrepreneurship on my mind.” With this, Saikat Ghosh, a recent graduate of the Entrepreneurship Management course at KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR), Mumbai, encapsulated his college’s and in particular, faculty member Prof. Radha Iyer’s efforts in championing entrepreneurship education on campus.

Prof. Radha Iyer is synonymous with entrepreneurship education at SIMSR. She has, in the past few years, spearheaded various initiatives that have encouraged students to dive into the interesting and challenging world of entrepreneurship. She has done so by setting up centres to develop entrepreneurship, organizing events, and launching courses on entrepreneurship-related subjects.

When Radha joined SIMSR as faculty, she had considerable industry experience in hospitality and retail sectors but very limited exposure to entrepreneurial programs and projects. The institute’s head encouraged her to attend NEN programs, and that got her started on teaching and mentoring entrepreneurs.

Thanks to the commitment of the college management and Radha’s enthusiasm, entrepreneurship is now a core focus at SIMSR. Many Campus Companies started at SIMSR in recent years include Let’s Talk Books, Food 9, Snackbar, Gandhigiri Shop and Tapri.

Since 2007, at least 20 students from SIMSR have started their own ventures.

Many of them have been mentored by Radha– five of them have started their own ventures in the last four years, as have also a few community entrepreneurs. Most of them attribute their success to Radha’s guidance and support.

“Prof. Radha helped me in every way– connecting me with angel investors, aiding in networking through TiE, ensuring my participation in NEN workshops and mentor programs, and simply being available whenever I reached her.”

— Avipsha Banerjee, Cofounder easyration.com and Head, Roshni, a nonprofit based in Delhi that builds employability skills in underprivileged women and girls.

Introducing Entrepreneurship to Students In the mid-2000s, entrepreneurship was a new discipline at SIMSR. Radha credits NEN’s courses like Entrepreneurship Educator Course (EEC), part of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, co-developed by NEN and IIM Ahmedabad, and the Building Technology Ventures, part of the Faculty Development Course series, that she attended in 2006-08, for giving her a strong foundation on the subject.

NEN’s Mentor Development Program which was a part of the Goldman Sachs 10000 Women program also helped her get started in providing students with mentoring support.

She has played a key role in the launch of five different courses or electives related to entrepreneurship on campus E n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p, Creativity and Innovation, Managing New Ventures, Social Entrepreneurship – Acara, Entrepreneurial Finance and New Venture Marketing (co-created along with Dr. Poornima Chauhan). She used content from NEN’s programs while designing these courses.

Pathfinder organizes guest lectures by alumni and projects with alumni. It also organizes various events like Ennovate, a business plan writing workshop, Eyedea, a b-plan contest, Samavesh, a panel discussion and Nostalgia, the alumni reunion. SIMSR, under Radha’s guidance, also hosts NEN E Week, an annual entrepreneurship event that leads to idea generation and networking for student entrepreneurs. It involves students across different streams / courses and not just those who are a part of the E Cell. The number of participants in its business plan competition alone has grown from 3 students initially to a large number from over 30 institutes.

NEN IMPACT • Enabled around 20 students from SIMSR to start their own ventures.

• Launched several courses in entrepreneurship at SIMSR • Set up an Entrepreneurship Development Center at SIMSR in partnership with AICTE. Faculty Advisor to the E cell on campus

• Conducted a 24 day certificate course for 13 entrepreneurs

• Facilitates Management Development Programs on creativity and innovation in to other organizations including Powergrid, MERC and Reliance.

• The entrepreneurial spirit on campus.

• Manages EDC, mentoring clinic and innovation centre on

campus in addition to being an advisor for Prayaas, the E Cell

• Leveraged alumni entrepreneur network to support students

Radha also inspired other faculty members in getting into entrepreneurship education.

Radha started engaging with students at the then newly setup E Cell, Pathfinder, on campus. As faculty advisor to the E Cell, she involved alumni in the initiative and guided students who wished to take their ideas forward.

According to Radha, “Students awareness about entrepreneurship has increased through various activities.

SIMSR has an innovation and entrepreneurship committee with faculty members like Prof. Prema Basargekar and Rushi Anandan who work as a team to guide the E Cells.”

founder of Crossword Book store.

With SIMSR being an NEN member institute, its students have reaped the benefits of the entrepreneurial network. Radha shares an example, “The students attended an NEN-TiE networking event in Dec ‘06 and immediately found mentors for the Business Planning course during that session. They were also able to organize guest speakers for the E Cell courses from the contacts they made there.” One of the beneficiaries of this session was a student team from Foody, a Campus Company, which was mentored

by R Sriram, the

Radha not only mentors and encourages her students but also speaks about their ventures in her classes. More importantly, she has helped many with networking and sales leads. For example, she helped Charvi Parekh of Me2Green, a voluntary organisation working in the area of environment conservation, with networking leads.

Radha has also contributed to the setting up of the Entrepreneurship Development Center (EDC) at the institute in partnership with All India Council for Technical Education

(AICTE). Its purpose is to conduct guest lectures, case study competitions, concurrent projects with entrepreneurs and business plan competitions, and help campus companies.

To provide international exposure to the students, Radha facilitated a tie up for a social entrepreneurship program with Cornell University, USA, as well as with Acara, a social entrepreneurship program run by the University of Minnesota. She also worked on SIMSR’s alliance with University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, and launched the Entrepreneurship Management Course in collaboration with them. This course enables participants to generate new ideas for businesses, evaluate opportunities, write business plans, start-up and grow a venture. It also draws from the experiences of entrepreneurs to provide the practical ‘contact sports’ component.

Inspiring students Radha has inspired many of her students to choose entrepreneurship as a career. Avipsha Banerjee is one such person. After winning a couple of business plan competitions, Avipsha sought Radha’s help in refining her idea and building her business plan to start easyration.com, an online grocery site, along with her husband. In addition to providing the necessary knowledge and information to Avipsha. Radha also connected her to investors and helped her network within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Avipsha and her husband however later found that they were not completely prepared to meet the various challenges and requirements of a growing venture. Faced with cash flow and other issues, they sold their venture to their competitor.

Radha remained a pillar of support through the trying times.

Avipsha frankly admits, “I owe everything I have done in my venture to her - she has been my support system. Her faith in my ability to do something in life even when I chose to exit out of my venture has helped me learn in every way and become a better human being.”

Personal Growth After over a decade of working for corporates including ITC and Marico, Radha shifted to academics. By that time she had acquired a diploma from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition (IHMCTAN) Mumbai and a Masters in Administration Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai.

Radha, who holds a doctorate in Training and Development from SNDT, Mumbai, writes extensively on areas like

entrepreneurial education, women entrepreneurs, training and development, and innovation.

An Associate Professor at SIMSR, Radha also serves her college in different capacities including that of as Coordinator, PGDM Executive Program, Chairperson, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell, and Chairperson, Alumni Committee.

Radha shares her knowledge of entrepreneurship beyond her college too. She is currently a lead faculty in NEN’s Faculty Development Programs at KSEC - Poona, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Durgapur and Indore. She also teaches at Mumbai University and of a few engineering and pharmaceutical colleges in Mumbai and MITCON. She was recently invited to teach courses in entrepreneurship in NEN-supported institutes IIM Ranchi and IIM Udaipur.

Radha was awarded the Vittal Mallya NEN scholarship for the Entrepreneur Educator Course (EEC) and the Wadhwani Foundation – ISB Scholarship for ISB’s Certificate Program in Entrepreneurship Teaching. She is also a recipient of the NITIE-NSTEDB Entrepreneurship Education Award and the National Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Faculty Advisor Award, 2010, for social entrepreneurship.

The biggest impact of Radha’s efforts can be seen in the students’ mindsets. Initially apprehensive, many students have now developed a keen interest in entrepreneurship.

Radha successfully facilitates entrepreneurship education on campus and helps provide direction to many a student’s entrepreneurial dreams.

Prof. Rama Vaidyanathan heads the Biotech department at Dr MGR University, managing it as a profit centre, strategizing its long-term growth and sustenance. Her entrepreneurial spirit also enthuses her students, many of whom have started successful ventures.

Entrepreneurship is NOT just for business students

Rama Vaidyanathan - An Entrepreneurial Mind in the Heart of Biotechnology From the time she joined Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute at Chennai in 2005, Dr. Rama Vaidyanathan was quite content with her work and responsibilities as Head of Department of Biotechnology, till B Vishnu Priya from NEN’s marketing department persuaded her to join NEN’s Entrepreneurship Educators Course (EEC) program in 2009.

Today she is thankful for Vishnu’s persistence because she has discovered the challenge behind Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute’s mission ‘To encourage our students to be job creators and no job seekers’. Although not new to the idea of entrepreneurship since her spouse is an entrepreneur in the automobile sector, Rama had not realized its place in an institute like Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute till she attended the NEN program.

When the institute was founded in 1988, it started out as Dr MGR Engineering College and evolved into Dr MGR Education and Research Institute, a deemed university in 2003. Chairman A C Shanmugam set the direction towards entrepreneurship - the university adopted a mission of encouraging students “to be job creators“. In line with this, the institute joined the NEN network in 2009.

In a private university like Dr. M. G. Ramachandran Educational and Research Institute, each department operates as a profit centre and members treat it like an entrepreneurship unit. This allowed Rama to utilize what she had learned from the NEN program in her own Biotechnology Department, and strategize its long term growth and sustenance. She recently received a two year funding for Rs 30 lakhs from the Department of Biotechnology for a project on ‘Validation of a screen for the identification of Inhibitors of Carbapenemases from Microbial Biodiversity’.

“Prof. Rama helped us get mentors who helped us with different aspects like marketing, networking etc. She also helped market the idea within the university and we managed to get the project for developing the website for the institute’s e-cell.”

- Ranjith Srivathsan, Founder, Oculus

Over the last few years, many students at the institute have selected entrepreneurship as their career path. One engineering student started an environmental consultation venture while another started a web design company. Piyush Shardha, an E Leader mentored by Rama, started a chain of personalized gift stores in Hyderabad after graduation. Within the campus too, the Electrical and Electronics Engineering department runs a service center for electrical equipment, while another student group has been successfully creating websites, including the institute’s e-cell website.

of innovative ideas, where the institute will provide with some seed funding and support for selected projects

Rama explains how such events such as the E-week are only the first step towards creating interest in entrepreneurship.

The next stage is to help create small ventures. In 2013, one of the institute’s Campus Companies Viosys (now renamed ‘Oculus’) started by a second year B.Tech student Ranjith Srivathsan, providing web design, development and other services, was shortlisted at the TATA NEN First Dot – the national platform for student startups. Ranjith says “Prof.

S Karthik, a PhD student in Prof. Rama’s biotechnology’s Rama helped us get mentors who helped us with different department founded Axiogen Biotech in 2008 focussed aspects like marketing, networking etc. She also helped on development, market the idea within manufacturing and the university and we commercialization managed to get the of marine-based project for developing bioproducts.

It the website for the • Strategizes long term growth and sustenance of her was initially a oneinstitute’s e-cell.” biotechnology department and manages it like a profit centre. man show with Dr. Sathiamoorthy, Karthik taking • Received a two year funding for Rs 30 lakhs from the a student of Rama’s care of everything Department of Biotechnology for a project started Vinzi Sperri in from production to • Offers various programs on entrepreneurship in her September 2009.

The marketing.

Under university and other campuses, including a certificate course on company specialized Rama’s guidance, entrepreneurship in juices and jams Karthik learnt to made from fruits • Of the various students that she mentors, one runs a biotech start delegating and and vegetables. firm that has an annual turnover of Rs 50 lakhs, while another one’s scale up. She also Inspired by the set of food products firms see a total turnover of Rs 40 lakhs offered the institute’s institute’s mission, lab for his research Sathiamoorthy and development. decided during Axiogen Biotech is his masters in doing well today Microbiology that and has reached an he would be an annual turnover of Rs entrepreneur.

Encouraged by the institute and faculty, 50 lakhs. especially his head of the department Rama, Sathiamoorthy Rama is also the Coordinator of Arizone, the E Cell at campus. developed different recipes during his doctorate in Food In addition to taking sessions at the E Cell, she liaises between technology. The institute helped with networking and lab the management and the E Cell students to make sure that facilities for his work. the E Cell gets the required funding and facilities. As part of its activities, she runs a certificate course for six Saturdays Today, Vinzi Sperri has a monthly turnover of about Rs 10 every semester on entrepreneurship. The E Cell celebrates lakhs and the products are available in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, an E-week annually where NEN provides starter kits with Karnataka and Delhi. Sathiamoorthy has started working badges, caps and other goodies. Students showcase their on expanding the distribution abroad, to Malaysia and business ideas and engaged in discussions and debates on Dubai as well. Recently, he diversified and started two entrepreneurship and its challenges. The event has seen more companies that concentrate on millet-based snacks increased participation from other colleges as well. Rama and cookies, the latter reaching a turnover of Rs. 30 lakhs a also hopes to get the ‘Innovation to Incubation’ program month. started soon as part of the E-cell. This will be a competition Besides the EEC’s 5-module program, Rama attended the “Business Models and Business Plans: Getting It Right” and

NEN IMPACT

“Successful Growth: Project to Process” courses at NEN. She also attended a one-day program on mentoring; these helped her in evaluating business plans and helping with valuation for startups. Rama has continuously engaged in learning more and has taken online courses like the Stanford Program on Design Thinking Action Lab and a course on Creativity conducted by Dr. Tina Seelig, the Executive Director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP).

Rama has become a regular member of the visiting faculty at many colleges in and around Chennai like MOP Vaishnav College for Women, Sathyabama University, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), etc. At these institutes, she runs workshops, camps and other programs related to entrepreneurship. For example, at VIT’s entrepreneurship camp, Rama has a half day session on Creativity. She also plans to offer a two-credit mandatory course on Entrepreneurship in the Department of Biotechnology from the 2014 academic year.

Rama says the real challenge is to break the myth that entrepreneurship is only for business students; students in regular streams can also become successful entrepreneurs with the right approach and guidance. 20 year old Ranjith sums it up with “Starting a company is not a big deal; it is sustaining it and making it grow that takes all the effort.

There will be problems along the way, but one just has to figure out a way to make it work and keep at it.”

By helping others create ventures, Prof. Rajashree Jain pushes for technology being converted into applications. Coming from a technical background herself, she believes that any innovation without commercial application or helpfulness to society is useless. Encouraging entrepreneurship on campus gives her the opportunity to help students put technology to good use

Helping others create ventures

Encouraging technology entrepreneurs in Pune When a core technology expert gets into entrepreneurship education, it can lead to a number of successful tech ventures. Prof. Rajashree Jain proves exactly that!

The winner in a business plan competition in 2008, U Town — a Campus Company at Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research (SICSR) —has been the learning ground for many young business minds. When the students managing the venture pass out, they hand it over to their juniors like a prized rolling trophy. Selling university merchandise such as branded t-shirts, hoodies, caps, pens and mugs on campus, U Town has taken the meagre investment of Rs. 5000 to a turnover of Rs. 60,000 today.

“If we are to teach entrepreneurship to students, what better way than through first-hand experience?” asks Rajashree Jain, professor at SICSR. Rajashree began her career at SICSR in 2003 teaching technology subjects such as Digital Electronics, Microprocessors and Computer Organisation.

She has since come a long way. Today, she oversees activities of the institute’s student-led E Cell, teaches entrepreneurship courses, mentors students and community entrepreneurs, and collaborates with the community to encourage local entrepreneurial projects among her students.

Rajashree’s journey in entrepreneurship education began eight years ago when an opportunity to manage entrepreneurship activities at SICSR opened up - she took up the task, hitting the ground running in no time.

Prior to 2006, entrepreneurship-related activities at SICSR were sporadic.

In an effort to formalise it, the institute initiated setting up an E Cell on campus. Rajashree was among the core team that helped set up Arsh, the college’s E Cell, in January 2007.

There was a spark in my first conversation with Rajashree Ma’am…

Even after I set up my business successfully, every time I had trouble or needed help, I reached out to her.

She has guided me every single time. She has allowed me to tap into her network of experts, without which I couldn’t have reached where I am today -Sushant Shrikant Katare, Netlux Systems Private Limited

“As I was born and raised in a community of entrepreneurs, interest towards entrepreneurship came naturally to me. When the chance came to take it up professionally, I was very interested” says Rajashree.

The E Cell was only the first of many changes Rajashree helped bring to the entrepreneurship ecosystem in SICSR. Within a few weeks of setting up the E Cell, she enrolled for NEN’s Entrepreneurship Educators Course (EEC). This led to her official transformation from a technical educator to an entrepreneurship education professional.

“The curriculum of management education was new to me. It was the first time I came across tools like case studies.” Rajashree says. Subsequently, she received a scholarship to attend NEN’s Entrepreneurship Educators Development Course (EEDC) that helped her design a focussed entrepreneurship curriculum for SICSR. As a result, she introduced various basic modules like Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Management. Since then she has been teaching courses like Idea Generation, Opportunity Evaluation and Business Research Methodology at SICSR. She simultaneously continued working on expanding the activities and scope of the E Cell. As its activities grew popular and number of successful entrepreneurs increased, more students from different streams began seeing the benefit of formally learning entrepreneurship.

After my Mentoring Skills Finishing School from NEN, I have changed my approach from ‘giving advice’ to that of a ‘listener and an inquirer’ who helps entrepreneurs answer their own questions — Rajashree Jain

“Because of the IT skills we teach in the institute and the general buzz around entrepreneurship that E Cell creates, a positive environment always exists on campus towards setting up one’s own business”, says Rajashree.

Rajashree also brought in several external consultants for workshops on specific topics she didn’t have exposure to, like legal issues in incorporating one’s own business, tax savings and accounting etc.

The E Cell today organises the annual E Week festival Chrysalis, a grand gala event with participants from across the country which includes workshops, panel discussions, my-story sessions, Rupees Fifty games, quizzes, and business plan presentations.

As the E Cell was growing in number, interest and popularity, Rajashree knew that working in a silo – restricting activities to the campus – might not give her students a wholesome experience. “Students need to step out

of the campus and try their hand at applying their ideas in the real world”, she says.

One of the most common ways her students do this is through what she calls pre-incubation where students spend their six-month internship semester nurturing their business ideas and testing the waters of entrepreneurship.

This is the research/ ideation/ business planning stage of a venture during which time students come up with their own ideas of a venture. It is heartening to note that in the last couple of batches at least one student has translated the ideas into real ventures.

In parallel, tapping into her personal network of self-help groups and cottage industry enterprises in Pune, Rajashree provides her students connections and opportunities to collaborate with community entrepreneurs. The students support those small businesses in computer system-related requirements while getting a chance to understand those businesses at the same time!

For instance, when Rajashree was invited to monitor and report the use of plastic at the Baramati Agri Expo in Pune — a large exhibition cum marketing event for over 4000 community entrepreneurs — she grabbed the opportunity to offer a real-life experience to members of the E Cell.

has helped my confidence a great deal.” says Rajashree. It improved her approach to mentoring, getting her to listen more and ask incisive questions.

Since 2009, Rajashree has formally mentored six entrepreneurs, most of who still keep in touch with her and reach out to her for help as and when required. One of them is Sushant Katare, founder of Netlux Systems Private Limited, an anti-virus and mobile security development company.

Sushant acknowledges the guidance received from Rajashree, “She gave a methodical approach to my entrepreneurship dream. She would ask me to write down my ideas, elaborate on my thoughts, which helped me in giving a proper shape to my business.”

Sushant, who began as an independent consultant five years ago, has now taken Netlux to a company of almost 40 employees and a turnover of three crore rupees! From his early days discussing business models and profitability with Rajashree, Sushant is now exploring international growth and compliance initiatives.

NEN IMPACT

• Set up the E Cell at SICSR to encourage student activities on campus

• Developed course in entrepreneurship for UG and PG students

• Successfully mentored six

Rajashree is understandably proud of her mentee.“I met Sushant Katare at one of the local engineering colleges in 2009. He was then in third year of engineering, eager to set up a company of his own and build software”, says Rajashree.

“Since then, he has gone on to become one of my most successful mentees.” she adds.

entrepreneurs in five years Rajashree devised a questionnaire • Built a entrepreneurship ecosystem on to understand the needs of the campus community entrepreneurs, thus giving her students a practical From a shy, soft-spoken professor lesson in business research. of microprocessors, Rajashree has The questionnaire enabled the come a long way since her first students to understand the collaboration with NEN. With every course she has attended, entrepreneurs’ markets and identify skill gaps in the latter. In she has contributed to the growth of entrepreneurship an effort to fill these gaps, in less than three months of the culture on campus and off.

Not restricting herself to confines exhibition, E Cell members trained these entrepreneurs in of the university, she has mentored and supported many various skills like basic computer, internet, file management, budding entrepreneurs and community business ventures. packaging, marketing and branding.

During her stint overseeing the E Cell and discussing business ideas with students, Rajashree saw an acute need for formal mentoring on campus. She signed up for the NEN Mentoring Skills Finishing School, a two-day workshop to identify, train and empower motivated faculty to effectively support entrepreneurs. It includes a structured mentoring apprenticeship, and she gained hands-on experience in helping entrepreneurs overcome their challenges. “It

For Rajashree, entrepreneurship education is about an empowering ecosystem—of spirited students, experts, opportunities and mentorship—which she has carefully nurtured over the years.

With his evangelical enthusiasm towards entrepreneurship and support from NEN, Prof.

Soumya Chakraborty mentors entrepreneurs, helping them network and connect to the larger entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Connecting Young Entrepreneurs to the Ecosystem

Bhupesh Sharma is shrinking the traditional windmill. His start-up Breson specialises in designing small wind turbines and pumps. His small windmills can be placed on rooftops and can be used as a backup power option. They are expected to become a cost-effective solution for generating renewable energy at cheaper rates for the retail market.

Bhupesh, a former Business Design student at the We School, Bangalore, had won the top position at NEN Tata First Dot in 2012. Prof. Soumya Chakraborty, his mentor, points out Bhupesh’s success as an example of how a student venture can thrive in a conducive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Bhupesh, who attributes much of his success to active mentoring by the faculty at his institute, developed the idea in his campus. A series of brainstorming sessions between the two resulted in Bhupesh taking to piloting his product in the corporate market first rather than directly entering the retail sector. Further, through his mentor’s network and leads, Bhupesh was successful in getting a few customers too.

Attending NEN’s Entrepreneurship Educator’s Course (EEC) during 2007-08, while a faculty at ISBR Business School, Bangalore, got Soumya interested in teaching entrepreneurship. He soon started conducting entrepreneurshiprelated workshops for students. Under his stewardship, Innocentive, ISBR’s E Cell, become the national champions at NEN’s Entrepreneurship Week India, 2009, from among 400 institutes from 30 cities!

Currently Manager – Management Development Centre and Faculty - HR and OB at the Bangalore campus of We School (formerly Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research), Bangalore, Prof. Soumya is an NEN-certified entrepreneurship mentor.

Now, in his fifth year at We School, he is focusing on evangelizing entrepreneurship to students. He notes, “Out of 15 students who evince interest in entrepreneurship, at least one of them turns out to be serious about entrepreneurship.”

Upon joining We School, Soumya worked on resuscitating the defunct E Cell Praarambh on campus. The E Cell, though functioning informally, responds to request for help from students keen on venturing into

Prof. Soumya brings a spirit of academic enquiry into our discussions forcing us to address elements in our business model which we would have otherwise ignored.

He has been most generous in opening up his network to us, thereby expanding our access to experienced individuals in our sector.

—Suneel Pillai, Founder, Kollido, Bangalore

business. Recently, students Karan and Madhur got support to start a waste management venture; they are piloting a plan to process waste into compost and have already started getting revenues.

With NEN’s guidance, We School has taken a holistic approach to developing entrepreneurship. The institute has programs to create awareness on entrepreneurship, programs that hand-hold students starting up as well as several classroom and experiential programs. Along with his colleague Dr. Madhavi Lokhande, Soumya has organized entrepreneurship workshops, and other events, like Pappu Can’t Sell Sala – an initiation program into entrepreneurship for the junior batch at We School, Srijan – a business plan contest and E Idiots – an intercollege entrepreneurship festival.

NEN IMPACT

for faculty is excellent!” He adds that the advantage of NEN’s faculty training programs is that these have a very clear outcome-oriented structure, which enables the faculty to implement the learning on campus. He cites an example, “After we did the Entrepreneur Educator Course, we went back and actually designed a course for (student) entrepreneurship.”

Soumya has put the knowledge gained over the years through NEN programs and through peer interaction to good use - he is closely associated with a unique prototype and innovation lab on We School Bangalore campus, which is based on the InnoWe lab at We School, Mumbai.

Over the years, Soumya has mentored a dozen student entrepreneurs.

He is currently mentoring a couple of students and a couple of young entrepreneurs. One of them is an IIMC alumnus who has founded an internet start-up which provides information on various products available for rent in different cities.

The young entrepreneur is working with Soumya to handle challenges like scalability and managing demand.

Soumya has, like other evangelical faculty • Designed a short course on entrepreneurship in the NEN network, for MBA students built and enhanced his own knowledge • Helped setup a prototype and innovation lab and understanding on Bangalore campus of entrepreneurship • Mentored many community entrepreneurs and through the NEN Faculty graduate entrepreneurs development programs.

He acknowledges • Maximized connects for entrepreneurs to the Kickstarting Your network resources including funding, expertise Ventures program etc. that helped him gain • NEN faculty expert and facilitator for different an understanding entrepreneurship programs across Bangalore of critical issues in starting a high-potential • Develops and customises entrepreneurship startup, including programs for various academic institutes.

Another entrepreneur assessing opportunities, Soumya is mentoring, testing business plans, is Suneel Pillai, founder and understanding of a soon to-be-launched online platform.

Suneel organizational requirements of early-stage companies. acknowledges his support in helping him redo his The Tools for Growth workshop prepared him to work business model, “Prof. Soumya has been involved with with entrepreneurs at the growth stage - to help them our start-up from the very beginning and he brings a assess growth opportunities; learn how to manage cash spirit of academic enquiry into our discussions forcing for growth; and develop the required organizational us to address elements in our business model which we would have otherwise ignored.” Even more importantly, capabilities.

Soumya opened up his network to the young team, Soumya credits the support received from NEN. “I thereby expanding their access to experienced think the whole support system that NEN has created individuals in the sector.

NEN’s vast network enables students and mentors to tap into various leads, be it for funding or industry expertise or potential customers. Soumya credits the support of the NEN network that facilitated an automotive electronics start-up he was mentoring, get funded by the startup accelerator Morpheus.

network is constantly expanding to include venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, non-profits and experts in the ecosystem. Another effect of NEN’s programs is the transformation in his teaching style which has become highly experiential and includes a number of case studies and activities.

As an NEN Faculty Leader, Soumya has acquired the capability to develop programs as per the need and requirement of B-School campuses across the country.

Invited to be part of the NEN Entrepreneurship Educator Panel, Prof. Soumya works as a resource in developing courseware and training entrepreneurship educators in and around Bangalore.

Over the years, Soumya has transformed into a strong entrepreneurship educator and mentor, utilizing NEN’s training and content resources, and the several opportunities he has had to network with peers and share best practices with international and national experts.

Formerly an Assistant Professor in Corporate Relations with ISBR Business School, Bangalore, Soumya worked in recruitment before getting back to academics.

He was awarded the Ramaswamy P Aiyar – Best Young Teacher Award 2013 as recognition of his immense contribution to teaching, innovative pedagogy, executive education, international collaborations, student mentoring and development, research and entrepreneurial support.

His initiation into NEN and interactions with entrepreneurs helped Soumya realize that he was enjoying the experience while also learning a lot in the process. One of the direct outcomes of working with various entrepreneurs on their projects is that his

Ask him what the core of being an entrepreneurship faculty is, and Soumya says, “You need to have entrepreneurial passion, without which you cannot go and teach entrepreneurship. If you don’t love the subject, you can’t teach it.”

Personal Growth

About Wadhwani Foundation Wadhwani Foundation’s primary mission is economic acceleration in emerging economies. To achieve this, the Foundation launched five high impact Initiatives in India, with the goal of creating and filling 25 million jobs through 2020.For job creation, the Foundation established the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) in 2003. NEN has built a strong network with 600 colleges, 4000 mentors and 3200 faculty in India that continue to inspire, educate and support emerging entrepreneurs.

For job fulfillment, the Foundation has set up the Skills Development Network (SDN) which supports colleges, high schools and employer initiatives for entry level mid-skill jobs. SDN works with MHRD and State Govts. providing support to vocational education programs in 500+ high schools and 200+ UGC colleges and 100+ companies. SDN uses a technology platform for skilling by integrating online/in-class skills education through a digital/video curricula and pedagogy.

Wadhwani Foundation’s Opportunity Network for Disabled (OND) aims at mainstreaming the educated disabled into sustainable, high quality corporate jobs. Research and Innovation Network (RIN) has created two model research institutes at IIT-Bombay and NCBS, Bangalore to accelerate ground-breaking research on local and global challenges. The Foundation’s Policy Research Centre provides data driven research inputs for informed policy actions in the area of economic growth, while the Wadhwani Chair on US-India policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a leading bi-partisan policy “think tank” in Washington, D.C, aims to accelerate India-U.S economic activities.

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