SproutIT 2015…Initiate, Innovate, Iterate!!

SproutIT 2015…Initiate, Innovate, Iterate!!

12^th of September’2015 hosted the most awaiting event for the 15-17 batch, SproutIT, which boasts to be a national level entrepreneurship event conducted annually by the Entrepreneurship cell of SCIT, iTELF. The very first event of iTELF commenced with the lightning of lamp by our Director and Professor, Dr. Dhanya Pramod; Deputy Director and Associate Professor, Dr. Kanchan Patil; the Chief Guest of the event, Dr. Aravind Chinchure; Professor and Faculty mentor of iTELF, Apoorva Kulkarni; and our senior, Ujval Bucha. Our Director Ma’am was asked to then deliver a welcome speech, wherein she welcomed the gathering, and threw light upon the fact that since last six years, SproutIT has been spreading positive energy and providing a dynamic platform leading to entrepreneurship for the research-oriented as well as technology students. And then, the Panel Discussion started.

The theme for Panel Discussion was “Technology Driven Entrepreneurship”.  The panellists for this event were:

• Dr. Aravind Chinchure, Chair Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Symbiosis International University.
• Mr. Sidhant Pai, CEO – Protoprint and Social Seva
• Mr. Aditya Bhelande, Founder – YuktaMedia
• Mr. Sanjeev Nambudiri – Co-founder, Midas Touch Consultants
• Mr. Abhishek Jain – Vice President, Zeus Numerix
• Mrs. Himali Kovelamudi, Founder – SilverSunSolutions

Apart from these six speakers, one of our super seniors with 84 months of work experience, Mr. Ram Kinkar Jha, was also present during the discussion, who acted as the Moderator. Some of the excerpts from the discussion, in which all the panellists were asked to share their views and opinions on Entrepreneurship, were-

• Don’t start with the idea of becoming an entrepreneur; rather strive to be a productive member of the society.
• It is not always about waiting to remove the ambiguity, instead of trying to do what already exists or trying to bring some more innovations into it, think and do something unique. Innovation these days is not only about new ideas, but inventing new ideas of execution.
• Be a good listener and a keen observer, and never let humility go away.
  Do what you are passionate about, you might fail but there is always something or other for everyone, so never get depressed.
• Wealth Creation and Creation of Jobs are the two major factors when it comes to Entrepreneurship. But there is a slight difference between something being essential and important, thus wealth creation is essential but it can’t be tagged as being important; rather it has to be an inner journey.
• Even companies must innovate to survive in this competitive world, and they must focus on identifying the problems first and then getting an in-depth knowledge of the needs of the users or customers.
• Presenting business for funding is the most important thing and one should explore ways of doing that. Even one should be very well versed with excellent ways of making presentations and must possess very good communication skills. The presentations shall be convincing and reflecting your passion. While pitching for investment, you must know your problem and at the same time, the solutions as well.
• Many start-ups evolve out of different minds but hardly two or three manage to survive, and the reason behind such a huge failure for these start-ups is marketing, and thus marketing the businesses effectively is the ultimate requirement.

Even the discussion focussed on Woman Entrepreneurship, giving prominence to the only lady in the panel. She shared her simple philosophy with all the female students that, while you are at the workplace, don’t think about your home and vice versa. It would be worth mentioning that despite of all the difficulties she might have faced in her career, her thoughts were quite optimistic. She mentioned that Entrepreneurship allows flexibility in your schedule, and never allow the belief in yourself to fade away. It is easy to give up, but really strenuous to fulfil your dreams; so even if you are let down by your family members, after seeing your dedication, they will cool down for sure.

SproutIT also held some events where not only the enthusiastic students from SCIT participated, but it also showcased footfall from other colleges like SICSR; Christ College, Bangalore; SIIB; SCMHRD; SIBM; D.Y. Patil, Welingkar, SIMS, NICMAR, and MILE. Following were the events held:

• Talktonics– This was a group discussion event where the participants were being judged individually and the prize money was Rs. 3,000. The winner was Rhea Dhople, from SICSR.
• Klueless– It was one of the most exciting events as it was a treasure hunt event with the theme of cube, to be conducted in a group, and the prize money was of Rs. 3,000.
• Mercado– Mercado was quite an interesting event where the participants in groups of 4-5 were asked to showcase their creativity, management as well as marketing skills to market their products, and that too on the spot. It offered prize money of Rs. 3,500 to the winners and a sum of Rs. 2,500 to the runners-up. The 4 students from SIMS won this event.
• Esbozo– It was an online B-Plan event where in the first round was online and the ones selected, in groups of 3-5 were to present their endeavoured B-Plans on the event day. This event also offered prize money worth Rs. 3,000 to the winners. The winners were from Welingkar Institute, and the runners-up were from SIIB.
• Pinnacle– Pinnacle was an on-the-spot event where a team of 5 members were judged on the leadership qualities as well as attributes and challenging situations were given to them to see how they would manage to possess self-confidence. The winners, a 5-member group from Christ University, received a sum of Rs. 5,000 and the runners-up team from NICMAR, received Rs. 2,500.
• Pix-o-scope– This online event showcased and encouraged participation from budding photographers where their individual photographic skills were tested, based on the themes of any one out of Silence, Fear, Depth, Trust and Tomorrow, and there was a prize money of Rs. 1,500. The winner of this event was Mayur from NICMAR.
• Quizbusters– Quizbusters was an exciting on-the-spot business quiz event where in the participants was to form a group of two members, and was tested on their business knowledge, spontaneity as well as IQ. The winners were the team “COIN” from Christ University who received prize money of Rs. 2,500 and the Runners-up from SIBM, received a sum of Rs. 1,500.
• Bloggerheads– This was an online event carrying prize money of Rs. 1,000, where the bloggers were asked to submit blogs on few topics and were to be evaluated in terms of originality as well as content.
• Dubsmash– Dubsmash was an online event where the participants were to form groups of 4, and create selfie videos with famous sounds, that encouraged leadership and entrepreneurship. The winners were from the host institute itself, who won a sum of Rs. 2,000.
• Stock Syndrome– As the name suggests, Stock Syndrome was an online event on virtual stock trading.

With this, the thrilling event came to an end. It again proved itself to be a huge success, after the continuous and tedious efforts, and dedication from the entire team of iTELF.

Stay tuned for some more encouraging events from the entrepreneurship cell of SCIT!