Perhaps it will be very wise to say, “It’s all about the journey and not the destination!”
Destinations don’t teach us…. Journeys do in the form of a myriad of experiences.
Today when I look back at Srijan’09 I get mixed emotions. I still recall the moment when we the first batch of IWSBian’s had huddled up in the basement board room, stretching from one corner to the other, promising eager faces all trying to figure out what would be an apt event to launch the entrepreneurial cell activities of our very own IWSB.
Shom our director, ushered everyone to be comfortable, and soon a silence of alertness followed. Shom started the discussion by what all we could do, soon followed by what all should we do? Now I know perhaps Shom was toying with us for a while, given the direction he then sort out to give the team that laid down the foundation of Disha our e-cell. The star of the show however was in my opinion Jaydeep our very own evangelist of Disha. It’s Jaydeep who suggested the name Disha and it has stuck all along since then with all the activities the IWSBian’s do in the field of entrepreneurship. Lead by Shom we all ideated to give birth to the objectives that Disha would pursue then on. The words were very clear and made a lot of sense. Target the entrepreneurial ecosystem… Inspire new Blood… Use the Big Ideas and the momentum created by their success to drive more and more fresh Blood in the entrepreneurial pool.
All this collectively was given the shape of Srijan the annual business plan competition with a unique purpose and agenda of providing a platform to launch entrepreneurs who hold the key to tomorrow, into their destiny that they deserve. It was decided that we would practice what we preach…. Ideas can come from anywhere, any background, any age and hence it was decided that Srijan would be open to all. Only because IWSB believes that Internet holds the key to gaining several important insights into businesses and markets that we took a call to use online registration as a must. However extensive marketing was done in the form of posters, banners and pamphlets apart from the viral side, which too was extensively used. I guess that the whole idea of making on line registration a must makes the thing an Internet affair and hence it also works towards encouraging people to go online.
Soon the day of the launch came by and a small band of rebels embarked on a journey from a corner stall at The Maurya’s during the 2008 Tiecon.
Now when I look back it all seems to be right there around the corner…. Time flies by!
I remember scores and scores of ideas poured in on us out of which around 250 were taken through the first round of screening. During arranging for their evaluation we also got valuable industry exposure and the interactions helped develop some of our own entrepreneurial skills.
As time passed we were able to short list about 45 odd entries for the regional rounds. I recall going to Mumbai to host the West round and we did the event in IIT Mumbai.
To say that the event went seamless will be a white lie. It was far from seamless although thankfully the participants and the judges both gave us positive feedback. Here I got the first chance to see the participants and I must say at the least I was very impressed. People from all sections and backgrounds had taken the challenge to fight it out there. I salute the spirit of entrepreneurship that each one of them had, kindled within their hearts, feeding their passions and promising to shape the world.
As the finals approached, the schedules turned hectic, as we all got busy arranging the logistics and Judges. The Judges profile was again something to remember of. People from various lines of expertise had made it to the venue to give their final verdicts on the entrepreneurial feats Srijan 09 had tapped for them. Although all teams were full of bright ideas and enthusiastic team members, most of them were still either too futuristic or lacking scalability. Despite a tough round of intense scrutiny, six finalists made it to the finish line and as of now all the six teams are gearing for incubation lead by our in-house incubation team who took the baton from us to take the ideas on their dream journeys.
I am sure as those six teams made it a number of other teams came and went back but not empty handed I am sure. They have added on to their business acumen to say the least as few may have really benefited from our mentoring platform extended to the regional round winners.
In essence this whole journey of Srijan 09 was very exiting as we witnessed some dreams come true and I am sure that this is a modest beginning of a phenomenon that will catch up with the Nation like wild fire in the days to come.
