2011 Development Dialogue Kickoff

After the close of the Yuva Summit in the afternoon, the 2011 Development Dialogue began with an inaugural Kickoff.

The event included speeches by Deshpande Foundation Trustees Jaishree and Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, as well as an overview of Deshpande Foundation activities. In order to showcase their work, organizations like LEAD, Hubli Champions, and the Deshpande Fellowship Program used a range of media and performances from skits to video, music, and dance.

The Entrepreneurship Academy held a “Rocket Toss” competition between students from BVB and Oxford College in order to illustrate the kind of activities and critical thinking that are core parts of EA’s mission. Each team of 3 was asked to make an “initial investment” for the paper needed to make the rockets. This investment was manifested as negative points. Teams were then given 45 seconds to make the rockets. Afterwards, one team member held a plastic pail and another was blindfolded. The third team member guided the blindfolded teammate in throwing the rockets into the pail. In the end, BVB College triumphed.

See video of EA's segment on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhUuc43Dhco&feature=player_embedded

Check out more photos of the 2011 Development Dialogue kickoff:

DD Kickoff Event

Yuva Summit Breakout Panel

On January 27th, after the conclusion of the Yuva Summit opening ceremony, faculty and administrators were invited to D.C.S.E.'s seminar hall for a special panel session.

Moderated by D.C.S.E. Director Naveen Jha, the panel included:

Dr. Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Founder, Deshpande Foundation

Dr. Ashok Shettar, Principal, BVB College of Engineering

Prof. Ken Zolot, Senior Lecturer, MIT

Prof. Indumati, V.C. Davangere University

Prof. Geetha Bali, V.C. KSWU

Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and dialogue with the panelists about teaching entrepreneurship. Prof. Ken Zolot was a particularly unique and valuable resource. He is a serial entrepreneur having started several different companies and teaches entrepreneurship at M.I.T.

At the conclusion of the panel, faculty and community members who completed a rigorous training on achievement motivation were presented with awards.

Check out our Picasa album for more photos of this event

Yuva_Post_Panel

The 2011 Yuva Summit

On January 27^th 2011, The Deshpande Foundation held the first ever Yuva Summit. Championed by D.C.S.E.’s LEAD & EA programs, the Yuva Summit was a tremendous success.

Rahul Bose, Bollywood Actor, Director, & Social Activist, was the Yuva Summit’s featured speaker. Other special guest speakers were:

Dr. Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Founder, Deshpande Foundation

Dr. Ashok Shettar, Principal, BVB College of Engineering

Prof. Ken Zolot, Senior Lecturer, MIT

Ms. Meenu Venkateswaran, CEO, Pravah

Mr. Vishal Talreja, Executive Director, Dream A Dream

After the opening ceremony, the Yuva Summit continued with a special panel session for college administrators and faculty. A LEAD Mela was also held, allowing guests to visit stalls and learn more about the different projects LEAD has helped to bring about. The Yuva Summit concluded in the later afternoon with Rahul Bose once again joining LEAD students and other dignitaries on stage.

Yuva_Summit

Visit www.deshpandefoundation.org and http://dcselead.blogspot.com/ for more coverage of Yuva Summit 2011 and Development Dialogue 2011.

“Desh” session for EA

Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is the Chairman of Sparta Group LLC, A123 Systems (AONE), Sycamore Networks (SCMR), Tejas Networks, Sandstone Capital and HiveFire. He was also a founding investor in Airvana, Cimaron, Webdialogs and Relicore.

Prior to co-founding Sycamore Networks, Dr. Deshpande was founder and chairman of Cascade Communications Corp.

Dr. Deshpande serves as a member of the MIT Corporation, and his generous donations have made possible MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.

Dr. Deshpande holds a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, an M.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and Ph.D. in Data Communications from Queens University in Canada.

Dr. Deshpande is a trustee of the Deshpande foundation. He and his wife are involved in several non-profit initiatives that include support for MIT, IIT, TiE, Akshaya Patra Foundation, Public Health Foundation of India and the Social Entrepreneurship Sandbox in India.

Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande meets with faculty, directors & E-Cell members.

On 12th April, Desh met with EA’s E-Cell members and faculty at DCSE. During the event, Desh gave awards to students from GBS (Hubli) for their involvement in the 2K Challenge. Following the awards’ ceremony, one student from each school gave a brief presentation about their E-Cell activities and interest in engaging in entrepreneurial activities through the E-Cell. Desh then addressed the group with an inspirational talk on pursuing an entrepreneurial life. Below are some students’ feedback on what they learned from the session.

• You are the CEO of your own life
• Learn not just to be an entrepreneur, but also learn to lead an entrepreneurial life.
• Life is full of opportunities.
• Enjoy playing in every stage of life.
• Don’t give up or comprise one’s passion to be something.
• Entrepreneurs must have the guts to face Uncertainties..