From Raghuram Rajan to Kiran Bedi, prominent names graced IIT Delhi’s flagship Entrepreneurship Summit, ‘BECon 2024’, providing insights into start-ups, the economy, and the business industry today!
The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, witnessed a gathering of industry veterans and successful entrepreneurs on February 3rd and 4th under the Annual Business and Entrepreneurship Conclave ‘BECon 2024: Genesis Wave of Innovation’. The promising line-up of both days of the conclave, of industry leaders and IIT Delhi alumni alike, was able to gather a bustling crowd of students across universities who flocked the halls of Dogra Hall to listen to the seasoned insights of the speakers. The ambitious line-up of speakers and guests included names like Nitin Gadkari, Raghuram Rajan, Kiran Bedi, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, to name a few.
The first day of the event was packed with speaker sessions and competitions like Biz-E 3.0, Blueprint, Moonshot, and ‘Launchpad’, the Startup Expo. The day began with a keynote session with the renowned first-woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, which was a house-full event in the Dogra Hall.
The next in line of the speaker session was a panel discussion ‘Money Moves’ which included a line-up of successful entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders like Sumit Sinha, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Filter Capital; Ankit Mehrotra, Co-Founder and CEO, Dineout; Priyank Garg, Managing Partner, IAN Alpha Fund; Anup Jain, Early Stage VC; and Apurva Chamaria, Head of Startups and Venture Capital, Google India. The session was moderated by Suraj Malik, Founder, Legacy Growth, who was able to engage with the panel on shared industry experiences. The panel engaged in a breakdown of the start-up and investment industries to address current industry trends and the central questions of upcoming entrepreneurs. The panel discussed the growth and rise of the start-up industry in present times with their own stories, along with the youth’s interest in this field. By a show of hands, the panel questioned the audience on who wishes to start their own venture, and almost the entire Dogra Hall raised hands in affirmation. When the female audience members were asked if they wished to start their own ventures, a handful raised their hands. This demographic was also pointed out by Apurva Chamaria and Priyank Garg, who expressed that there is a need for more female start-ups to come forward. Priyank Garg advocated staunchly for more women’s representation in the entrepreneurship industry and remarked that some of his best clients have been women.
Ankit Mehrotra, in a conversation with DU Beat, responded to the differences between his generation of students and students of today:
The key difference is that there is a greater desire for entrepreneurship that did not exist during my time. We were a nation of job seekers; now we are a nation of job creators.
The next speaker session, “She Means Business,” saw a panel of women entrepreneurs who are successful founders of leading start-ups, which included Ruchira Shukla, Head for South Asia, VC, IFC, World Bank Group, Shaili Chopra, Founder, SheThePeople, Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder of CashKaro.com, Tanya Singhal, Founder, Mynzo Carbon, and Swati Vasudevan, MD, Khan Academy. The session was moderated by Somya Matta, Senior Manager, Aditya Birla Ventures, who interacted with this dynamic panel of change-makers. The women spoke about their journey in the field and echoed the sentiments of the previous session with the rise of the start-up industry, while also commenting on women’s active participation in the same. The leading entrepreneurs gave insights on building a successful business and the factors to keep in mind for the same.
Swati Bhargava, in a conversation with DU Beat, gave a message to upcoming women entrepreneurs:
Support each other; there is enough room for all of us at the top. It’s not me versus her, but all of us will make it together.
The second day of the Entrepreneurship Summit at IIT Delhi commenced with great anticipation in the Dogra Hall., as attendees eagerly awaited the keynote address by Raghuram Ranjan, the esteemed former governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Ranjan’s insightful discourse set the tone for the day, inspiring budding entrepreneurs with his wealth of experience and profound insights into the world of finance and entrepreneurship.
Following the keynote address, the summit delved into a riveting session on investing in innovation, featuring a distinguished panel comprising Satya Prakash Singh, Col. KiranDeep Singh, Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl, Suraj Malik, and Piyush Bansal. The panellists captivated the audience with discussions on the transformative potential of deep tech in vital sectors such as healthcare, space technology, and sustainability.
CVCs (Corporate Venture Capital) are the future of entrepreneurship and are going to set the stage for the future of Indian startups.
– A panelist on the role CVCs would play in the start-up ecosystem in India.
Moreover, they shed light on the burgeoning phenomenon of corporate venture capitalists and its implications for the entrepreneurial landscape.
The day culminated with a compelling session titled “IIT Delhi Effect,” where illustrious alumni from various batches, ranging from 1995 to 2008, took centre stage. Vikram Gupta, TP Miglani, Nitin Jain, and Raghav Verma shared nostalgic anecdotes from their time at IIT Delhi, underscoring the pivotal role of their alma mater in shaping their entrepreneurial journeys. They fondly reminisced about the competitive ethos and invaluable connections forged during their college years, which laid the foundation for their subsequent successes as trailblazing entrepreneurs.
Overall, the Entrepreneurship Summit at IIT Delhi was an enriching and enlightening experience, showcasing the power of ideas, innovation, and collaboration in driving entrepreneurial excellence and fostering transformative change.
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Featured Image Credits: Nabeera Jamal For DU Beat
Injeella Himani
Sarah Nautiyal
