Inauguration Ceremony Of 'Centre For Entrepreneurship Development'

The Inauguration Ceremony of 'Centre for Entrepreneurship Development' was held on 16th January 2020 at 3.30 pm in the Auditorium, Management Block, Lavasa. Shri Kiran Deshpande, President TiE Pune, Co-Founder - Mojo Networks, Ex-CEO Tech Mahindra was the Chief Guest.

Entrepreneurship is considered as the engine of economic growth and development of any country. With a growing economy like India, having an increasing youth population, ‘budding’ entrepreneurs would be the key driving force to meet the needs of the industry and economy. Dr Ambuj Gupta welcomed the Chief Guest and introduced the objectives of this initiative.  The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at CIML aims to inspire, enable and research entrepreneurship. The Centre intends to serve as a ‘catalyst’ for promoting education, research, training and consultancy in the area of entrepreneurship.

The chief objectives are to promote entrepreneurial awareness; cultivate and nurture entrepreneurial spirits. An effort will also be to pursue capacity building initiatives for identification, development and commercialization of innovative ideas and to assist students and aspiring entrepreneurs in every stage of the lifecycle of an enterprise– right from inspiration, ideation and initiation, to incubation, investments and internationalization for both mainstream innovations as well as ventures around social innovation and sustainability.

One of the objectives are to act as a platform to create an interface between academia, business and research; develop strong network of all ecosystem players viz., entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, students and alumni. It will also foster growth of innovation driven entrepreneurship and facilitating the emergence of competent entrepreneurs who can make global impact. Apart from these the initiative will develop and share thought-leadership that establishes the Christ University as a global knowledge locus for entrepreneurship; and provide a critical resource for entrepreneurs, mentors and investors. The students will benefit from undertaking joint research projects and collaborative works with institutes/universities of national and international repute which are interested in entrepreneurship development within the country and abroad.

Regarding proposed activities, the aim is to run various long as well as short duration courses/certifications related to multiples themes of entrepreneurship development, set up incubation cum accelerator centre on the campus, organize Entrepreneurship Awareness Camps, Entrepreneurship Development Programmes, Faculty Development Programmes and Skill Development Programmes in the university for the benefit of students, faculty and other external participants. The centre also intends to organize business plan competitions / conferences / symposiums / seminars / investors meet, etc. with active involvement of industry and alumni.

Mr Kiran Deshpande is the Co-Founder - Mojo Networks (Now an Arista Company) - Massively Scalable Cloud Managed Secure Wi-Fi technology). He is a Charter Member and President of TiE Pune (Charter Member since 2009) and has mentored over 20 start-ups. His other accomplishments include Angel Investor and Board Member - 18th Parallel (Android based smart STB & Gaming Console), Angel Investor - Bombay Shaving Company (Men’s grooming), Board Member - Sun Shot Technologies (Commercial rooftop based Solar Systems) and Senior Member of IEEE. He has 40 years of technology, business leadership and entrepreneurial experience in the technology industry. He has done B.E. (Honors) in Electronics from BITS, Pilani and M. Tech (EE) from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Director & Dean Dr Fr Jossy P George, Academic Coordinator Dr Fr Arun Antony, HOA, Dr Binu Paul and Assistant Professor Shubhashree formally inaugurated the program with traditional lighting of the lamp. Director Dr Fr Jossy felicitated the Chief Guest with a token of gratitude.

In his inaugural address Fr Jossy reminisced his interaction with students who discuss exciting ideas but soon that fades into oblivion and are not processed. He said that despite original ideas sometimes lack of funds cannot generate or implement them. However, he further added that it does not dampen the spirit rather than the young entrepreneurs share their creative ideas and a startup is born which is in tune with the latest trend. He further added that various activities and competitions at the college level to prepare them for a later life as an entrepreneur. The idea generation set up, workshops, panel discussions, product identification process, and case study competitions gets converted into an enterprising venture at a later date. Fr Jossy inspired the students to be a part of this ambitious initiative and let their ideas get wings in the field of business.

At the outset the Chief Guest, Mr Kiran Deshpande unveiled the logo at a single click. He began his address by expressing his gratitude and said that it was a pleasant surprise to visit the campus. He shared his ideas on entrepreneurship based on practical wisdom    with the students. He rightly mentioned that an entrepreneur is born either out of an opportunity or by converting a problem into an opportunity. He explained the concept with real example of Cotton King and his own company, Mojo Networks. It was interesting to hear him say that if an entrepreneur can describe his or her business in mere five words, then the person has the right acumen for business. Mr Kiran further added that in the current scenario business caters to service, production or trading.

He forewarned the students that an efficient entrepreneur must have a compelling reason to handle adversities in business which is constantly fluctuating. It has a direct correlation to differentiation and one has to go through the process to prove successful. According to Mr Kiran Deshpande every idea is either scalable or non-scalable for an entrepreneur. He wisely articulated that hiring a CEO to run a business is a sensible suggestion. A good entrepreneur has to sacrifice a lot at personal and professional level to build and sustain a business in the competitive market. One ought to take small achievable targets for a bigger aim. A successful entrepreneur enjoys the process which leads to success be it monetary or social thereby an ecosystem is created for the society. He strongly advocated the fact that for a sustainable business it is crucial to combine theoretical knowledge with practical experience. He is optimistic that students can do wonders if they can tap their potential in the right way.

He concluded by asserting that ethics play a pivotal role in defining a true entrepreneur. He was proud to observe that CHRIST upholds excellent core values such as trust and dedication which ought to be cherished in life in order to be successful. Sujith gave a vote of thanks at the end. The entire program was coordinated by Dr Ambuj Gupta.