On March 26, KLS’s Institute of Management Education & Research (IMER), Belgaum, held its National Level Seminar on Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The seminar was a great success and gave students and guests an opportunity to hear from a range of successful professionals and entrepreneurs.
Inaugurating the event was keynote speaker Dr. Anil Rao, Regional VP of AIMS (Association of Indian Management Schools). The seminar was segmented into three sessions. The first session, on “Design Thinking”, featured Manu Kulkarni, distinguished member of the Prime Minister’s National Commission on Population. The second session had Mr. Suresh Katti, VP Aditya Birla Management, speaking on “Creativity & Innovation.” The final session was with Mr. Suresh Hundre, CEO & MD of Polyhydron Private Limited, who spoke about his company’s innovative approach to “Distribution of Wealth.”
On the previous day, March 25th, the “Antaraprerana 2011” Business Plan Competition was held. Thirteen teams from MBA, BBA, and engineering schools were given 10 minutes to present their business plan proposals. The competition’s theme made it unique: each B-plan had to address a triple bottom line of People, Profit, and Planet. The judges for the competition were EA’s Malcolm Charles and established Belgaum entrepreneurs Swapneel Patnekar and Arvind Kapadia.
In third place and winning Rs. 10,000 was a team from the Jain School of Business, MATS, Belgaum with a business plan for a maize processing unit. Second place and Rs. 15,000 went to a team from IMER (including E-Cell member Prakash Kulkarni!) which presented a plan on energy generation through bagasses. EA Partner JSS Dharwad fielded the first place team with a plan for producing temperature control boxes for those without electricity. JSS’ team included E-Cell members Sharanu H., Pavankumar Deshpande, Nikhil Kandkur, and Prateek Malgi! They took home the grand prize of Rs. 25,000!
The winners of the B-plan competition were announced on Saturday during the seminar’s valedictory function and the prize money was sponsored by the Deshpande Foundation. Chief Guest Naveen Jha, Director of the Deshpande Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, was on hand to speak to the audience about adopting an entrepreneurially mindset and having a passion for taking on new ideas and experiences.
Congratulations to Seminar Convener Dr. Poornima Charantimath and the rest of the faculty and students at IMER for putting on a great event!