World Business And Economy Congress brings the cause of entrepreneurship to Indore

A three-day World Business And Economy Congress, jointly organised by World Researchers Associations, TiE Madhya Pradesh, and SAGE University Indore, from Friday, brought together small and medium businesses (SMEs), startups, and noted leaders for synergy and co-operation.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, actor and Padma Shri awardee, opened the conference and was later awarded The Global Icon Award 2019 for her contribution to charitable causes.

During the conference, former ISRO Chairman Padma Vibhushan  Dr G Madhavan Nair was awarded World Icon Entrepreneur 2019 for his research work in space, futuristic technologies, and tele-education.

Speaking on the occasion, Aishwarya Rai thanked the Congress for its generosity apart from praising the initiative of planting 50,000 trees this year towards environment conservation. Dr Nair, in his address, echoed the need for space technology towards improving the life of the common man.

Counting various initiatives that ISRO took in this direction, Dr Nair informed the audience that the organisation has undertaken the tasks of using space technology in the fields of education through remote teaching and learning, in healthcare through tele-medicine, and in climate change through accuracy in weather forecasts.

Addressing the gathering, Air Deccan Founder and retired Captain of the Indian Army Captain G R Gopinath shared experiences of his first venture with the audience. “If you cannot visualise something, you cannot achieve anything. I began a helicopter supply company back in 1995. Back then, helicopter owners were businessmen who didn’t put their copters to any use. These helicopters were just used for some private purposes. I decided to make these accessible for other purposes such as amusement, attending meetings, for photography, and so on. I didn’t think of obstacles such as the Indian mindset or the existence of the License Raj. I just focused on what best I could do at the time,” he shared.

Acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal challenges societal norms

One of the speakers on the occasion was Laxmi Agarwal, a survivor of acid attack and campaigner, who urged the audience to change their mindset about acid attack victims.

“I don’t hide my face because I didn’t do anything wrong. Wrong was done to me. We need to stop putting the blame on survivors. The man who threw acid on my face got married when he was released on bail. I wonder at the family who gave away their daughter to marry such a man,” Laxmi said.

During the same session, Singapore Management University’s Strategic Partnership and Programme Director Dr Flocy Joseph quoted the example of The Development Bank of Singapore which changed its image from being called ‘Damn Boring Slow’ Bank to being called Digital Bank of Singapore by focusing on work culture and strengthening employee relationships.

Speaking on the importance of  understanding the ‘Journey of Hero’, Chai-Kaapi Co-Founder Athar Ali made the audience watch, ‘The Dunning-Kruger Effect’ theory through a video. He concluded his talk with encouraging students to ‘hope’ and realise their true calling.

Founding Charter Member of TiE MP Abhishek Sanghvi led the talk while Chartered Accountant and entrepreneur Subhash Mathur gave the concluding talk.

Young entrepreneurs share secret recipes of entrepreneurship

The last talk titled ‘Secret recipes of entrepreneurship’ saw young entrepreneurs from Indore share some interesting insights about stating up. Agro-tech startup Gramophone Co-Founder Tauseef Khan focused on the importance of choosing the specific segment carefully. “Pick a small part of the problem and solve it completely instead of addressing too many problems at the same time,” he said.

Barter skills startup Tetoota Founder Ashwajeet Garg reminded the audience about how bartering of the skills was a common practice among students and this could now become a future cashless economy.

Anaxee Digital Runners Co-Founder Govind Agrawal shared the challenge his startup faced when Supreme Court banned private companies from using Aadhar Card as mandatory for verification or registration. Shopkirana Founder Tanutejas Saraswat said, “Today, it’s easier to start a business than it was 30 years ago. But running that business for 1000 days is as difficult as before. Belief in your idea is more important than facts. It’s important that you trust your instinct while starting up.”

Cabinet Minister for Higher Education, Sports and Youth Affairs of Madhya Pradesh Jitu Patwari and SAGE University Chairman Sanjeev Agrawal also addressed the audience.