Event Summary

 

Suraj Menon (the anchor) kicked off the event with an introduction about the event and invited Prof. Prabal Sen on stage. Sir spoke about the initiatives that have been taken by XLRI and the role played by the Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) in promoting entrepreneurship. Sir also told the audience about the recent inception, and growth of E-Cell in the past one and a half year. He was very supportive about the summit and expressed his desire to make it an annual affair.

 

Next, Suraj invited Ms. Malavika Sharma on stage to share her views on Women Leadership. Ma’am shared experiences from her life, about the challenges that she faced before starting her online business. She spoke about the importance of market research in starting a venture. After that she went on to share the importance of taking a business online and how we can leverage social media for rapid growth.

 

Next up was Ms. Keerthana Mohan who joined us via Google Hangout. Ma’am spoke about the initiatives taken by Google in the field of women empowerment and Entrepreneurship. Then she enlightened the audience about Project Loon, the bold new project by Google, and the impact that it can have on the world. Another key aspect that she touched upon was the challenges that women face during their careers. Ma’am also detailed the activities undertaken by Google in different countries to promote Women entrepreneurship. She concluded with the video on Women Entrepreneurs on the Web.

 

Two videos were played during Ms. Keerthana Mohan’s talk:

Project Loon (before the talk) :

Women on the Web (after the talk) :

 

 

Ms. Jaya Jha told the audience about her online venture, Pothi.com. She spoke on how she was able to carve out a niche market in online book publishing and how her brand was perceived by different people. She also focussed on how the internet enabled her to make book publishing accessible to writers even on a small scale. Another aspect was the way in which online blogs have empowered writers to bypass book publishers altogether, which have a minimal barrier to entry. She finished her talk with her views on challenges in the online world, as well as the laws and censorship which have started to plague the World Wide Web.

 

Ms. Subhashini Chandran, who had joined us via Video Conferencing, shared her experiences at the Woodbriar Group. Then she went on to give a very motivational talk on women leadership focussing on challenges that women face in society. Ma’am also touched upon the benefits of having women in board rooms and decision making positions. She encouraged women to believe in themselves and recognise their potential. Finally, Ma’am asked the women to follow their dreams and not let marriage put a stop on them.

 

Ms. Reethika Sunder started off with some of the challenges faced by students in India, regarding how people end up chasing someone else’s dream. Then she went on to tell the audience about the life of an entrepreneur in the early stages of a venture. One very important aspect that she touched upon was the importance of a steady source of passive income while starting a new venture. Ma’am shared the importance of testing one’s idea and finding a mentor in that field. She told us the importance of always keeping your mind open to entrepreneurship, even if one is comfortably set in his job. She ended her talk highlighting the importance of humility and eagerness to learn for an entrepreneur.

 

Ms. Seema Nair had joined us via Video Conferencing and she spoke about the fact that many people may choose to start their venture a few years after working in a company. Then she spoke about challenges that women face in the society owing to family commitments and the importance of choosing a supportive life partner who would be willing to support their career. Ma’am also spoke about the differences in Indian and Western culture related to workspace environment. Another advice from her was that women should not hesitate to take credit for their work that they do.

 

Ms. Ashu Tiwary spoke about the importance of technology and e-commerce in the current world scenario. Ma’am also gave a few examples on the clever use of technology and social media in marketing your product. Next, she spoke about the initiatives that schools take in building leadership qualities in children with the help of social clubs. The schools encourage all round development of the children so they can express their views freely and chase their dreams.

 

In addition to all these inspiring talks, we also had a few quizzes in between to keep the audience engaged. Goodies were given out to the members of the audience who gave correct answers to the questions that were asked by Suraj.

 

After the speakers, we had on stage the winner of the essay writing competition which was held across schools and colleges in Jamshedpur. She read out her article on ‘How far have we come; bringing women into the boardroom’. Next, the audience had a Q&A session with the speakers in which they asked their queries and received insightful answers from the speakers.

 

Ankur Sharma, the Secretary of E-Cell delivered the final vote of thanks to all the speakers, faculty and Google India. He ended the programme with encouraging words for the entire team and expressed his interest in conducting the event next year as well.