IIT (BHU) Varanasi Receives a USD 1 Million Donation to Develop a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Varanasi: An alumnus of IIT (BHU) Varanasi, Mr. Jay Choudhry, has donated USD 1 Million to the IIT (BHU) Foundation, a non-profit organization of IIT (BHU) alumni. Mr. Jay Chaudhry, an Indian-American billionaire, and a serial entrepreneur, is the CEO and founder of cloud-based information security firm Zscaler. The donation will fund IIT (BHU)’s Entrepreneurship Center, focusing on the development of students, faculty, and entrepreneurship.
Such initiatives play a significant role in enhancing the prestigious institute recognition globally. This donation will help establish the Entrepreneurship Center and deliver promising growth among students and faculty. In addition, this donation aims to establish a Software Innovation Center that will provide a platform encouraging students to learn and innovate in Software Development, Quantum Computing, Cyber Security, IoT, and Data Analytics.
In collaboration with IIT (BHU), Deep Jariwala, an alumnus of IIT (BHU), will help identify a faculty member to fill the role of ‘Jay Chaudhry Professor of Software Innovation’, who will oversee and manage the Software Innovation Center. In addition to a professorship and Innovation Center, Mr. Chaudhry’s generous donation will fund a lecture series on software innovation and a software technology seed fund. Mr. Vish Narayanan will be managing both initiatives on behalf of the IIT(BHU) foundation.
“The education I received at IIT (BHU) played a pivotal role in giving me the identity in the present business world,” says Mr. Chaudhry. “Contributing for the betterment of our bright young generation, gives me immense satisfaction. This Entrepreneurship Center is one of the steps that will help educate students to navigate their careers and learn practical skills and allow them to be more competitive in the world of cyber security. I hope that the Entrepreneurship Center will afford students with big dreams and aspirations and give them a similar path as I was fortunate enough to experience”.
Mr. Arun Tripathi, the IIT (BHU) Foundation President, mentioned that Mr. Chaudhry is a proud example of the heights that IIT (BHU) alums have reached. “Mr. Jay Chaudhry is an inspiration for students and with this funding, it will strengthen student, faculty and entrepreneurship development at IIT (BHU), blazing a trail of entrepreneurs of the future. As alumni, we all have a strong desire to rejuvenate our Institute, uphold its mission, and strengthen its reputation as a world-class engineering college.”
Director of IIT(BHU), Professor Pramod Kumar Jain and the Board of Governors also expressed their gratitude and recognized the significance of the USD 1 Million endowment. “The Entrepreneurship Center will go a long way. From enhancing the education and development of students to the retention of the best talent of our faculties, and the promise of young entrepreneurs on our campus,” Dr. Jain said, “Such support and guidance from current alums to future alums keep IIT (BHU) at the forefront. We couldn’t be prouder to leverage this amazing donation for so many of our students to follow in Jay’s inspiring footsteps.”
Professor Rajeev Srivastava, Dean(Resource & Alumni), IIT(BHU), also expressed his gratitude. He added that the DoRA office is playing an important role in collaborating with the IIT(BHU) Foundation and alumni spread worldwide for the overall development of the Institute fraternity.