Ghumakkad Harsh: Get Your Hands Dirty

Saturday 3 November 2018

Get Your Hands Dirty

'Get your hands dirty' advised Sumit Ahuja to budding entrepreneurs of Vishwa Vishwani Institute of Systems and Management (VVISM) Hyderabad. Sumit was speaking at the Annual Business Plan Contest 2018 of VVISM held on 2^nd November 2018.

The Contest had eight finalists who presented their business idea and pitch to an external Jury. These eight Startup ideas which ranged from energy, environment, livelihoods to food sectors are listed below:

Stitching Dreams- Empowering rural wome
YUMS- Double-decker food truck
FITI- Counselling for 10th standard students
Casa de Café- Multi-themed cafe
Khana Khazana- Chef on call
Comida Food- Customised food for medical conditions
JSV Bijli- Generating electricity the AI way
Bags E-Way- Paper bags supply

These eight finalists had been selected after two rounds of pitches and Business Plan presentations. Total of 29 startup teams vied for the top slots. The whole process was spread over nine weeks of semester load.

The finalists highlighted five points in their pitch to the Jury:

What do they do?
How do they do it?
Market potential and competition
How will the startup be monetized?
What is the investment needed?

The Jury comprised of three experienced entrepreneurs- Mr Sumit Ahuja has set up businesses not only in India but also in Japan and Australia. Ms Ishita Raksha and Ms Nidhi Upadhyay have co-founded a Gourmet dessert boutique in Hyderabad.

The Jury did extensive questioning to each team which added value to the Contest. Pictures for you.

'Bags e-Way’ startup lead by Piyush Agarwal which aims to

capitalize on Govt’s ban on plastic bags, was adjudged the winner. Team ‘FITI’ which proposed an on-line counselling service for 10^th standard in rural areas, got the runners up prize.

The Jury were felicitated by Director VVISM.

Each of the Jury members shared their experiences as entrepreneurs. Few of their bites are given below:

The Director reinforced the need for entrepreneurship in our country which was followed up by group photographs.

By now the guests were saturated with pictures. They seemed to say 'bas karo ji' बस करो जी when the following picture was clicked:

The whole event was coordinated by PGDM students as part of the core course Entrepreneurship and Startup Management. Thank you the Class of 2019 for all the excitement! Special 'shabash' शाबाश to the organising team!