With an aim of fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship among college students in India, IIT Kharagpur students have formed entrepreneurship cell. In which they conduct Guest lectures, Workshops and Business Plan Competitions and provide mentorship and incubation support to aspiring student entrepreneurs.
The Entrepreneurship Awareness Drive (EAD) is one of our major flagship events, the other being the Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in January. The EAD consists of a series of Guest lectures and Workshops in 20 cities in 20 days in the month of October. Each city plays host to an Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp (EAC), where eminent entrepreneurs and industry leaders counsel students about the pros and cons of entrepreneurship as a career and how it differs from the usual run-of-the-mill job culture that has existed till now. Each EAC also features a Networking Session, where Startups, Students and the Guests can freely interact as well as a Startup Pitching Session, where the startups attending a session get a one-on-one interaction with the Guest lecturers.
Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp, Dehradun was held in University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. The event was graced by the presence of seasoned entrepreneurs Tarun Uppal, founder of E Online Tutors Inc and Sushovon Saha, CEO of Innovation Circle who apprised about how to start enterprise.
The Event turned out to be a huge success with 600 students participating from reputed colleges of the Dehradun, Graphic Era University, Uttaranchal University and Tula’s Institute.
EAD has come a long way since its inception 6 years ago and has seen the number of cities grow from 10 to 20 with a footfall of 16000 in 2012 and 20000 students in 2013.Some of the distinguished guests who have stood on the dais of EAD include Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Founder of Biocon, PhanindraSama, CEO of Redbus.in, Arjun Malhotra, co-founder of HCl Technologies, Irrfan Alam, Founder, Sammaan Foundation and the contemporary face of Social Entrepreneurship in India and Shaheen Mistry, Founder, Teach for India Foundation.
As this drive continues to reach more students and entrepreneurs, we move one step closer to achieving Vision 2020, as outlined by Former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.