IIM Sambalpur (IIM-S) hosts a National Conclave to promote MSME Sector
Hyderabad: IIM Sambalpur, one of the most promising and dynamic management institutions among the new generation IIMs of the country, has always been an advocate for the MSME sector. In their perennial quest to further champion this sector, IIM Sambalpur signed a MOU with the MSME, Government of India to promote start-ups and entrepreneurship for the growth of the MSME Industry. As part of this, IIM Sambalpur in collaboration with the MSME recently organised a one-of-its-kind and the first in the region National Conclave on the topic “Innovation based entrepreneurship in MSME – Service sector “. The inaugural ceremony of the conclave was graced by Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur, Shri Sameer Vishnoi, IAS, CEO, CHiPS, Raipur, Dr. Sukanta Kumar Sahoo, Director in-charge, MSME, GOI, Mr. Anand Vijay Jha, Chief Public Policy Officer, Walmart India and Shri. Keshav Rao, Director (Personnel), MCL.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, Indian Institute of Management Sambalpur said, “At IIM Sambalpur, we always strive to give small and medium businesses all the support we can for them to prosper. The MSME sector contributes 29% to India’s GDP. The service sector contributes more than 54% in India’s GDP. It is our privilege to host the first such national conclave of the region to give further boost to this sector. It also gives me great joy to announce that a Business Incubation Centre was inaugurated today at IIM Sambalpur. This incubation centre aims to encourage entrepreneurial ideas initially on the regional level, ultimately expanding across the country.” Prof Jaiswal further expressed his opinion about the expansion of service sector for the further advancement in agriculture and manufacturing sector.
A panel discussion on “Innovation based enterprises and opportunities available for start-ups” followed which included panellists Mr. Anil Pradhan, Founder, IPSFRI (School for Rural Innovation), Mr. Vijay Bijlani, Founder, SME Business Consulting, Dr. A Balamurugan (Moderator), Director, Straightegic Solutions Private Limited, Mr. Arun Nagpal, Co-Founder and MD, Mrida Group and Mr. Prasanta Biswal, Founder, The BattiGhar Foundation. The discussion revolved around various challenges that young minds of the country need to address by coming up with innovative solutions.
The conversation further pursued with a second panel exchanging their thoughts on the topic “Challenges in Start-ups and possible solutions”. Eminent panel members included Ms. Mandeep Kaur Sidhu, Founder, SimbaQuartz, NGO Smiles Care, Mr. Kishan Nanavati, CEO, Spring Health Water India Pvt Ltd., Mr. Prahllad Mittal, CEO & Co-founder, Homvery, Mr. Sakyasingha Mahapatra, Founder, SakRobotix Lab and Ms. Bindu Sharma, Founder & CEO, Origiin IP Solutions LLP. Apart from sharing the challenges faced by them while establishing their start-ups, the panellists motivated the students to be the job-creators instead of being the job-seekers.
The day ended with a Valedictory session where the meritorious students of MBA 2018 – 20 Batch were awarded for their outstanding scholastic performance in their first academic year of MBA. A scholarship amount of 1 lakh was awarded to each of the top seven scholastic performers which was sponsored by IIM Sambalpur.