From shopping to street food, they're brimming with ideas

BANGALORE: When this team of four ePGP students was preparing for the finals of an entrepreneurship competition, little did they know who the judges would be. Armed with the idea of a mobile app that can be used to read the bar code of products to make shopping faster, they were stunned to see Meera Ganesh and K Ganesh, founders of Big Basket.com, on the judging panel!
"We hadn't imagined in our wildest dreams that it would be retail bigwigs out there.The sight of them sent shivers down our spines. But they were very encouraging and offered several suggestions after we made the presentation," beamed Balsubrahmanyam, representing team QUTE App. He's pursuing the Executive Post Graduate Programme at IIM-B.
The scene was from Ingen, the flagship event of the B-school's entrepreneurship summit Eximus 2014. The event provided students a platform to come up with the next big idea. From an intelligent software that can give user-specific automated replies to emails to offering safe wi-fi outside home, the ideas were aplenty.
"We have developed an app that can help you find the best street food in the city. You can key in the food type or location. It is user-centric and asks one to rate the food. Street vendors can also publicize themselves through it. We've received lots of suggestions and people have offered to sponsor us. Though we're more into the technical aspect, the sheer enthusiasm is getting us excited about entrepreneurship," said Sukoon Sharma, a computer science engineering student from PES Institute of Technology.
While young minds were busy presenting their ideas at one end, on the other side was a section for social entrepreneurship. A group of 25 women, victims of human trafficking and domestic violence, underwent a workshop to acquire vocational skills to help them become independent. Lakshmi, 20, (name changed) spoke of how she wants to lead a better life. She was trafficked at the age of 15, after she lost both her parents in an accident in Mandya. Vikasana, the IIM-B cell, will also connect them to a seed fund organization for social entrepreneurship.
Life's lessons
The summit saw Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy & Mather, India and South Asia, giving the keynote address. Pandey wove his famous ads into a few important lessons that every entrepreneur must know ? having a passion, listening to one's heart rather than head in some situations, thinking long term, living by one's own rules and making the most of situations even during adversity.
Vibes of enthusiasm and oodles of excitement were palpable across the campus on the first day of the summit, which recorded a footfall of over 3,000 students. Over 150 colleges and corporate houses participated in an umbrella of 32 events.
'Govt jobs perceived to be safest'
MP Shashi Tharoor, who addressed the audience at IIM-B on Friday, talked about his experiences and how at so many junctures he took the path less trodden. He spoke about how he decided to study humanities after having been a science topper and how after having aced the entrance for top IIMs, he went on to pursue international affairs. Sharing his experiences, Tharoor answered a multitude of questions on Indian politics, roadblocks in India's development and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. "Ours is not a country where people seek entrepreneurship. Government jobs are the most sought-after as they are perceived to be the safest. But risk is just a trade-off," he said.