‘Don’t take up entrepreneurship just to make money’

Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) and Lucknow Management Association (LMA) jointly organized a conference on ‘Creating an ecosystem for startups in Lucknow/ Uttar Pradesh’ through IIM-L on Wednesday. The conference was inaugurated by governor Ram Naik.

In his address, Prof Ajit Prasad, director, IIM-L, said the campus was focused to create an ecosystem for entrepreneurs with two incubators in place from IIM-L itself and also to promote the Prime Minister’s vision to make India a primary center of learning.

Alok Ranjan, president, LMA, stressed upon the need of employment generation to foster growth in Uttar Pradesh. He said, “Start-ups would enhance growth and create jobs. The startup ecosystem creation in India originated from Bangalore and would soon catch up in Uttar Pradesh with Noida already taking the lead.”

Sanjiv Saran, additional chief secretary, IT & Electronics Department, UP government, stated monetary grants in collaboration with SIDBI had been allocated to different colleges and universities of Uttar Pradesh to set up incubators and foster growth through innovation.

Founder and vice-chairman, Info Edge India Limited, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, was the guest of honor.

He said that to create jobs, new industries were vital which would be provided by the first generation of entrepreneurs.

He stated how he had been investing in startups since last 10 years and contributed to the growth of startups like Zomato, Jeevansaathi.com and Shiksha.com.

He mentioned that entrepreneurship, being a lonely journey, needs mentorship and support to thrive.

He added that “budding entrepreneurs should take up entrepreneurship for right reason and not just to make money.”

Stressing upon the gender ratio in colleges of Uttar Pradesh, governor Ram Naik stated women should take the leap forward to contribute to innovation and startups.

Naik said by 2025 India would have the largest youth population and UP being densely populated should utilize its human resources to utmost potential and startups should aim to utilize the large consumer base and satisfy them with their services.