IIM Calcutta Conducts Two-Day Workshop on Entrepreneurship 'Ascent 07'

IIM Calcutta Conducts Two-Day Workshop on Entrepreneurship 'Ascent 07'

Day Two started off with a session on 'Uncertain Youth and the Entrepreneurial Mind' by Mr. Bikram Dasgupta, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur who joined HCL in its infancy and went on to found the Globsyn Group of Companies.

The session began with Mr. Dasgupta presenting his book 'Minds on Fire' to the Entrepreneurship Cell. He shared his experiences on how he became an entrepreneur and the major influences which shaped his thoughts, how he learnt from failures and to be innovative. He reiterated that performance is the best form of security in today's world. He gave his views on how young people can become entrepreneurs by breaking the twilight zone and going ahead to realize their dreams.

Sunday also saw Mr. Saumen Chakraborty, founder of Intelsys Group, who saw it through the dotcom boom and bust, growth of outsourcing, e-governance / e-learning, telling about the problems both professional and personal faced while making an entrepreneurial jump. The importance of a superior offering; a sound understanding of the market; the need for lean and calculated capital expenditure schedule; having realistic plans; and most of all getting the right human capital were the some of the key issues he highlighted in the discussion.

Marketing and creating a consciousness around one's product/service is a key issue with most start-ups. Mr. Deap Ubhi of Burrp.com and Mr. Saumen Chakraborty who started the software product firm - Intelsys - gave insights on creating the right marketing strategy in 'Marketing for Your Start-Up, How to Create a Buzz About Your Company'. This was followed by both entrepreneurs deliberating on some of the key issues/challenges faced during starting-up which could be potential causes of failure.

The feedback from participants was very encouraging with all participants extremely appreciative of the learning they received. All in all, Ascent '07 provided ample opportunities for learning and interacting with the people who chose to do it their own way.

"This is a new initiative that we have started this year and the response has been amazing. This will be instrumental in establishing IIM Calcutta as the Entrepreneurship hub in the country," said Arijit Sen, member of the Entrepreneurship Cell.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Vijay Anand Menon,
External Relations Secretary,
IIM, Calcutta.

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