AP Bureau
\r\n
Bhubaneswar: Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, conducted Ignite 2015, a National Level Entrepreneurship Summit, organized by X-SEED, the idea and initiative cell of the B-School.
\r\n
The panel of speakers comprised of Anurag Batra, Chairman, Bussinessworld, Srikumar Misra, Founder, MD and CEO, Milk Mantra, K. C. Mishra, Founder, eKutir, and Tanmay Mohanty, MD, Luminous Infoways.
\r\n
“Earlier people did an MBA to get a job but now 90% people want to become entrepreneurs,” Anurag Batra, the Keynote speaker said. He pointed out a very pertinent issue that India only has a poor cousin of the Silicon Valley as we only celebrate success and not failure. He encouraged the young audience to make their hobby their profession and drive their dreams with passion. Shri Basu concluded his inspiring insights with the quote, “If you can dream it you can do it.”
\r\n
Srikumar Mishra, alumnus of XIMB, began his talk by tracing the evolving history of music from Vinyl records to cassette players, CDs and the digital age of iTunes. Through this example he drove his point home that technology has touched almost everything and spared nothing. He then brought out the two different roles that technology plays in entrepreneurship. First, where technology itself is the basis of the enterprise and second, where technology acts as an enabler to an enterprise. He also talked about how the power of technology enables a convergence between economical and societal impact. Finally, he shared how Milk Mantra has leveraged technology in its packaging system to innovate and evolve.
\r\n
Shri K. C. Mishra began his deliberations by pointing out the difference between managing plenty and managing less. It is easier to manage plenty as the risk is distributed; the real challenge lies in managing less. He believes that everybody is a born entrepreneur and the whole economy of India depends on millions of micro-entrepreneurs. He talked about the emerging relevance of the internet economy and the three different opportunities it offers- internet of hardware, internet of content and internet of humans.
\r\n
Shri Tanmay Mohanty, talked of the importance of focus. According to him, scope is plenty but one needs to find a niche area to focus on. He guided the students through the various aspects of being an entrepreneur. He traced through the transformation of the economy from agrarian to industrial, service and now experiential to show how technology has now become a necessity. Technology has changed the face and pace of business.
