Atal Incubation Centre organised “Business Plan Competition” named “VICHAAR 1.0”
Bhubaneswar: Atal Incubation Centre – Nalanda Institute of Technology Foundation, Bhubaneswar is the first Atal Incubation Centre in Odisha supported by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Govt. of India. AIC- Nalanda is a sector agnostic incubator with state of the art co-working space, design lab facilities, specialised access features, rich mentor pool, exclusive industry & investor connect and plethora of legal & accounting services. The prime objective is to foster a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship among the young brigade of the nation with a specific focus on the eastern region of our country.
“AIC-Nalanda” organised a “Business Plan Competition”, named “VICHAAR 1.0” in the month of July 2020 where Startup entrepreneurs, Innovators and students submitted their business plan through our portal. Prizes worth Rs. 1 Lakh were earmarked for the most promising applicants in recognition of their innovative and out of the box entrepreneurial ideas.
VICHAAR was a roaring success with 175 applications across different domains from all over the nation, thanks to the unwavering support from partners comprising Start up Odisha, Nalanda Institute of Technology and TiE Bhubaneswar. AIC- Nalanda completed the evaluation process with support of esteemed jury and shortlisted top 3 entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs who deserve consolation prize and special prizes. We took the opportunity to recognise and reward these promising VICHAAR applicants during the Grand Finale in a virtual mode scheduled on 23rd August, 2020.
Shri Satyabrata Sahu, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of MSME, Government of Odisha graced the occasion as Chief Guest. He started his address with illustrations of various innovative entrepreneurs in the state and their achievements at global level. He also mentioned various support schemes taken by Government of Odisha for the entrepreneurial community as a part of Start up Odisha Policy. Dr. Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director, NITI Aayog was the Guest of Honour. He focussed on the potentialities and latent possibilities of the state and how these could be leveraged with collaboration between Centre and State. He also hinged upon the pivotal role of Atal Incubation Centres and Atal Tinkering Labs to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, Former Chairman cum Managing Director, NALCO was the presiding guest. He touched upon how the pillars of industrial transformation had a magnificent impact on building the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The event saw the presence of other luminaries such as Shri Radhashyam Mahapatro, Director- HR, NALCO and Shri K.C. Das, Director- Personnel, RINL as guest speakers.
Mr. Malay Kumar Padhi, Chairman, AIC- NITF, Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Srivastava, Director & Member Secretary- Governing Council, AIC – NITF and Ishita Agrawal, Program Director, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, Government of India were present as valued guests at the grand event.
The winner of the competition, Novolutions Food & Beverage Pvt Ltd received cash prize of Rs. 51000. Based in Odisha, Novolutions is a new age company based which aims to make clean label lifestyle products a reality for the urban consumers on the go. Its flagship brand Hippie is the first in the packaged ready to serve mocktail category & it entices consumers with the recipes of authentic mocktails. The drinks have more than 40% of fruit pulp in it & have no added sugar, colour or artificial ingredients in it. Our esteemed jury conferred the first prize to the team for their complementary skills, health prospect for consumers and scalability potential.
The runner up prize was awarded to Odisha based Nexus Power who started their entrepreneurial journey with a motive to promote sustainability and green technologies across the Electric Vehicle (EV) market space. Building on the concept of Industrial Ecology and Bio-Mimicry, Nexus is a rechargeable bio-organic battery (lithium ion free) from crop residue which is cost effective and environmentally sustainable and therefore deserves the second prize.
Aegipan Animal Biocare has secured the second runner up position. Started by a dynamic entrepreneur from West Bengal, the organisation focuses on artificial insemination of Black Bengal goats. The organisation is currently making significant revenues with sound clientele base and is poised to become a strong force in the agritech sector to reckon with.
Besides these top 3 teams, consolation prizes worth Rs. 5000 were awarded to each of three entrepreneurial teams, namely, Momskart based in Indore, Hybrid Treadmill Electric Scooter from Kanpur and Protrainy Skilled Learning from Bhubaneswar. Two entrepreneurial teams, namely, Prickless from Durgapur and Aloeecell from Lucknow received special prizes worth Rs. 2500 each.
The virtual event was attended by all stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem comprising start ups, aspiring entrepreneurs, senior representatives of PSU s and media.