The Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) has conducted the first of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) supported series of ‘Stimulating Bio-Entrepreneurs’ talks at the Center for Converging Technologies (CCT), University of Rajasthan to inspire future entrepreneurs.
The aim of this programme was to motivate the highly energetic, skilled and self-confident young student community, to instil and incite creative minds to build new ventures and support them. According to Dr Renu Swarup, Advisor, DBT & MD, BIRAC, “the aim of the series is to spark an entrepreneurial interest in young minds and the selected universities will provide an ideal setting. After the first series of eight talks in four university clusters, the programme will be rolled out in several others.”
Lead coordinator Dr K Vijayaraghavan from Sathguru Management Consultants, discussed with the students the, “Roadmap to entrepreneurship” and encouraged them to develop a global perspective and utilise the Indian ecosystem to adopt Life Sciences as their domain to create enterprises. He also mentioned the value creation in any innovative idea.”
Dr Ashok Bharghava, Chief Executive Officer, Ayushraj shared his journey of entrepreneurship to create a successful enterprise in building manufacturing capacity for nutraceutical and natural herbs.
Prof Mahesh Sharma, University of Rajasthan on behalf of Plants Med Laboratories shared his business model and opportunities available in the online marketing space.
Maninder Sra from Observe Design and an ABLE- BEST 2013 Winner presented his team’s digital sanitiser prototype and gave a perspective on team value and on how funding instils confidence in transforming ideas into a very successful venture.
BIRAC also encouraged the students to apply for the ongoing call of its flagship scheme – Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG), which supports innovative ideas with grant-in-aid amount upto Rs 50 lakhs. This highly interactive session enthused the participating students and young research scholars.
EP News Bureau- Mumbai