Thapar University brings out the Entrepreneur in students

 

·        University’s Entrepreneurship Development Cell gives exposure to aspiring entrepreneurs by inviting experts from National Small Industries Corporation to guide them

·         250 final-year students attend seminar conducted by NSIC, get access to NSIC facilities for new start-ups, like finance, technical guidance, financial consultancy, marketing support, legal advice

·         Participants enrolled on training website of MSME Ministry, provided unique login-IDs to source project reports, live demos of low-cost ventures, information on start-ups, business plans

13^th November, 2014: Bringing alive the entrepreneurial spirit of students, the newly formed Entrepreneurship Development Cell of Thapar University, Patiala invited experts from the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC) to the university campus on Wednesday to guide final-year students who want to set up their own ventures.

About 250 BE and ME final-year students who attended the seminar conducted by the NSIC as part of its Entrepreneurship Orientation Programme were provided access to NSIC facilities for new start-ups, like finance, technical guidance, financial consultancy, networking/marketing support and legal advice.

The participants were enrolled on the training website of the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and provided unique login-IDs to source project reports, live demonstrations of low-cost ventures occupying less space, videos of successful entrepreneurs sharing their experiences and information relating to start-ups and business plans. The login-IDs will be active for five years.

The NSIC is an ISO 9001-2008-certified Government of India enterprise under the MSME Ministry that promotes self-employment and entrepreneurship.

NSIC experts, including Rajesh Kumar, Deputy General Manager and Centre Head, Technical Services Centre, Rajpura, and Kumar Rohit, Assistant Manager (Technology), familiarised the participants with the role of MSMEs in the Indian economy, the process of setting up an enterprise and the concept and scope of self-employment. The students were provided various project profiles from which they can choose any project of their interest.

The Entrepreneurship Development Cell of Thapar University, which gave this exposure to young engineers to motivate them to become job-providers rather than job-seekers, will also provide funding for good business ideas through angel investors, Thapar University alumni and certain government schemes.

“This cell has been instituted to meet our larger objective of revitalising the entrepreneurial spirit of Punjab and its neighbouring states. Thapar University is also in the process of setting up a venture lab in collaboration with University of Twente, Netherlands to provide technological, financial, infrastructural and strategic support to budding entrepreneurs from within and outside Thapar University,” said Thapar University Director Prof Prakash Gopalan.

Entrepreneurship Development Cell president Dr MD Singh said the Cell would extend financial support to students for start-ups. “We will organise industrial visits for them, apart from interactive sessions with successful entrepreneurs. We will also seek funds from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Union Department of Science and Technology for a technical business incubator,” he said.