ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The transition of our country to a resurgent India is happening at a rapid pace. It is imperative for the country to keep in tune with time and future workforce requirements. Entrepreneurship is one such way to foster talent through carefully designed ecosystem by way of effective leadership. With this goal the conference went on with growing awareness of the challenges faced by the women entrepreneurs while they start up and move ahead. Conference also provided practical advice, connections and advancement to encourage the growth of women-led business. Ms. Megha Gaur, Department of Master of Business Administration along with the students, Vidhika Shiwal - MBA III Semester, Pragya Shakya and Sunita - MBA Ist Semester attended the conference from Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida. The conference was organized by Delhi Management Association, Delhi at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 20th February, 2014.

The conference started after the registration process at 9:30 AM with its inaugural session.

Session 1: Enabling Women Leadership for a Successful Entrepreneurial Venture.

This session laid down the theme for the conference. The session focused on the enabling, inspiring and untiring leadership by women in the country. These qualities not only help in unleashing human potential but also positively impacts in generating an opportunity and value in successful entrepreneurial venture. The speakers for the session were Ms. Neena Malhotra, Past President, Delhi Management Association, Ms. Chetna Vijay Sinha of Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, Ms. Veena Swaroop, Director-HR, Engineers India Ltd. and Ms. Neeru Abrol, CMD, National Fertilizers Ltd.

Ms. Malhotra gave the welcome address in which she stressed upon the leadership qualities in women by talking about her failures and her inner voice that told her that failures won’t stop her on her way to destiny. She also shared her Mantra for success for aspiring women entrepreneurs ‘Stand small within your means, keep the enterprise close to your heart and hold the dreams within you’.

Ms. Swaroop who was the guest of honor further led the session by saying that we are moving from capitalism to talentism. She very rightly pointed that women’s interest increases in being leaders as they progress from entry level to middle management. She also pinpointed the reasons for lower representation being that women began late and the literacy rate of females is much less than that of males. To improve this, the mindset of the females has to change. She also emphasized that positive emotions like positive framing, connecting, engaging play an important role in managing the energy in the right direction. She iterated that we are looking at a different paradigm of leadership and it plays naturally to the strength of women.

Ms. Sinha who was the keynote speaker marveled the audience by sharing her experiences and talking about her path to getting license for a cooperative bank. She talked about incorporating new ideas in her bank like doorstep banking, daily banking services and electronic passbook. She started a rural B-school named Mann DeshiUdyogini wherein rural women were taught to work in their areas of interests and learn all the intricacies and legalities of their work.

Session broke for tea after a talk by the Chief Guest, Ms. Abrol who summed up by saying that time boundation should not be there and commitment has to exist.

Session 2: Ideas to implementation – Challenges and Opportunities focused on the journey of an entrepreneur from ‘coming up with an idea’ to actually ‘making it happen’. It envisaged all the roadblocks, pressures, bottlenecks and challenges one has to overcome in order to finally have a taste of success. The speakers for the session were Lieut. Rita Gangwani (Retd.) Director, Rita Gangwani & Associates, Dr. Sarla Lakhawat, Scientist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ms. Ritu Marya, Editor in chief, Franchise India Media, Ms. Meena Kapoor, Founder & CEO, Netway India Pvt. Ltd.

Lieut. Rita Gangwani, an entrepreneur and a personality development trainer talked about the D’s of success from dreams to desire to destiny. She said that women entrepreneurship is slightly different as at times they need to put in extra efforts than their male counterparts to prove their credibility to others.

Dr. Lakhawat, also known as Amla Queen brought a revolution in Rajasthan by creating around 1500 women entrepreneurs through their Amla farming. She very rightly quoted that ‘Pankh Udaate Chaliye itne ki aasmaan chota pad jaye’.

Ms. Marya threw light in a direction of urban women where she said our challenge is not that our family is not allowing to work but our own mindset. She said that women in urban India are over privileged rather than vice versa. Leadership has to be learnt, it is not about giving order but it is about getting the work done. She iterated that challenges for women entrepreneur are more mindset driven rather than situation driven. If one wants to start something it should be started today, as there is no tomorrow.

Ms. Kapoor brought the session to a break by sharing her vision and saying in business, persistence is one of the very basic ingredients. No work is too small or too big for you to start. She also said that a business plan is a very necessary component for a business to be successful. She closed her talk by saying business is not always about the best idea, you need to be childlike in accepting your success and your failure.

Session 3: Functional aspects: Importance and Relevance brought to the table the nitty gritty of various functions in an entrepreneurial venture. The speakers in the session were Mr. Raj Pathak, President, APE Communication, Ms. Ranjana Deopa, Cofounder, Biz Divas & Altavis, Ms. Kaanchan Bugga, Head- Marketing & Content, Bookadda.com, Mr. Pawan Duggal, President, Cyberlaw.net, Ms. Indu Wadhwa, Founder and Principal Consultant, Aspiring People. Mr. Raj Pathak who held the session chair described that the session would include the technical know how in terms of legal, financial, marketing, and branding, HR, IT, administration and related aspects which need to be looked with in any setup.

Session further progresses then with Ms. Deopa telling the audience that they should be aware of the answers to 3 basic questions:-

1. Know your business?

2. Why are you doing this business?

3. What is the business plan?

She also highlighted various ways of receiving the funding like government schemes and angel investors.

Ms. Indu Wadhwa said equally to finance, people are important in a business in terms of finding the right people, retaining them and sharing the same vision. She said youngsters feel uncertain to join a startup, they prefer joining MNC’s with hefty salaries. Competence and skill gap is very wide. She also said that to retain people, decision making has tobe given into their hands to a certain level.

Ms. Bugga started her talk with a quote “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less travelled by and that I think has made the difference”. She highlighted five most important marketing lessons:

1. You need a story

2. Come out from within the microscope

3. Turn your story to cause it into a movement

4. Change your thinking

5. Don’t be afraid of failure

The summed up by saying learn one new thing every day.

Mr. Pawan Duggal took up the session then and said whatever creativity you are going to do on internet; there are certain laws for it. He said to treat one’s email communication as sacrosanct. He insisted on being focused, safe and try to follow law and the session broke for tea.

Session 4:

Meri Kahani – Meri Zubani – an Entrepreneurial Voyage had speakers like Dr. Anoop Kalra, Executive Director, Ayurvet Ltd., Dr. Suman Chahar, Advisor, sulabh International Social Service Organization, Ms. Neeta Mehta, Indian Celebrity Chef & Author, Ms. Sumeet Sandhu, founder & CEO, Paintball Sports Co. Pvt. Ltd. and Tipping Point, Ms. Aashmeen Munjaal, CEO, Star Salon & Academy.

Dr. Suman Chahar brought with her the scavenging females and they shared their life experience and changes brought to them by Sulabh. Ms. Mehta talked about her journey to being chef and having her own publishing company.

The session concluded and the audience left with the thought that the unbelievable stories of courage and conviction in one’s belief do exist very much within us and each one of us has a potential to be a successful entrepreneur.