2-day event to give push to startups in region

CHANDIGARH: Punjabis by nature are entrepreneurial. All they need is direction and a helping hand. The agrarian crisis may be casting a pall of gloom over Punjab, but Alok Ramsisaria, president of Chandigarh chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), a not-for-profit network of entrepreneurs, has immense faith in its entrepreneurial ability.

And as for direction, he hopes the annual conference of TIE at the Indian School of Business, Mohali, from March 8 to 9 will be able to give a new push to startups in the region.

Ramsisaria, who led Tie’s startup yatras, a series of events to uncover startups at Jalandhar, Patiala and Ludhiana, says he was pleasantly surprised to see young entrepreneurs in fields as diverse as agriculture and manufacturing. “Do you know there is a person who manufactures and exports mechanical vices to 15 countries such as Germany, Switzerland and South Korea? Then we met this young organic farmer in Jalandhar, who earns ₹2.5 lakh from an acre,” said Ramsisaria.

The yatra also ran into a young agri entrepreneur, who imports bailing machines from Germany and rents them out. Later, he sells the bales to the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited. “The youngster told me he has already covered 12,000 acres and can scale it up to all of Punjab,” beams Ramsisaria.

The two-day summit will see over 40 subject matter experts in fields as diverse as academia, government, business, strategy, IT, investment, marketing and public relations.

“The idea is to connect the dots and help entrepreneurs get what they need to set up a business. The conference will provide free display space to over 50 startups from the region,” said Ramsisaria.

The summit will also host a “Startup Bazar”, where newbies can compete for the Chandigarh Pitch Night and present their ideas to investors. The qualifying team will get a chance to receive funding up to ₹2 crore. Last year, four startups had raised ₹1.8 crore.

Another highlight of the summit is a funding clinic, which will be attended by a dozen companies, including the Indian Angels Network, Unitus, the first venture capital fund, and Nexus, a US government incubator, among others. “This will give new entrepreneurs a chance to meet venture capitalists face to face and figure out investments,” he said.

There will also be a pitch coaching session by Amazon where budding entrepreneurs will learn the art of making the perfect pitch.

Besides industry experts, the summit will bring on board ambassadors of Canada, Britain and Israel, who are keen to explore the region for collaborations. As a young geek pointed out, Israel is the IT startup capital of the world.