Notes from Pilani
Riding the Entrepreneurial Wave
By Sandpaper Pilani Team
BITS Pilani has always asked more of us than just being technically sound – focusing on developing well-rounded individuals. It is this culture that is giving rise to a very intriguing and exciting new phenomenon – the campus is flooded with new concepts, start-up ideas, and people raring to put these ideas into action. We are used to juggling around many things at the same time; until now the students who were managing clubs or departments with academics now work on business plans with the dream to start their own venture by the time they graduate.
What is quite impressive about these ideas is that they are strikingly creative solutions to everyday problems. Take for example, Shiksha, a business-plan (b-plan) that won Epsilon (the intra-BITS Business Challenge) and was a finalist in Conquest 2007 (International Business Challenge of BITS Pilani). It was also a semi-finalist in Megabucks challenge of IIT K. It attempted to solve problems of rural students who are taught by untrained and under qualified teachers. Falling in the same league is Infohub, which aims to bring a host of day-to-day services required by a typical household. It would be a one –stop portal which would act as an interface between the city dwellers and the largely unorganized sector of small service providers such a maids, drivers, milk vendors etc. Their team was a Finalist in VENTURA 2007 at IT-BHU and Epsilon 2007.
Another promising start-up is Dhanax Pvt. Ltd based in Bangalore started by Abhishek Nayak, a third year student, Siva Cotipalli, BITSian Alumni and IIM-L graduate. Dhanax allows retails investors to invest in micro-finance online. The start-up has three employees and the b-plan has won several laurels which includes being a semi-finalist at Stanford’s E-Challenge. The B-plan also came fourth in IIT M's Genesis and second in Intellecap's Srijan. Times NOW also covered this start-up on November 3rd.
A budding start-up in the education sector is CDS (Consultancy Development Scholars) by Lohit Sahu, this B2B commercial enterprise has already started operations in Raipur. CDS envisions itself as the one-stop destination for all academic and social needs of students with the use of e-education services. It also aims to act as an interface between youth and industry through radical strategies such as Core Data service (CoDaS). Having successfully implemented three projects for National as well as regional level institutions in a short period of seven months, the start-up is set to soar high.
Startup ideas from theBITS Pilani campus
* Shiksha
* Info Hub
* CDS
* Vita Peracta
* Jal Purification Tech
* Sparks
* TechBazaar
Vita Peracta, a venture by Amruth B R, Sindhu Anand and Nakul Jamadagni generates curiosity by what it attempts to do; mathematically model the personality of an individual to simulate human behavior. With some renowned psychologists and scientists in its panel of advisors the team hopes to come out with the beta version of its product soon. Their b-plan has been selected for the second stage of IIT B Business Challenge Eureka 2007.
In the sector of technology based start-ups is Jal Purification Technologies, by Pritwiraj Moulik and others that will provide water purification products based on indigenous, patented technology. Neer-Amrit, their main product would be a cost-effective, portable, manually driven, modular, and membrane based purification system. An Ex-technologist from a renowned organization for membrane technologies in USA, a pioneer in the area having many patents to his credit in ultra-filtration technology has expressed interest as the technology mentor for the start-up. They are developing a prototype with field tests scheduled in Jan 2008.
Fueling this entrepreneurial explosion is The Centre of Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL). Whether it is Sparks, Epsilon, Conquest, Techbazaar or the Mantra Awards, CEL has been a constant presence on the BITSian scene.
Sparks is an initiative funded by BITS alum Anurag Jain, which aims to provide a platform for students to validate the potential of their ideas and work on developing them into products which can be of value to the industry and society. It provides an opportunity for students to put their technical skills to practical use while providing monetary assistance and incentive to take the idea to the next level. CEL collects project ideas from Alumni & Entrepreneurs through an idea submission form, and the mode followed was ideate – get it validated – build the product – showcase the prototype – sell/ launch the product. The participants would get personal guidance and funding from Anurag Jain, technical mentorship and a certificate from CEL on completion of the project.
Cartoon time - Blog fever
Epsilon, the intra-BITS business plan competition has been designed for students to work on their raw ideas and convert in into a full fledged B-Plan. As a testimony to the buoyant entrepreneurial scene on campus, the competition has grown by leaps and bounds with number of entries bouncing from 67 last year to 150 this year. Even the Goa campus, where the event was being held for the first time got a whopping 65 entries. The number of non participants attending the Business Plan Workshop (a component of Epsilon) has surged recently, contributing to the entrepreneurial buzz.
The latest activity by CEL was Techbazaar, held in November 2007. Basically a Business Plan Competition, Techbazaar included a two-day convention where people delivered lectures on energizing entrepreneurship through innovation.
CEL’s latest venture is the ‘Mantra Awards’ for excellence in the fields of Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Social leadership. The awards shall be given by Mantra Capital LLC headed by BITS alum Anupendra Sharma. Two awards, (male and female) shall be awarded for the Leadership category and one each for other categories in recognition of achievements during education at BITS. The winner of a Mantra Award shall receive a cash award of 5000 INR along with certificates. All students in undergraduate and postgraduate on-campus programs at BITS Pilani are eligible to apply.
Thus the BITSian scene is full of promise as far as the entrepreneurs of tomorrow are concerned. With so much happening and so many students making waves, BITSians are all set to be a force to reckon with in the corporate world.
