IIM Shillong organized Emerge’18, the 7
th Entrepreneurship summit on 17
th & 18
th of November hosting entrepreneurs across the country. Director of the Institute Prof. Keya Sengupta inaugurated the 2-day event in presence of senior faculty member Prof. Sanjoy Mukherhjee and other dignitaries. The idea of EmergE “emanated from a strong desire to foster entrepreneurial acumen in the own academic products of the Institute, and further, to celebrate the true spirit of entrepreneurship and provide a platform for sharing ideas among Industry, Academia and Entrepreneurs,” remarked Prof Sengupta while speaking during the inauguration. The theme for EmergE 2018 is “
Embracing Northeast” that resonates with the modern-day startup ideas and intends to mine the opportunities that lie untapped within the serenading lands of Northeast India. “Don’t try to be employed; try to be the employer” highlighted Prof. Keya Sengupta while emphasizing the Institute’s initiatives towards nurturing budding entrepreneurs. “IIM Shillong also has APJ Abdul Kalam Research Centre for Policy Research & Analysis which is constantly working in figuring out ways that would ensure more businesses emanating through the facilitation of the Institute,” she added.
Mr. Farrhad Acidwalla, Founder of Rockstah Media delivered an expert talk walking through his journey from an aeromodelling enthusiast to a technology aficionado. “Don’t invest on too many variables. Keep it simple. Don’t talk; just do” was his advice to the to-be entrepreneurs assuring them that passion is all it takes to be successful.
A workshop was conducted by Ms. Piyul Mukherjee and Ms. Pia Mollback- Verbic from Quipper Research. This workshop enlightened the participants about the importance of knowing our end customers in any business and also highlighted the role of Qualitative Research in attaining the necessary insights. This session garnered great interaction from the students in reviewing the various business aspects of a brand that they had chosen.
The panel discussion on the emerging trends on Handicrafts brought to the table multiple facets of the handicraft industry and its evolution over the past few decades. Mr. Sandeep Sangaru, Founder of Sangaru Design Objects Pvt. Ltd, Ms. Sona Puri, Co-founder and CEO of The India Craft House, Mr. Dhiraj Thakuria, Managing Director of NEHHDC, Mr. Dilip Barooah, Director of Fabric plus Pvt. Ltd and Ms. Sakshi Talwar, Co-Founder of Rugs and Beyond discussed topics such as digitalisation, commoditization and branding of handicrafts steering the conversation towards the promotion of the industry in Northeast India.
The second day of the summit, began with a panel discussion on Fintech, essentially the connection between fintech and how it is an enabler to do something bigger in financial inclusion. Mr Durlov Baruah, Founder at Kuhipaat (Payment Solution_NorthEast), Mr. Nitin Mathur, Director at TAVAGA, Mr. Anubhav Jain, Co-founder and Head of Risk at Qbera and Mr. Visweshwaran Narasimhan, Assistant VP at FSS touched on a prevalent problem of reluctance of people to adopt apps and services based on financial assistance and then went on to discuss effectiveness of various banking transaction technologies. The latter half of day 2 saw an expert talk by Mr. Amit Kumar Agarwal, Founder and CEO at NoBroker.com, wherein he shared snippets from his entrepreneurial journey.