Mumbai: The National Education Society (NES) on Friday kicked off the 3rd edition of its ‘Startup Fest’ with students from 50 colleges across the country bringing several ideas to the table.
The two-day event which saw 50 student start-up ideas, with 30 colleges from Mumbai participating, and a discussion on success stories of start-up alumni was inaugurated by Munnish Puri, chief innovation officer, Business World Disrupt, a news wesbite on the Indian Startup Ecosystem in the presence of Dr. R. Varadrajan, founder president of NES Group of Institutions.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Varadrajan said, “Innovation is the key to successful entrepreneurship. I want the youth of the country to serve the nation by contributing their mind and strength and make our country the most developed country in the world.”
Mr. Puri mentioned that if the country needs to progress, it needs a youthful energy to bring out fresh ideas and concepts of their own business. “Be a job creator and rely on the three important elements — education, technology and innovation — to helping the country grow. It doesn’t matter how small the idea is as long as you have the strength and determination it will succeed,” he said.
Dr. Mary Vimochana, principal of NES Ratnam College of Arts, Science and Commerce, said that the main objective of the event was to make students self-reliant and help them nurture their business ideas. “This startup fest is to kinder the spirit of entrepreneurship among students and be a process for job generation. Several alumni startups have also participated this year,” she said.
The students pitched ideas and this session was followed by counselling sessions with the mentors for the Idealab, one of the key events. The winner of the Idealab will get an opportunity to pitch their idea for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s startup scheme next year.
Ajay Singh, leader of electronics-cell of Ratnam College and a second year B.Sc student said, “The e-Cell of our College has been instrumental in not only providing practical knowledge but also internship opportunities to almost 100 students across a period of three years to institutes like E-Cell of Technological University, Delhi, E-Cell IIT Bombay, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, Bhopal Based RGPV and more,” he informed.
The winners of the fest will be declared on Saturday and will be given a cash prize of ₹ 10,000.
