Vidarbha Industries Association event encourages entrepreneurs to take a leap of faith

NAGPUR: With an aim to promote innovation and entrepreneurship and celebrate National Entrepreneurship Day, Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) and Lemon Ideas jointly organized an interactive session for budding entrepreneurs from the city on January 16. Thirteen eminent entrepreneurs were also felicitated at the event.
Initiating the questions and answers session, Mukesh Ashar, chair behavioural science, LSE, urged the ‘wantepreuners’ to take a leap into entrepreneurship.
As the session progressed, one of the budding entrepreneur asked, “In Nagpur, what was your biggest challenge and how did you face it?”
Soriya Taneja, co-founder of ‘Connecting wives’, a Facebook page that connects housewives around the globe and allows them to promote their businesses, said, “I think the biggest challenge for me was to get acquainted with the language and the people in the city as I did not grow up in India. The idea is to convince yourself that you can do it. With the support of your family it becomes quite achievable.”
Another enthusiast from the audience asked how to covert flying ideas into a venture. Monica Bhagwagar, owner of Paperage, a start-up that sells hand made paper and stationary objects, said, “You need a great deal of perseverance to make a business idea a reality. You should start with your idea and execute baby steps to achieve them. With a great deal of conviction and the ability to take a calculated risk, it can be made possible.” Bhagwagar, an Indian Administrative Service officer (IAS), has worked in different sectors before she started her business venture.
Sugandha Garve, director, Anacon Laboratories which provides quality, research and environmental consultants to cement and other industries, guided the enthusiastic audience.
Arun Lanjewar, owner of an industrial paint manufacturing unit and credited for novel innovations like fire retarding paints, was present at the seminar. Mangesh Joshi, owner of Silicon, a technology development company which recently developed a precast toilet as a part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was also present. The company has also partnered with Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).
Manish Kanchandani, co- founder of Khidchiwala, a concept based restaurant which was lovingly welcomed by Nagpurians, attended the event. Amit Tiwari, co-founder of Flying Penguins was also present.