“Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is practice.” – Peter Drucker.

Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our developing nation. They are the ones who provide jobs and help with economic growth around the world. Even according to the reports by the Kauffman Foundation, “New businesses account for a disproportionate amount of new job growth, creating nearly all net new jobs and almost 20% of gross job creation.” This makes it imperative for educational institutions to bolster entrepreneurial ecosystems and enable students to gain the necessary exposure. 

Symbiosis Institute of Digital and Telecom Management (SIDTM) hosted the E-Summit 2022 on 17th December 2022. E-Summit, conducted by the Entrepreneurship Cell of SIDTM, aims to bring together budding and established entrepreneurs to share their experiences and inspire students to take up enterprising endeavors.

Every year E-Summit attempts to host speakers who have redefined boundaries of innovation in their respective fields. One speaker at this year’s E-Summit was Mr. Rajiv Dingra, Founder & CEO of RD&X Network, who delivered a Keynote on MADTECH- The strides, the edge, and the road ahead. It began with the speaker sharing his entrepreneurial journey, stressing that it’s okay to be ahead of time as long as you persist, learn, and evolve.

Keynote session by Mr. Rajiv Dingra

In this segment, he attempted to break down Madtech for students. As he highlighted this difference between Adtech and Martech, he brought the audience’s attention to how the world is moving towards a cookie-less future. As cookies help track consumer behavior online, they do so anonymously. Mr. Dingra also briefly touched upon Deep Tech, which paints a picture of where the industry is heading and involves using AI and automation to do most of the operational work.

Post the illuminating Keynote session, Mr. Roshan Rawal, Founder and CEO at Exposit Immersive Solution Private Limited, gave a Tech Demo. He explained in detail the concepts of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality. He introduced tech products like Oculus Quest and HoloLens to the audience, subsequently iterating that the next big challenge for AR/VR/MR headsets is reducing the devices’ size.

Tech Demo session by Mr. Roshan Rawal

Next was an invigorating Fireside Chat with creative maverick Mr. Sonal Dabral, the Former Chief Creative Officer of South East and South Asia and Vice Chairman of India Ogilvy. He spoke about Creativity, Advertising, Storytelling and his journey from a small-town Pahadi boy to a global-level advertising genius.

He emphasized the importance of embracing opportunities and how to harness them to forge a successful career path, inspiring the audience in its wake. The paradigm shifts from traditional to digital marketing was discussed, and he attributed the current success of brands like MyGlam and Sugar to good storytelling. He suggested that tapping into emotions is the way to go.

Entre-talks: Mr. Anshuman Sen, Mr. Manoj Kothari and Mr. Raj Kapoor

Next up, the segment for Entre-Talks: ‘Uncovering a disruptive thought process’ was steered by the Technical Director at CyberSage, Mr. Anshuman Sen, with our esteemed panelists: Mr. Raj Kapoor, Founder at India Blockchain Alliance and Mr. Manoj Kothari, MD and Chief Strategist at Turian Labs. Both speakers shared invaluable insight into tech entrepreneurship, breaching subjects like Web 3.0 and Blockchain. 

Coffee table Conversation with Ms. Vaidehi Vaidya and Dr. Divya Rathod

The last session was a refreshing Coffee Table Conversation powered by Third Wave Coffee on Gender Neutrality being the way to go in Entrepreneurship, including Ms. Vaidehi Vaidya, the founder and MD at Women in sports India; Dr. Divya Rathod, founder at Silvery Nanos; and Mr. Vivek Nair, the moderator. The discussion concluded by identifying the gaps and the need for the government to promote female athletes and make new policies to bring in not just women but decision-making women into action. The key takeaway was that gender neutrality is a goal we must meet in all industry-work environments to help create a more vibrant, positive, and productive work culture and drive profitability. Attaining it is ambitious, but yes, we are moving in the right direction.

The Entrepreneurship Cell at SIDTM took this opportunity to offer recognition and award several successful Star Alumni Entrepreneurs and also launch its inaugural edition of ‘Entre-Bytes,’ a one-of-a-kind E-Book for and about Entrepreneurs. The book is an accumulation of experiences of real-world entrepreneurs like the institute’s alums and prominent figures like Parupalli Kashyap, the badminton player, and Mithlesh Vazalwar, Founder of Corridor Seven.

Unveiling of the E-book by Mr. Rajiv Dingra, Mr. Raj Kapoor, CA Dr. Abhijit Chirputkar – Director (SIDTM) and E-Cell mentor Dr. Tripti Dhote

The book is an accumulation of experiences of real-world entrepreneurs like the institute’s alumni and prominent figures like Parupalli Kashyap, Indian badminton player, and Mithilesh Vazalwar, Founder of Corridor Seven.

At last, the E-Summit’22 of SIDTM, Pune, ended with a heartfelt thank you by Dr. Tripti Dhote, E-Cell’s mentor. The Summit greatly motivated the students and encouraged them to take a leap of faith toward their entrepreneurial journey.