Celebrating national entrepreneurship day

The National Entrepreneurship Day celebration brought together industry leaders, students and aspiring innovators for a day of collaboration and discussions. The event featured keynotes, panel discussions, and mentoring sessions led by 18 industry stalwarts, including Ajay Chowdary, Dinesh Pai, Smitha Hemmige. The speakers guided students on the transformative journey of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of innovation, customer experience, and building scalable businesses. Ajai Chowdary, founding member of HCL, inspired attendees by emphasizing the need for young entrepreneurs to focus on emerging fields like satellite communication, AI and global markets. Prashanth Prakash, Chief Mentor at Krishi Kalpa and CoCreate, and architect of the program said, “The Indian startup ecosystem is thriving. Initiatives like these demonstrate our determination to propel India ahead in the global innovation and entrepreneurial index.” C.M. Patil, CEO, Krishikalpa, moderated a discussion with Dinesh Pai of Zerodha, Kishore Purohit, Founding Partner at Abell Ventures and CEO at Beginest CoWorking Spaces, Debur S Balamurali, CMO at Kyndryl India, exploring the changing landscape of entrepreneurship and the critical role of deep product and customer focus. Suresh Narasimha led a panel with GCC leaders, including Smitha Hemmigae of ANSR, Vidya Hungud of JPMorgan Chase, Shrinivas G N, Ex-Target, VP Marketing Engineer, Shalini Sankarshana of Planview, on fostering collaboration between startups and global capability centers. Bharath Kumar Mohan, CEO, Sensara Technologies concluded with a panel featuring Ganapathy Varadaraya Prabhu, Painite, Anant Pandit of OmneNEST Technologies, Dr. Abhijit Gogi who holds a fellowship in minimal access surgery and MCh plastic and reconstructive surgery, that highlighted strategies to build technology startups and innovate deeply. The program concluded with Subhash Chandra L, MD of Sangeetha Mobiles, sharing his entrepreneurial journey. He awarded 20 high-quality teams with financial and resource support to transform their ideas into successful startups. Prof. Jawahar mentioned, “PES University is making significant investments to nurture entrepreneurship among our students. Through PESU Venture Labs, CIE, and our Centers of Excellence, we aim to empower students to build impactful startups.” Patil CM, Krishi Kalpa observed, “Our judging panel of 36 industry leaders faced the challenge of selecting the best ideas from a pool of exceptional entries. The socially relevant innovations brought forth by students were truly humbling.” Suresh Narasimha of CoCreate and PESU Venture Labs said “Receiving 150 applications in just three days highlights the immense energy and interest in entrepreneurship among Indian students. We are committed to providing additional funding and support to nurture these amazing ideas.” Over 10 lakh INR in financial support was awarded to top-performing teams to help them develop their prototypes, demonstrating a strong commitment to nurturing innovation. PES University hosted the National Entrepreneurship Day celebration in partnership with Krishi Kalpa and CoCreate and supported by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.