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TiE – My Story session an inspiration for entrepreneurs

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 ‘My story’ session with the most inspiring entrepreneurs of India organized by IMER in association with TiE (The Indus Entrepreneur), Hubli chapter on 17.01.2015

IMER in association with TiE, Hubli chapter organized ‘My Story” session on 17.01.2015 at IMER, where-in the following most inspiring entrepreneurs of India shared their entrepreneurial story with the entrepreneurs, academicians, aspiring entrepreneurs and students of Belagavi.

Gautam Ostwal, President, TiE, Hubli chapter welcomed the gathering and gave a detailed presentation on the objectives of TiE and the regular flagship events organized by TiE to foster entrepreneurship in the region.

Signing of MoU between IMER and TiE

The event began with a formal ceremony where-in an important MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed between IMER and TiE, Hubli chapter, making IMER an Institutional member of TiE so that regular events, to promote and foster entrepreneurship in Belagavi, can be organized. Sri. Rajendra. K. Belagavikar, Chairman, Governing Council, IMER and Sri. Gautam Ostwal, President, TiE, HUbli chapter exchanged the MoU that was signed during the ceremony.

Story of Sri. Arunachalam Muruganatham, Founder and CEO, Jaishreee Industries, a social entrepreneur from Tamilnadu

Sri. Arunachalam Muruganatham, Founder and CEO, Jaishreee Industries, a social entrepreneur from rural Coimbatore shared his entrepreneurial journey with the audience. Sri. Muruganatham, popularly known as ‘Muruga’ is a son of handloom weaver and was a school dropout. When he saw his wife ‘Shanti’ hiding rag cloth pieces and used papers, which she used during menstruation periods as sanitary napkin pads, he was shakened and started dreaming about ‘How he can address this serious hygiene and health related problem- which in fact was not the problem of Shanti alone but 95% of the women population of India who use rag cloth and used paper as sanitary napkin pad till date’. For nearly two years he kept on designing and developing low cost sanitary napkin pads and conducted experiments and field trials on his wife, sisters and himself (which was amazing) as other women from his neighborhood and city abused and discouraged him. But he was very clear in his thoughts and didn’t lost hope. He persevered and somehow convinced the medical college students to use the same and give the feedback.

After struggling for nearly five years, he developed low cost sanitary napkin pad manufacturing machine costing around Rs. 65,000.00 and gave them to women groups across India so that they can earn livelihood out of the same and simultaneously solving this hygiene and health related problem. The commercial machine used by the leading manufacturers like; Johnson and Johnson, HUL, and Procter and Gamble cost around 3.5 Crores and the total investment required was around 200 Crores. Currently around 3000 women groups across India and 16 other countries are using this machine and earning their livelihood. He has bigger plans laid out in the near future which he call as ‘PINK REVOLUTION’ through which he want to penetrate into 106 developing countries simultaneously and convert the social problem into livelihood opportunity for millions of women.

Considering all this TIME magazine placed him in its list of ‘100 most influential people in the world’ and has honored him.

During his interaction he advised the entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs of Belagavi to have a damn clarity on the problem that they want to solve. Bigger the problem, better will be the opportunity. Ongoing low cost and high speed trial and error experimentation, D-tailing (dwelling into the finer details of the problem without worrying too much on Retailing and Etailing), and thinking beyond marketing are important and crucial for an entrepreneurial success.

Story of Sri. Sachin Kate, Founder and CEO, Clear car Rentals, a young entrepreneur from Maharashtra

Sri. Sachin Kate also shared his entrepreneurial story with the audience. Sachin hails from a small village from Sonpet Taluka of Aurangabad district from Maharashtra. Like “Muruga’ Sachin also made a humble beginning and started his entrepreneurial journey with selling of newspapers, milk and bread when he was in sixth standard. He started earning Rs. 2500 to Rs. 3000 a month while studying through working as a computer instructor. After his formal education (B.Sc in Computer Science and MBA) he worked for a travel agency for nearly six months and quit that job to start his own venture in IT sphere, which in fact was his dream.

With a capital investment of around Rs.25,000 he started his first IT company (Developing websites for companies from travel and hospitality sector) from his home itself with borrowed computers and furniture. His key strengths and expertise was in SEO (search Engine optimization) and clear emphasis and focus on travel and hospitality sector. Later he developed SAS (Software As Service) and Mobile application software for car fleet owners and started a Private Limited Company called ‘Clear Car Rentals’ and formed strategic alliance with the companies like; Makemytrip.com, Cox and Kings, etc. to fulfill the last mile connectivity needs of the travelers across the country. Today the company turnover is 40 Crores and want to reach to 100 crores by next year and his company is valued around Rs. 400 Crores. The company has its presence in more than 300 cities all across India.

During the interaction he advised the entrepreneurial fraternity of Belagavi to have a clear focus and look for genuine problems which are bothering people and try and solve the same in a frugal way, cost effective manner and using a scalable business model. According to him money is not at all an issue. What is paramount for entrepreneurs is Idea and the Team. If these two are in place money will automatically follow.

In total the event was a great success. The entrepreneurial crowd of Belagavi really cherished the interaction to the fullest and gave a standing ovation to the above entrepreneurs. Mr. Parag Sarraya, executive from Bella Vista, introduced the entrepreneurs and moderated the interaction session. Sri. Rajendra. K. Belagavikar, Chairman, GC, IMER, was the master of ceremonies and proposed vote of thanks. Sri. Gautam Samant, Sri. Swapneel Patnekar, Sri. Amit Kalakundri, and Dr. Purushottam Bung honored the entrepreneurs by giving memento.

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