ELIXIR 2017 (Silver Jubilee) – The Future House
Guest of Honour, Mr. Apurva Mankad, CEO & Founder, WebXpress & Logicloud, emphasized the role of technology in today’s world.
Mr. Deepak Ananth, Co-Founder: ScoutMyTrip, Mr. Parthajeet Sarma, Director, iDream Advisory Services Pvt Ltd., Mr. Prasad Menon, CEO, CIBA, Mr. Mandar Gupte, Founder, Bloom Business Consultants (Chetana’s Alumnus and Moderator for the discussion), Mr. Rahul Barkataky, Founder & Mentor, Sadhyaya, Mr. Subhobroto Chakroborty, Founder & CDO, thedigitalfellow.com, Mr. Siddharth Ladsariya, Manager, Everest Foods & Flavours (Also Venture Capitalist)
The discussion revolved around aspects such as statistics about the startups in India, approach used by young versus old generation entrepreneurs, investment decisions by a startup, reasons behind failure of startups, prerequisites as seen by VCs for funding, the role of banks, financial institutions & government in promoting startups, the qualities required by entrepreneurs, etc. Examples of OYO rooms, Dell, Mondelez, Reliance Jio were used. The discussion concluded with tips for the students which included right knowledge, not to give up, consistency, perseverance & patience. All members agreed that it is a good time for startups in India.
The concluding session on ‘Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’ met all expectations, as Mr Mangesh Wange, COO, Swades Foundation spoke about building lives and livelihood. The performing arts shows and role plays added enjoyment to enrichment.
The historical journey of Elixir 2017 was captured in an alluring video for posterity.