Report: E-Summit

E- Summit, the flagship event of the Entrepreneurship Cell of our institute, (E-Cell), was conducted on campus from 17th to 19th of February, 2017. The event happened at a magnitude like never before with eminent guest speakers, interesting workshops and engaging events.

The inaugural ceremony was graced by our director, Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas and Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Markandey Katju, who was the chief guest for the occasion. In his speech that followed, Justice Katju spoke of the unfavourable socio-economic situation in India for  budding entrepreneurs. He also repeatedly stressed on the role of the government in protecting and supporting such potential. Rapid industrialization is the stepping stone to the country’s development and this, he believes can be attained by nurturing such enthusiastic ventures into giants. The ceremony ended with a vote of thanks by the President of E-Cell, Mr. Divyansh Bengani.

Day-1 of the E-Summit began with ‘Biz-quiz’, an open quiz themed on business with a written preliminary round followed by the finals. The event saw enthusiastic participation from both NITT and non-NITT students of all years.

The competition in tow was a Case Study challenge, presented by Naturals. The event had an overwhelming response with registrants from across the country. The participants were required to come up with strategies for establishing a loyal customer base and developing the brand ‘Naturals’ .

E-Summit also hosted an all women panel discussion for the first time ever on campus. With established lady entrepreneurs as panelists, the intriguing discussion saw them open up about  their lives and interact with the audience. The final event for the day was a webinar session by Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, the inventor of email. He discussed the future of chat-bots and communication in his speech.

Day – 2 followed suit with yet another interesting line-up of events. The final phase of Ventura  – the annual international business model competition, saw entries coming in from all over the country. The event was a great success with the top 3 pitches receiving cash prizes worth 1.3 lakhs. The winning pitch was by Free space: A business model based on an innovative patented technology used to detect objects in remote locations using local satellite tracking. The runners-up were a venture named Ingenious: A company involved in developing a patented technology of rechargeable smart backpacks. The third prize was bagged by Pallette Tech: An electronic component distributor. In the noon, youth icon and trendsetter, Adhi of Hiphop Tamizha gave a talk and interacted with the students on ‘The Road Less Taken’. In a very relatable speech, Mr. Adhi spoke about passion, dreams and hard work as requisites for a successful life. Following it was Pitch-fest, an event designed to test the spontaneity of the participants and the ingenuity of their ideas. This too had good participation with quality pitches.

The summit ended with a guest lecture by reputed alumni Mr. Vishnu Venugopal (IAS), a valedictory speech by the E-Cell’s President and a prize distribution ceremony. Winners were given cash awards and certificates of merit. Apart from these events and guest lectures, workshops were held on the ‘Basics of Stock Market’ and ‘Basics of Digital Marketing’.

With over 500 registrations from across the country, a distinguished lineup of speakers, quality events and workshops, E-Summit 2k17 was truly a success.