Khambatta’s take on Whats & What Nots for budding entrepreneurs leaves a lasting impression and offers an insightful peek into the world of enterpreneurship
BILKULONLINE
By Rafat Quadri
Ahmedabad, Sept 6: Piruz Khambatta, a noted entrepreneur and the name behind the Rasna brand, delivered the annual Dr. VG Patel Memorial Lecture that was organised by Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Ahmedabad, today.
The lecture, fifth in the series, was held at EDII campus to commemorate the 84th birth anniversary of Dr VG Patel, the pioneer of EDII and the idea of entrepreneurship. The Topic of the Lecture was ‘Entrepreneur: A Nation Builder’.
EDII lost its founder Padma Dr. VG Patel on April 4, 2019. To commemorate Dr. Patel’s great work in the field of entrepreneurship, the Institute started an annual lecture series in 2019. Recognised by the entrepreneurship fraternity as the ‘Pioneer of Entrepreneurship Movement,’ Dr. VG Patel committed himself to propagate entrepreneurship within India and globally. Not only did he succeed in establishing the credibility of his belief across India, but also went on to establish the National Resource Institute, EDII, in 1983.
Dr. Sunil Shukla who leads the EDII, Ahmedabad paid tribute to the late Dr VG Patel as recalling Dr. Patel’s exceptional contribution to the economic development of the nation by introducing and promoting the concept of entrepreneurship. When he used to call us, when we come back we felt an inch taller that was the motivation. He was the first person to initiate entrepreneurship training idea at GIDC and today where we stand India knows.
He said, “Entrepreneurship has traversed a long journey from being doubted upon as a career option to being accepted as a wholesome development tool. I am happy to be mentored by Dr. V. G. Patel and be a part of this movement. Today the country is emphasizing on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in view of the advantages that come about to the economy, nation and its people. I am glad this recognition to the discipline has come about and EDII is making a meaningful contribution to this process of growth by wide spreading entrepreneurship”
Addressing the audience, Piruz Khambatta, said, “It is my honour to come and speak on the momentous occasion as EDII hosts their 5th lecture in Dr. VG Patel Memorial Lecture series. Dr. Patel, a legendary figure, was a true visionary who not only introduced entrepreneurship to our nation but also instilled the values of self-reliance through it. He talked about Startup India and Atmanirbhar Bharat even before the ideas became popular. I give my best wishes to EDII for all their future initiatives.”
Later speaking to the media, Khambatta elaborated his point of views on how conducive the ambience and mood of the country was for the youth to become an entrepreneur. He said the youngsters coming from several backgrounds, may be rural fields, graduates, IITians to others can all become entrepreneurs provided that they have clarity of vision and desire of nation building. It is possible when they once start they stick to it with conviction and get carried away by the idea of selling it out to foreign land or shift themselves. I say why you go out; you are getting the benefits of investing here also, just thick of benefitting others, to all and see you are also benefitted as an entrepreneur. I urge them to come and avail the benefits; Gift City is there throwing lot of opportunities for youngsters in many ways.
Khambatta also opined that certain rules and regulations could be reworked by the government and agencies to attract more and more of the budding entrepreneurs to enter the world of creativity and nation building. The suggestions by the Rasna chief offered an insightful discourse on how the relatively license free, trust bestowing, less regulatory environment can help the fresh start-up entrepreneurs. There is also a dire need of establishing a dialogue and interaction of the budding entrepreneurs with the institutes of excellence of the particular field for a free flow of information and resolving issues and doubts as they crop up even after they have initiated a certain business.”
“He emphasized that everyone must have one common goal of nation building which straight always is also going to make the entrepreneur successful, wealthy and stable. But as Gandhiji had said they have to always keep in mind that they are trustees of the business they create and it is in the interest of the society and thus they have to work with long term aim, that their enterprise does have to go on for generations to come within the family or whoever they want to leave it with.
Dr. V. G. Patel Memorial Award for Entrepreneurship Trainer-Educator-Mentor- 2023:
In 2020, EDII instituted Dr. V. G. Patel Memorial Award for Entrepreneurship Trainer-Educator-Mentor to honor the late legendary, Dr. V. G. Patel who emphasized on the significance of instituting a cadre of entrepreneur trainer-motivators to sustain the entrepreneurship movement. Dr Patel hailed this cadre of professionals as the backbone of the entrepreneurship development movement. This National Award recognises the outstanding contribution of a trainer/educator/mentor in propagating innovations and technology driven new enterprises. To arrive at its decision, the high-level Award Committee follows a three-tier selection process based on critical evaluation parameters and personal interview. The award comprises a citation and cash prize of Rs One Lakh.
This year (2023), the award was conferred on Dr Satyajit Majumdar, Professor and Dean, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Dr. Majumdar is a leading expert on entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship was declared winner of this prestigious award. He is the dean of the School of Management and Labour Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, India.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Majumdar has played an important role in the development of entrepreneurship, especially in the social sector. He has mentored more than 350 startups, including 40 in Jammu and Kashmir and group startups in Jhabua, West Bengal. He has also helped to build an ecosystem for entrepreneurship at TISS, including the establishment of a separate entrepreneurship cell in 2012.
He was selected out of 378 nominations received this year.
Earlier award winners included;
- Dr. Pradeep Kumar Mishra, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, IIT (BHU) and Secretary & Coordinator, Malviya Centre of Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIT (BHU) Varanasi (2020)
- Dr. Farahanaz Rasool, Deputy Director Extension Trainings, Directorate of Extension, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar (2020)
- Sunil Chandak, President, Udyogwardini Shiksha Sansthan, Nashik, Maharashtra (2021)
- Dr. Venkatesh Babu, Dean, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Tamil Nadu (2021)
- Mrutyunjay Suar, CEO, KIIT Technology Business Incubator, Odisha (2022)
Dr. Satyajit Majumdar is a leading expert on entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. He is the dean of the School of Management and Labour Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, India.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Majumdar has played an important role in the development of entrepreneurship, especially in the social sector. He has mentored more than 350 startups, including 40 in Jammu and Kashmir and group startups in Jhabua, West Bengal. He has also helped to build an ecosystem for entrepreneurship at TISS, including the establishment of a separate entrepreneurship cell in 2012.
He was selected out of 378 nominations received this year.
Earlier, Dr Satya Ranjan Acharya, Professor and Director of the Department of Entrepreneurship Education at the EDII was felicitated by Piruz Khambatta for having received the National Teachers’ Award 2023 in the award recently.
Uma Shankar, Additional Chief Secretary Tamil Nadu with his team also remained present at the EDII function. There was a recent MoU signed between Tamil Nadu Entrepreneurship Institute and EDII.
Harsh Patel son of late Dr V G Patel and other family members of EDII founder were present at the occasion which sparked energy with large number of EDII students and faculty members.
S S Modi and Harmit Kaur faculty of EDII conducted the segments of programme effectively.
(Rafat Quadri can be contacted at editorbilkul@gmail.com)