15 May 2013|Noida | India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Amity Innovation Incubator brings investors and entrepreneurs closer during “India Symposium-Connecting Investors to Opportunities"
Amity Innovation Incubator, Amity Centre for Private Equity and Venture Capital together with TiE- The Indus Entrepreneurs organized “India Symposium-Connecting Investors to Opportunities” at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi for Entrepreneurs actively looking at raising Angel or Series A or Series B funding, Investors, Fund Managers and Professionals looking for a career move in Investor Community.
Welcoming the august gathering, Mr. Aseem Chauhan, Chancellor, Amity University & CEO, Amity Innovation Incubator remarked that entrepreneurship is the most exhilarating experience in the world but at times, it can be most frustrating. An entrepreneur with his resilience, hard work and determination could act as fabric for economic growth of India and can lead it in the future. Mr. Chauhan expressed his hope that the symposium would be a touch point between the investors and entrepreneurs, mutually benefitting both.
Delivering the key note address on –“ Building the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem – Making sense of the global economic landscape vs India’s Unique Entrepreneurial Optimism, Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal, Jt. MD, Hero Motocorp Ltd & Chairman, Hero Corporate Services Ltd said that to be involved independently in economic activity comes naturally to Indians. He stressed that India needs to create 10- 15 million new jobs a year atleast for the next 15 years and 8%+ GDP for next 15 years. “93% of Indians who are productively employed are self employed and only 7% of the people in nation are in jobs. Indians are adept in multi- tasking, they are brought up in an environment of uncertainty which makes them innovative and all they need is a facilitating environment to succeed”, opined Mr. Munjal. He encouraged the entrepreneurs to conceive an idea which could give them distinction and an edge over others; the idea should have the potential to grow and meet a need which is not fulfilled or create a new need. When an entrepreneur starts his venture, he emanates boundless zeal and energy which could get anything going and ways are to be devised to keep that energy intact for further stages, suggested the speaker. Sharing his concern over the skill gap witnessed by the industry, Mr. Munjal said that in India, there is acute dearth of skilled manpower with right attitude and an ability to adapt to new roles and responsibilities. Attributing the same to Indian education system, Mr. Munjal remarked that education system is not providing the education which is required for job market. There are very few institutes offering courses in entrepreneurship or promoting entrepreneurship amongst the students, despite the fact that 93% of the Indians are entrepreneurs. He pointed out an urgent need for enterprising entrepreneurs to develop health care sector of India with accessibility at affordable prices.
Sharing his experience of Venture Capital with the gathering , Mr. Rakesh Rewari- Expert, Office of the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations said that early stage is the most difficult segment to raise funding since at this stage, the entrepreneurs of the start ups don’t have a track record, they are running from rented premises, banks would not like to look at them and Venture Capitalists would like to consider bigger investments. Dwelling on interesting statistics, the speaker highlighted that over 500 companies have been incubated in India and only 150 start –ups have received the funding. Advising the budding entrepreneurs, Mr. Rewari stressed that they should prepare the business plans with the help of the mentors, advisors; be prepared to change their business plan as they go ahead and never be rigid; be very transparent and focus on simple innovations in processes, designs and services. He called upon entrepreneurs to be aware and careful of the finance schemes that are existing in the market and prepare six months in advance for the next round of funding and finally, be prepared to exit if they are successful.
One of the delegates, Ms. Shipra Sharma who co-founded “Elementia Wellness Private limited” along with Mr. Aditya Kausal four years ago, shared the interesting journey of the start up from a test run of mobile spa in the beginning to 18 centres across North India at present. She stressed that entrepreneurship is the most satisfying experience and need of the hour for raising the GDP of the country. After four years of inception, the founders of the company, with organized structure, lucrative business plans, are seeking funds from the investors to scale up operations across India.
During the session on “Structuring Early Stage Transactions” investors and advisors including Mr. Parag Dhol, MD, Inventus Capital, Mr. Himanshu Sareen, CEO, Icreon Tech Inc, Mr. Karan Mohla, VP, IDG Ventures and Mr. Arvind Jha,Director & Co-Founder, Movico Technologies stressed on the importance of being a dynamic entrepreneur and developing an efficient team, which could help an entrepreneur winning the confidence of investors. They conceded that early stage investments are characterized by volatile risks especially when it comes to disruptive and technology based ventures and over 52% of angel investors loose money in various projects. Mr. Himanshu Sareen, CEO, Icreon Tech Inc implored the entrepreneurs to be clear about the purpose behind raising the funds; whether they want to exit in the near future or develop a sustainable business, since in both the cases, structuring would be different. The best option, he stressed, is raising funds through equity rather than debts at early stage.
During the day three other sessions unfolded- “Transformational Growth” by Mr. Ritesh Banglani, Director, Helion Venture Partners, Mr. Shailesh Vikram Singh, Seedfund, Mr. Sunil Goyal, CEO & Fund Manager, YourNest Capital Advisors and Mr. Rohtash Mal, Chairman, Equitigro,” Pitch Perfect Presentations” by 8 promising startups looking to raise funds and “Negotiating Skills – Term Sheet Negotiations – Crucial Clauses and Getaways” by Mr. Hemendra Mathur, MD, SEAF India Investment Advisors, Mr. Arvind Mathur, Chairman, PE Pro Partners, Mr. Nikhil Mulchandani, Managing Partner, Ixora Ventures and Mr. Ranjit Shastri, Director, Stern Fisher Angel Network.
Over 150 Entrepreneurs attended the Symposium and were enriched with the informative sessions by investors.