Clubbing Entrepreneurially: Insights from Anitya and Project Dhara’s Immersive Field Visit to the Yamuna

This World Water Day, on the 22nd of March, , in collaboration with and with support from the InfoEdge Center for Entrepreneurship, organized a unique field visit to the Yamuna river bank near Majnu ka Tila, Delhi. The purpose was to provide students with an opportunity to observe the much-discussed River Yamuna firsthand. We aimed to help students understand the environmental challenges and complex realities surrounding the river through an interactive, experiential approach rather than conventional classroom discussions. A significant part of the visit also encouraged students to creatively express their reflections on the river, its people, and its ecological concerns through photography. This artistic expression tied the entire experience together beautifully.

The visit brought together 27 Ashokans from diverse programs (YIF, UG2024, UG2023, UG25, ASP) and even more varied backgrounds. As we began our journey from campus to the riverbank, participants shared their personal connections with the river and the environment. Individuals came from many diverse backgrounds, from some who had been working on river and environment-related projects for years, to others who had lived in Delhi all their life but had never gotten a chance to visit the river and so were keen to do that through the visit. The diverse contexts that each individual came from added to the richness of the field visit, with the group discussions bringing forth many different perspectives to learn from, as each individual would notice and highlight unique aspects of the river’s story.

Upon reaching the site, we encouraged students to explore the surroundings independently. They wandered along the rocky riverbank, observed the remnants brought by the river's flow,
engaged with local communities, and captured photographs of scenes that resonated with them. The variety of items found along the shore was striking — from countless idols washed up after religious rituals to random pieces of cloth. We also saw men standing waist-deep in the river, some clearing sewage from the surface and others casting wide nets to catch fish. Meanwhile, near the river's steps, people offered prayers, highlighting the Yamuna's role as both a sacred site and a source of livelihood. For each observer, the Yamuna seemed to hold a different meaning — a place of worship, work, or curiosity and learning.

As we explored further, we found ourselves aboard a boat, asking Sanjay bhaiya, the boatman, to take us to a small patch of agricultural land visible some 150 meters across the river. As we crossed, light-hearted conversations with Sanjay bhaiya and his companion made the experience memorable. Upon reaching the other side, we were surprised to find rows of thriving kakri (a type of cucumber) cultivations on the riverine land. Despite the river's known pollution levels, the soil in that stretch remained fertile enough for specific crops. Conversations with local farmers revealed that this portion of the river was less polluted than heavily affected areas like Kalindi Kunj. However, we also learnt of and saw 2 large industrial pipes dumping their waste in the river directly. These discussions offered insight into how pollution disrupts not only the river's ecosystem but also the livelihoods of marginalized communities dependent on it, affecting their crop yields and limiting their access to clean water for irrigation, among other issues.

The visit concluded with a reflective gathering back at the riverbank, where participants shared their personal takeaways. Overall, through direct interaction with communities reliant on the Yamuna and by documenting the river's story through photography, students gained invaluable insights into the environmental challenges facing the river and the human lives intertwined with it. The experience fostered reflection, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between human lives and the environment, encouraging us to expand our learning beyond the walls of 51���.

Writer - Lavanya Maheshwari, UG25

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My Tryst with Entrepreneurship at Ashoka: Nurturing Growth, Empowering Futures

My tryst with entrepreneurship is a journey brimming with discovery, experiences, and profound gratitude. It began within the confines of the classroom but swiftly expanded, offering me a treasure trove of learnings and experiences that I will undoubtedly cherish and apply throughout my career and life.

My first encounter with an entrepreneurship class was sparked by the news of Aditya Ghosh teaching a course at Ashoka. Learning about service excellence in business from a leader who steered India's largest airline and subsequently led numerous esteemed organisations was an opportunity I could not fathom! This was precisely what the Centre for Entrepreneurship consistently provided for its students. Aditya Ghosh's course was an exceptional experience that inspired me to explore a range of entrepreneurship courses. These classes delved into the fundamentals of finance and accounting to the intricate art of company valuation. Through the Centre's courses, I had the privilege of learning from industry experts across various facets of business, encompassing sales, marketing, service, business analysis, and even social impact!

The courses not only imparted valuable theoretical knowledge but also facilitated enriching field trips that expanded my learning horizons significantly. One standout experience was an enlightening visit to the Parliament of India, affording me the privilege to meet the Lok Sabha Speaker. Additionally, I had the opportunity to explore leading firms in the country, such as ChrysCapital and Akasa Air, where interactions with their CXOs provided invaluable insights into crucial subjects like investment strategy, deal negotiations, and the intricate operations involved in running an airline.

However, my most cherished field trip was an integral part of the 'Strategies for Market Access' course. Spending an entire day shadowing a Pidilite salesperson, I accompanied them on visits to 25 shops within a span of 6 hours. This immersive experience granted me firsthand exposure to on-ground sales tactics and strategies, offering a profound understanding of practical market dynamics. These skills have well-equipped me for my career.

The inception of the business club by the Centre aimed to foster growth and learning outside the conventional classroom setting. Selected as the club's inaugural Director, it provided me with the platform to enhance my leadership and other soft skills. This role enabled me to initiate three programs designed to assist my fellow peers—a program facilitating internships, a mentorship programme with industry experts for student venture ideas called Guided Projects, and educational field trips to prominent company offices to learn from CXOs. Leading the club proved transformative, allowing me to cultivate my network and secure opportunities such as internships and job offers from some of the country's leading companies. I went on to become the club's president, and I take immense pride in the numerous inter-university competitions, seminars, and programmes that contributed significantly to fostering an entrepreneurial spirit at Ashoka.

Empowered by these experiences, my tryst with entrepreneurship bolstered my confidence to embark on an independent venture. Recognising that a majority of Ashoka students pursued Economics as their major with a keen interest in finance, consulting, business analysis, and entrepreneurship, I observed a dearth of opportunities to test these skills within the university. Hence, I conceived an academic festival, Equilibrium, designed to amalgamate all the aforementioned fields through inter-university competitions, seminars, discussions, and more. The Centre provided unwavering support, ranging from funds, contacts, and logistical assistance to ideas, enabling us to successfully bring Equilibrium to fruition. Its success stands as a testament to how the Centre wholeheartedly backs both small and large entrepreneurial initiatives at Ashoka.

My most recent role as a Teaching Assistant afforded me the opportunity to closely work with professors possessing extensive industry experience, aiding in the delivery of courses, and facilitating invaluable knowledge absorption among students. It also allowed me to delve into one of my passions- social impact. The course looked at social sectors including agriculture, education, and healthcare from a problem-solving and analysis point of view. The Professors’ teaching methodology allowed for rich and exciting discussions and ideas.

As I embark on the placement phase in my final year, my tryst with entrepreneurship has prepared me profoundly for the world beyond. I am profoundly grateful for the life skills I acquired through entrepreneurship at Ashoka, and I look forward to continuing this journey beyond its campus.

(Written by Aviral Anand, ASP 2024 )

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ISPIC 2023: My transformative journey from Persistence to ThePrint!

I recently secured a spot in the Top 3 (out of 80+ teams) of the India Smart Protein Innovation Challenge () organised by Good Food Institute India, a think-tank and international organization working to accelerate alternative protein innovation. Participating in the challenge, I was able to network with senior investors, incubators, and scientists who are spearheading research in this space. Additionally, I was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh as one of the winners, and the competition was featured on , , and .

As I reflect on my journey, I would like to share some of the highlights here:

ISPIC was a 5-month-long exciting journey where a cohort of 200+ professionals, researchers, and students across India came up with innovative solutions to address the scientific white spaces and bottlenecks in the alternative protein and dairy sector.

One example of the provocative questions that we tackled at ISPIC 2023 was, 'How will you feed nearly 10 billion people globally by 2050, while safeguarding the environment, public health, and our scarce natural resources?' The competition was structured in a very holistic manner, covering the scientific, entrepreneurial, and policy-related aspects of Smart Protein. In the Indian context, we also looked at topics like protein deficiency, nutrition, and animal welfare.

The particular solution that I worked on with my team was about the 'Channel Strategy for selling Smart Protein,' focused on the HoReCa segment. India already has 30+ mock-meat brands, and this number is constantly increasing. These brands sometimes struggle with repeat orders and organically growing their revenue. We creatively presented some methods to strike B2B partnerships with restaurants and established QSR Chains, and how this can be really impactful for Indian Mock-Meat and Vegan Dairy brands.

The competition was also transformative for me as an individual, as I got to work with a diverse group of professionals hailing from different geographies and educational backgrounds, from Food Technology to Chemical Engineering. The journey was a true test of my perseverance! The earlier rounds of the challenge included online quizzes, and I remember waking up at 7 AM during my family trip in Las Vegas to compete in the quiz. My sheer passion for the field and the competition got me to do so, and without it, I wouldn’t have made it to the Demo Day (final round) that was held at The InterContinental in Mumbai. I also had the pleasure of experiencing and trying the vegan meat offerings in the western context while travelling in the US, and this inspired me to propose similar solutions to bring to the Indian market.

In one of my entrepreneurship courses at Ashoka called 'Entrepreneurial Strategies for Climate Action' by Prof. DVR Seshadri, I remember studying a very interesting case about the company 'Impossible Foods' and their strategies for growth and innovation. This included a tie-up with Burger King (HoReCa sales channel) in the west. This provoked me to explore the white space in the Indian market as well, and inspired the great solution that I eventually presented. An entrepreneurial mindset has been at the forefront of my thoughts and has truly enabled me to go above and beyond, looking at the world from a disruptive mindset. To make things even better, Startup Ashoka 2023 was around the corner right after my competition. I took the opportunity and used my learnings from ISPIC 2023 to come up with a venture idea related to smart proteins, which I was able to refine and pitch to a distinguished panel of entrepreneurs within a span of 24 hours. Networking with peers and forming a team to work on the idea was a super fun and productive experience for me!

in conclusion, I want to share that Smart Protein is the need of the hour. The animal agriculture industry contributes more emissions to the atmosphere than the entire transport sector combined, whilst also having ethical constraints and cruel implications for the victims. With the growing focus on sustainable living, we even need to look into transforming our own plate.

(Written by Karan Kapadia- UG 25 Economics and Entrepreneurship)

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Monopoly ’23: A Day of Strategic Alliances and Business Resilience

On the 28th of October 2023, InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship’s Ashoka Business Club ran Monopoly ’23, an inter-university event centred around mergers and acquisitions. This was the second time the club successfully executed the event, garnering participation from 20+ colleges across Delhi NCR and a thoroughly vetted team from Ashoka as well. The sponsors for the event included Indian Oil (title sponsor), Sipp (beverage sponsor) and Mrs Bector’s Group’s Cremica and Zoet’s (refreshment sponsors and partners).

The aim of the competition since it was conceptualised last year, and in its second year, has been to help students understand the nuances of Mergers and Acquisitions while still framing it as an accessible topic, which can be made easy through hands-on learning experiences like Monopoly.

The competition took place in three rounds. The first was around growth strategy, where teams had to analyse the company profiles provided to them to identify their weaknesses and based on what seemed most viably workable, create a pitch on how they’d fill certain gaps in their functioning to grow.

Second was the Mergers and Acquisitions round, where the teams (assigned tags of “good” and “bad”) were meant to mingle and network and rally in an unmoderated session form unofficial alliances and then move into the moderated section of the round, where companies either rejected or accepted another company’s bid to merge or be acquired. At the end of this round, merged and acquired companies had to create a deck explaining why it is a mutually beneficial arrangement.

The final round was the crisis round, where each company was given a situation where a seriously damaging event had occurred. Halfway through, a detailed, surprise industry-wide crisis was introduced, regarding a rupture in data security which led to certain RBI guideline alterations and implicating several companies present inside the competition. At the end of this round, teams had to deliver ways to overcome this crisis.

The judges present were Ayushi Malik (Ashoka Alum working on M&A - Corporate Development and Business Strategy at NIIT in the CEO’s office) and Arnav Gupta (Ashoka Alum and incoming Associate Consultant at Bain). The judging was based on objective grading and subjective grading, with a rubric provided and a panel of ABC members aiding the judges.

The day started at 10:30 am and went on till 6:30 pm, with breaks for snacks, networking, lunch and for attending the Entrepreneurship Haat, organised by InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship as part of the Entrepreneurship Weekender ‘23. We wrapped up the closing ceremony with an amazing performance by a student band “One Step Higher”, assisted by our music Society Vistaar, along with a short feedback session and finally, the prize distribution.

(Written by Tarini Kochhar and Arnav Mehra undergraduate students from the batch of 2024 at 51���)

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Startup Ashoka 2023: A 24-Hour Entrepreneurial Odyssey

The Halloween season brought a unique treat this year with The Entrepreneurship Weekender ’23. A big part of this weekender was Startup Ashoka 2023, an event that ignited the entrepreneurial spirit within every student. This 24-hour non-stop startup pitching competition, hosted by the InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship, provided a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs to bring their innovative ideas to life, connect with industry experts, and network with like-minded individuals. Whether you were a newcomer to the startup scene or a seasoned enthusiast, Startup Ashoka offered an unforgettable experience. Let us take a closer look at this exhilarating event that unfolded on the 27th and 28th of October.

The excitement kicked off with an inaugural panel discussion moderated by Ekanto Ghosh (Asst. Director of the Centre), featuring two extraordinary entrepreneurs, Pallavi Barnwal, Founder of Get Intimacy, and Atul Khanna, Founder of Kathika Cultural Centre. Their insights laid the foundation for an event that promised to be extraordinary.

With 120+ participants in attendance, the ice-breaking session created an atmosphere of camaraderie and collaboration. It was here that networking began in earnest, with participants connecting, sharing, and forming teams. The elevator pitch session followed, setting the stage for participants to introduce themselves and their ideas, and the energy in the room was palpable.

The keynote address was a well-kept secret, and the anticipation was electrifying. The surprise guest speaker turned out to be none other than Sabeer Bhatia, co-founder of Hotmail and a legendary entrepreneur. His presence, albeit online, injected a heavy dose of inspiration and left the audience hanging on to his every word.

One of the standout features of Startup Ashoka was the personalised mentorship offered by a diverse group of seasoned professionals. Aniket Agarwal, Apurva Sharma, Gates Aggarwal, Ajay Etikala, Mohit Dua, Tanvi Goenka, Devangi Agarwal, Ravi Kaushik, Ravi Sharma, Coneenika Choudhuri, Abhijeet Pathak, and Mili Anand Agarwal, among others, provided invaluable guidance. They helped students shape their ideas into potential ventures and imparted skills that would help them not only in the competition but also in life. This mentorship extended late into the night, reinforcing the event's commitment to nurturing the spirit of entrepreneurship.

After the mentorship session, participants began working on their pitches, a critical step towards transforming their ideas into reality. These pitches were to be submitted by 7 AM the following day. The pressure was on, and the atmosphere was charged with creativity.

The top 12 teams had a unique opportunity to present their ideas in front of a panel of esteemed judges. This was the moment of truth, as Anu Meena, founder and CEO of Agrowave; Himanshu Malik, Founder and Managing Partner of Startup Sherpas; and Jatan Bawa, Founder of Perfora, evaluated the concepts. Their feedback and insights provided participants with the chance to fine-tune their ideas and enhance their entrepreneurial skills.

The event reached its zenith with the final pitching session, where the most promising startups were unveiled. The winners of Startup Ashoka 2023 (Winner: Team Pawstel; 1st Runners up: Team Deposit 2 Profit; 2nd Runners up: Team Nova Eras; Special mentions: Team Lovesi and Team Vikara) were announced amidst thunderous applause, marking the culmination of this thrilling entrepreneurial journey. The event was an undeniable success, witnessing innovative ideas spring to life, participants forging lifelong friendships, and the creation of unforgettable memories.

To add to the festive environment, Ashokans also enjoyed The Entrepreneurship Haat set up on the 27th and 28th October. The Haat was started as a space to display the efforts of growing startups and provide them with a platform to gain more traction. This time it saw over 15 startups across food, crochet, handicrafts, temporary tattoos and more, along with stalls from sponsor vendors like Cremica, Crimson Education, Krispy Kreme, Plutus and Thumbs Up! Set up in the Atrium, this was a perfect addition to Startup Ashoka in an attempt to encourage more ideas and innovation within the Ashokan community.

Startup Ashoka 2023 proved to be a launchpad for countless aspiring entrepreneurs, igniting their passion and providing a platform for innovation and collaboration. It was an event where simple ideas were transformed into potential startups, strangers became close friends, and unforgettable memories were created. The InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship's dedication to nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit was evident throughout this remarkable event. As we look forward to the next edition of Startup Ashoka, we cannot help but be inspired by the potential and creativity of the next generation of entrepreneurs.

(Written by Vanshika Agarwal, an undergraduate student from the 2023 intake at 51���)

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The Green Wave: The Surge of Sustainability in India’s Startup Ecosystem

Sustainability as a concept has seeped into almost all academic and intellectual domains reflecting the increasing imperative to confront climate change. With the rising emphasis on environmental consciousness, the start-up industry is observing a boom in the sustainable sector as an opportunity to make “green money” and capitalise on the market opportunity through innovative and enduring transformation. The InfoEdge Center for Entrepreneurship recently provided me with the opportunity to attend the Sustainability Summit organised by TiE- Delhi NCR on 13th October 2023 at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi.

As a co-founder of Fertile Beeghas, a startup operating in the field of regenerative agriculture, collaborating with farmers throughout North India, this summit offered an exceptional platform for me to explore how Indian startups and investors are actively responding to the pressing demand for sustainable growth.

I had the opportunity to forge valuable connections, engage with numerous investors and like-minded entrepreneurs, and gain profound insights into strategies for scaling up and improving the operations of my startup.

Amidst a sea of ideas and innovation, the central theme revolved around the convergence of investors and startups in the sustainability sector. The driving force behind this union was the compelling fusion of technology, innovation, and the pursuit of profitability, all while remaining environmentally conscious, which holds the potential to spark positive change. Ruchira Shukla, the Regional Lead of South Asia for Direct Equity and VC Funds at IFC, underscored the burgeoning significance of sustainability for investors. She pointed out that, as stakeholders increasingly prioritise sustainability, the economic value of adopting sustainable practices skyrockets. This, in turn, paves the way for the emergence of new industries with distinctive innovations and lucrative business models. Regenerative development is rapidly becoming a flourishing industry with immense growth prospects.

Smita Mishra, the founder of Fandoro and the moderator of the panel titled "Achieving Sustainable Success," posed a thought-provoking question to the panellists: "What is the price of sustainability?" The ensuing discussion was replete with valuable insights. As an entrepreneurship student, I have long learnt how every market gap is an opportunity for success and innovation. However, every seemingly pullback or barrier can also be an opportunity that was very intriguing to me.

Commonly, the pursuit of sustainability is viewed as a hindrance that can negatively impact profits and hinder rapid expansion. There exists a prevailing misconception that the only way for businesses to scale is through greenwashing. However, the panel debunked this notion and emphasised that, in today's global context, investing in a sustainable strategy can indeed be profitable. This is because people are increasingly conscientious about their choices, and the investment in sustainability, when compared to the long-term costs of not being environmentally conscious, is minuscule. Sustainable development is not only an imperative for our planet but is also a rapidly burgeoning sector with profit potential. These two realms are inextricably linked, where sustainable practices not only contribute to environmental well-being but also accelerate economic growth, fostering a synergy between financial prosperity and eco-friendliness.

Anjalli Ravi Kumar, the Chief Sustainability Officer of Zomato, shed light on how the company effectively harnesses its vast user base to address the crucial social dimensions of sustainability, exemplified through initiatives like Zomato's "Feeding India" campaign. This strategic alignment with societal well-being stands as a pivotal factor in the discourse on sustainability. Notably, with India's recent descent from the 107th to the 111th position on the Global Hunger Index, the imperative of social sustainability becomes increasingly evident for a more promising future. As Ms. Kumar talked about the entrepreneurial game of keeping the consumer, investors, and employees at the centre while driving sustainable initiatives to do justice to all stakeholders; I realised the value of ensuring that all people involved in my startup, the farmers, their families, middlemen, are being met with their expectations of a better outcome.

The summit provided me with exposure to conscious entrepreneurs developing their ideas globally while aligning with investors who share a common purpose in supporting sustainable businesses. Diverse seminars encompassing topics such as built environments, water sustainability, food innovation, and large-scale manufacturing have enriched my understanding. They have provided me with insights on how to infuse innovation, customer-centricity, technological sophistication, and ambitious vision into my startup. As a student of the course, Entrepreneurial Strategies for Climate Action taught by Prof. D.V.R Seshadri at 51���, I have acquired substantial knowledge in formulating strategies for sustainable businesses such as integrating Blue Ocean Strategy and transcending conventional entrepreneurial standards to build lasting businesses. This summit gave me first-hand experience of how the climate-conscious, Indian entrepreneur is doing that. I take pride in being part of this momentous journey, alongside the dedicated team at the InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship and the Indian startup industry, as we collectively drive the charge towards a greener and prosperous future.

(Written by Riddhima Sharma, a student of the Ashoka Scholars Programme from the batch of 2024 at 51���)

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From Bricks to Bits: How Proptech is Reshaping the Real Estate Industry

How do you upend real estate, an industry traditionally with a highly localised and on-the-ground presence, onto the Internet?

Proptech brings with it a slew of digital solutions to solve any and all issues with the entire property transactions pipeline. From rendered visualisations showing you your new 3BHK flat, to guiding you through rental agreements and financing options – prop-tech has your real estate needs covered.

The Business Club's weekend trip to Gurgaon offices culminated in a chat with Dhruv Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of REA Group India. The company provides prop-tech solutions catering to Indian homebuyers through its platforms , and , as a subsidiary of REA Group Australia.

PropTiger vs. Housing.com — What’s the difference?

Created to solve the information asymmetry in the real estate industry, REA Group acquired (2011), (2015) and (2020).

Proptiger operates mostly in the B2C space, targeting first-time homebuyers and offering real estate developers across India the ability to sell new residential apartment inventory during the initial launch.

In contrast, Housing.com, currently the focus of the team, is more of a B2B model. ‘[It acts as] an online newspaper where buyers and sellers meet,’ says Martin Pratap Singh, Zonal Head of Gurgaon and Delhi area. Revenue is generated from sellers who pay for good quality leads—targeted ads that will attract the most buyers.

Makaan, which had a similar business model, is now essentially defunct, though the website is still up to leverage its brand name and provide a lead to Housing.com.

The Risk—Do you really get what you see?

Yet concerns remain. Real estate is infamous for absconding developers and .

Adding a digital element to it—is not it too risky? Not since 2016, according to HR Manager Abhinav Bahuguna. Most issues (frauds and scams) have been solved by the introduction of the , which acts as an additional legal safeguard over REA Group’s own private due diligence and developer categorisation.

The Way Forward—Better tech and better profitability

Mr Agarwal stressed the importance of involving smarter technology in the real estate business. REA Group’s acquisition of , a customer engagement solutions provider, in 2015 helped elevate its 3D modelling of offline spaces while its acquisition developed its augmented and virtual reality walk-through capabilities.

The 6.4 per cent increase in the parent company’s ownership stake in REA India in FY23 is expected to fuel its aggressively competitive approach. Its primary competitors include and . For the next phase, Mr Agarwal plans to a) improve customer experience, and b) increase profitability.

The upcoming proptech space provides for exciting yet daunting opportunities for new startups in the rapid revolution of the real estate state. With an increasing customer base of internet-savvy youth with disposable income who are looking for new real estate to reside or invest in, proptech is exploding. Especially during the pandemic. Surprisingly, COVID raised sales, with work-from-home and lockdowns creating greater demand for .

(Written by Stuti Das, an undergraduate student from the batch of 2025 at 51���)

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Entrepreneurship Dialogue: An Open Forum for discussing all things ‘Entrepreneurship’

Some students of Entrepreneurship started “CfE Open Mic” last semester: an open forum for discussing all things “entrepreneurship.” The Centre decided to revive the series this semester as “Entrepreneurship Dialogue” marked by a significant shift toward a more interactive and engaging format, inviting the first-year students to delve into the entrepreneurial spirit. The two events so far, held on 12 and 26 September (fortnightly), were nothing short of inspiration as they provided a platform for student entrepreneurs to share their personal journeys and insights with a captivated audience.

“Listening to these young innovators recount their stories was both motivating and enlightening. Their experiences, challenges, and triumphs served as valuable lessons for all attendees, showcasing the power of determination and creativity in the world of entrepreneurship,” said Arshia Mittal (UG 25), one of the student organisers of the event.

“What made this edition truly special was the active participation of our peers. They enthusiastically interacted with the speakers, asked insightful questions, and engaged in thought-provoking discussions. This exchange of ideas not only enriched the dialogue but also fostered a sense of camaraderie and collaboration among aspiring entrepreneurs,” recounts Ishani Jhunjhunwala, (UG’24) student organiser of the event.

The two episodes of the Entrepreneurship Dialogue took place on 12th and 26th September 23. Each time the CFE classroom was full of ideas, cheers, and wings of creativity. The first episode witnessed the Nthusiast team take over the stage sharing their journey of trying to solve a common Ashoka problem of keeping all communications organised. They shared their learnings, challenges, and stages of development as a startup. Gokul, a UG25 student, and an Antler Fellow, shared his startup idea ‘Agroconnect’, which connects farmers to mandis. His research and data collection gave a profound perspective into understanding the potential market and realising how important it is to not give up when you see things getting complex. Siddharth Chandak shared his idea ‘GrowthHub’, which focused on achieving feats by tapping into consistency. He runs a reading club, to encourage everyone to commit to reading a small number of pages regularly. It also helped the students understand how startups or entrepreneurship need not be about earning money, but anything that solves a problem for the greater good, and that entrepreneurship is for everyone!

The second episode buzzed with the journey of an alumpreneur-Divasjyoti Parashar, ASP 22, Founder – Quintinno Labs, a physics graduate turned entrepreneur, who shared his startup journey of developing power banks for electric vehicles. Divas is all set to soft launch his product in partnership with a renowned automobile company. Roshan Pathak, UG 25, discussed how he came up with his self-improvement entrepreneurship challenge, focusing on building keystone habits over a period of 100 days. Roshan plans to soon release his e-book along with other add-on services. Siddh Bakshi, UG 24, shared his startup journey of growing ‘TopBar’, a website and service loved by all. The students had fun knowing his motivations, his share of challenges, and hearing stories such as the significance of his startup name.

Both episodes of ‘Entrepreneurship Dialogue’ showcased how the power of community and collective action is essential to entrepreneurship. This forum gives our students a platform to come together and discuss how ideas can be turned into meaningful ventures. It has also proved to be an excellent opportunity for first-year students to network with like-minded peers.

As we look ahead to the future episodes of the Entrepreneurship Dialogue, the Centre is filled with anticipation and excitement. We eagerly await more stories of innovation, resilience, and success that will undoubtedly continue to inspire and shape the budding community of entrepreneurs at Ashoka.

(Impressions by Arshia Mittal, an undergraduate student from the batch of 2025 and Ishani Jhunjhunwala from the batch of 2024 at 51���)

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The Business of Balancing: Ananya and The Small Shop

Ananya Pritam, a current third-year student studying at 51���, has much to say about balancing a small business while successfully maintaining an unblemished academic and extra-curricular record. A dedicated and driven individual by nature, Pritam is determined to pursue a major in Economics with an unwavering focus on the subject. Furthermore, hailing from the bustling city of Bombay, her journey is uniquely flavoured with the vibrant culture and dynamism of this metropolis. This is an inspiring story of an Ashokan, who quite literally does it all: Basketball, 51���, Finance and running a small business!

Through interactions with the sports enthusiast, Ananya emphasised that, even beyond the classroom, her personality is not just restricted to numbers and statistics, but is also a basketball aficionado, finding inspiration in the teamwork, strategy, and discipline that the sport demands. This passion for basketball serves as a mirror to their aspirations in the world of finance – a realm where teamwork, strategic thinking, and discipline are equally pivotal.

With an eye fixed on the horizon, Pritam envisions a future in finance, aiming to carve a niche for herself and ultimately embarking on the entrepreneurial path to start something of her own. Her journey is one defined by relentless dedication, a fusion of academic prowess and sporting spirit, all set against the backdrop of the bustling financial hub of Bombay.

Needless to say, the academically oriented Economics major was greatly enthusiastic about her personal venture, titled “The Small Shop”. Her vision is to advocate for a space where affordability meets quality in Imitation jewellery. In the dynamic realm of fashion, one thing remains constant: the allure of jewellery.

According to Ananya, be it a statement necklace to elevate a simple outfit or a pair of elegant earrings to complete a sophisticated look, jewellery has the power to transform. Yet, for many fashion enthusiasts, there's a perennial struggle to find a brand that offers both quality and affordability. Thus, Pritam aptly recognised this market gap and set out to fill it. The vision was clear: provide jewellery that marries affordability with uncompromising quality. And the result? A range of imitation jewellery that promises to adorn, endure, and excel in style. While established brands like Accessorise dazzle with their craftsmanship, they often leave customers with wallets as empty as their jewellery boxes. On the flip side, budget-friendly options from the likes of H&M may be easy on the pocket but often disappoint when it comes to durability. Despite maintaining a successful trajectory and account of over 350 orders in only about a year, the sharp-witted student finds it rather hard to encounter obstacles in the absence of any external accountability to keep the business consistent. When asked about balancing the demands of an academically rigorous bearing at 51���, accompanied by a thriving small business, Ananya stated her apprehensions about running a business alone, as it's easy to become entangled in the daily grind and lose sight of the bigger picture. She was perturbed by the verity that consistency can wane, and motivation may waver. However, her antidote to these hurdles is, and remains time management and ruthless prioritisation. The young founder believes that staying disciplined and focusing on what truly matters is the only way to navigate the demanding terrain of entrepreneurship while juggling academic commitments.

This astounding story of a student entrepreneur in an academically competitive institution like 51��� goes to show that, although the premise of the educational establishment pushes its pupils to step out of their comfort zones to pursue their career ambitions, it is also a conducive environment for growth and personal development. With sustained logistical, financial and intellectual support from the academic faculty, university leadership and peers, students at 51��� are motivated to undertake productive business modules. Students like Ananya Pritam continue to exemplify balancing education and personal development at the University campus.

(Written by Ahana Walanju, a Political Science major from the undergraduate batch of 2025 at 51���)

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A Harbinger of Positive Change: The Ikshā Foundation

Nandika, an aspiring economics major student, is currently in her second year of the undergraduate programme at 51���. The brilliant young entrepreneur and philanthropist believes that the world needs change and trusts that the youth should be the instruments of change. Nandika’s enthusiasm and creativity have moulded The Ikshā Foundation from its roots. Needless to say, among the innumerable accounts of talented students pursuing ventures on campus, Nandika’s inclination towards facilitating societal change found its roots during the pandemic. Ikshā Foundation’s main objective is to help transform the deteriorating lives of people due to various issues posed by the ever-changing patterns of time.

Tracing her path to the pandemic, Nandika started with a group of friends trying to make an impact. Initially, it started as a shared inspiration among three 15-year-olds working on societal change. Eventually, as time proceeded, they also decided to involve more youth to participate in their cause. Ikshā Foundation’s objective is to support underprivileged students to receive a quality education and to do so, the teenage founders came up with an innovative idea to provide for these students while saving the environment. At the core of the Ikshā Foundation, lies the aim of creating a sustainable circular economy. This circular economy works around protecting the environment and preventing climate change while also providing quality education and producing young green thinkers in the process. Today, the goal is to expand their project across India. They have already started working towards this. Their project also collects primary data from each school. It involves the problems they face, the basic requirements they need and so on. Through an evaluation of this data, they have also understood that the need to achieve quality education is different in each state. Hence, their goal is simple: To bridge this gap while being subjective of the needs and requirements.

‘Changing the world one petal at a time’. Ikshā has undertaken several initiatives and programs to achieve its goals. Initially, during the imposition of the COVID-19 lockdown, they conducted Project Dhanika during the Covid-19 lockdowns. The foundation provided reusable, recyclable and biodegradable sanitary napkins patented by one of their talented founders. The Ikshā Foundation’s ‘CTRL+S (save)’ initiative aims at providing the opportunity for quality education to underprivileged students across India through a sustainable recycling process of scrap paper. Till today, members have successfully collected approximately 22,000kgs of scrap paper and converted them into notebooks and stationery. This project has helped the foundation achieve a reduction worth 1,958 cubic feet of landfills and saved 375 trees in the laborious process. At Ikshā Foundation, the founders believe that 'the youth of the world can be harbingers of positive change in society'.

Throughout this process, Nandika and her dedicated team provided 8,219 underprivileged students with stationary materials from across India and conducted awareness sessions to prevent climate change through sustainable practices. However, this journey of targeting the social issue, and actively working on it through sustainable and communally beneficial ways was not a linear process. Nandika was persistently challenged with obstacles that showed immense potential to hinder their foundation’s phenomenal work. An initial, and consistently faced challenge by Nandika is that the Ikshā Foundation and its work were not taken very seriously. Considering the foundation to be led by students, there was an apprehension to consider the foundation to be legitimate. Additionally, the idea had just taken off, and so it was necessary to gain the trust and support of the surrounding community. Despite overcoming a series of unanticipated obstacles and challenging encounters, Nandika and her team have successfully managed to bring Ikshā the recognition it deserves. The Ikshā Foundation has been featured in The Hindu, The Times of India and Your Big Year ( an international magazine ). They have also been nominated as finalists at the Global Teen Leader Awards and the World Sustainability Award ‘23, Amsterdam. The foundation has also received recognition from Decathlon India and various schools in Bangalore acknowledging our efforts to create change.

Ikshā Foundation is more than just a herald of positive change in society. It is an irreplaceable part of Nandika’s personal and professional life. To date, she pleasantly reminisces over the first time they conducted a distribution at a government school. A few volunteers had to back out at the last moment. So, Nandika headed to the school by herself. The sheer happiness that was shown on their faces while receiving a notebook is a moment that will be etched in her memory. It made her cognisant about the privilege she had growing up. The privilege she had to receive fresh stationary every year while she still had last year's geometry box. Thus, through her active involvement with the students during their drives, Nandika learned to develop a deeper understanding of completely different spheres of life which made her value her privilege. She genuinely believes that her project has the scope to be developed on a larger scale creating a larger impact. Founding the Iksha Foundation has been a life-changing experience for her. Not only did she find compassion for helping others through projects, but also cultivated humility in the process of being a change-maker. Despite the challenges posed in Nandika’s path, Ikshā has proven to bring about positive change in society. The volunteers play an integral role in the smooth functioning of the foundation and work tirelessly to meet the foundation’s goals. While Nandika continues to pursue her degree here at 51���, her contribution towards Ikshā remains uncompromised.

(Written by Ahana Walanju, a Political Science major from the undergraduate batch of 2025 at 51���)

51���

My Tryst with Entrepreneurship at Ashoka: From doubt to delight

“If you can’t keep your cameras on and maintain eye contact with the screen for three hours, please drop out. There is a long list of students waiting for a seat in this course.”

Overwhelmed, I made up my mind to drop out once the class got over. 

Hi, I am Aditi, and back then, I was a second-year Computer Science Student at 51���. In my fourth semester, I stumbled upon my first entrepreneurship course, Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset, taught by Prof. Mukesh Sud, one of the most loved visiting faculty from IIMA.

The class was very different from any other class I had taken at Ashoka or outside on three counts:

• It was participation heavy: During the class discussions, students not just interacted with the professor but students also interacted with other students
• We went through interesting case studies like that of PayTM, the making of 51���, and more
• We were also expected to submit a one-pager before each class addressing a question from the case that we thought was most relevant

Coming from my very theoretical Computer Science classes with barely any cameras on, having such a lively class with so much class participation was a foreign concept for me.

The 3-hour experience turned out to be so much fun that I decided to change my mind and stick to this course, thus, marking the beginning of my very rewarding and interesting journey of Entrepreneurship at Ashoka. 

One major learning at Ashoka has been to always try - either we win or we learn, so I went ahead and applied for it. I am so glad I did because becoming the representative turned out to be one of the best decisions I have taken in life so far. 

I was also lucky to be chosen when the department was scaling from three courses in a semester to 17, thus allowing me to contribute a lot more. From interacting with 300+ students and understanding their needs to conducting the first-ever Entrepreneurship Mixer, my tenure started on a very high note.

I got the opportunity to work closely with the entire team at the Department of Entrepreneurship—Prof. Priyank, a mentor, a friend and a guide; Ekanto, my go-to problem solver for anything and everything; Sagar, a jack of all trades; Manoj, the relatable genZ with the best jugaads. Working alongside a team that is incredibly approachable, creative, and open-minded provided me with an exceptionally fulfilling experience.

In this journey, I was lucky to also learn from the brightest minds from across the industry and pick their minds on various topics and the latest industry trends. Our founders—Ashish Dhawan, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, and Dr Pramath Raj Sinha; and professors—Raman Roy, Sridhar Sethuram, and Yash Gupta were among a few of my favourites. 

Being the Department Representative (DR) not only opened my doors for any opportunity I wanted to grab, but also accelerated my drive to solve problems, take initiative, and build things from scratch. 

Not to forget, Shivansh—my Co-DR. From being a random irritating acquaintance to becoming one of my favourite people at Ashoka, the Department also gave me friends that I will keep for a lifetime. Given our love for trying new things, I always had a partner in my many experiments, be it with a new venue for the mixer, a South Indian food menu from an Ashoka Startup over the regular Chicago pizza, making students entrepreneurially speed date on a staircase, or prompting founders to share the worst investment they have made—WE DID IT ALL!

In retrospect, I wonder why I was chosen to be the representative in the first place. One of the biggest reasons was probably the club that I had co-founded: . 

It was supposed to be a college community for language learners but given the drive that the Entrepreneurship department ignited in me, the club ended up being my ground for a lot of experimentation. From doing language meet-ups in six languages, developing our first website, launching a newsletter, screening movies, and collaborating with 20+ clubs on campus, to making a Lang-up Film, pitching the idea at various platforms and setting up a booth at the Convention of Digital Entrepreneurs (CODE), India’s Largest Digital Conference—Lang-up became my passion project.

It was impossible to keep Lang-up going at such a high pace without CfE’s support. CfE did not just give me the space to brainstorm all the ideas I had for Lang-up, but also supported me in the tiniest of ways possible - be it by allowing me to use the CfE classroom to screen the Lang-up film or giving me munchies to show their support. 

Lang-up has also been lucky to have gained mentorship from Prof. Srikant Sastri, as part of the course, Startup Incubation Lab. Over 13 weeks, we got a clear idea of how to position Lang-up, the TG (read target group) we wanted to target, how to pitch, calculate the TAM (read Total Addressable Market), and more. During this time, we worked on our first deck, talked to 100+ potential users, and pivoted our idea from an-in person college-wise language learning community to an activity-based digital language community for self-learners.

I wanted to become a Teaching Assistant since my first semester at Ashoka; it was one of those bucket list things that I wanted to tick off. Finally, in my sixth semester, I got my first ever TAship with Prof. Priyank for his course, Creativity and Design Thinking. The experience exceeded my expectations to the maximum. From looking through 20+ design books to choose the best seven, taking my first class on Biomimicry, my first shot at grading, to preparing a dance performance for the class with 10 of my students, and talking to my students to get their feedback in person, I learnt how TAship can be enriching, fun, and rewarding at the same time.

Thrilled by this experience, I then got the opportunity to TA for Professors Shantanu & Nitin for their course, Strategies for Market Access, in Monsoon 2022.

This TAship was a little different from my previous experience— a smaller class size, a lot more guest speakers, and professors who specially travelled to Ashoka to teach the course. Apart from the usual responsibilities as a TA, I also had the pleasure of coordinating the one-on-one sales trip for 25 students with representatives from seven different companies, including Pidilite, Kohler, and Ceat among others. It was a one-of-its-own kind of opportunity for students to shadow a salesperson for an entire day. When the students learnt tips and tricks to be great salespersons, I learnt to deal with things that appear to be a logistical nightmare.

I am very grateful to know Professors Shantanu and Nitin. They always supported and hyped up every initiative I took—my weekend solo trips, cracking an internship that I wanted. Our WhatsApp group soon became a platform for not only work discussions but also updates on anything significant that happened in my life.

CfE’s support has extended to a lot more things than expected. For any initiative I took, the Centre was a lot more excited and enthusiastic about it than I was. Be it my participation in Jagriti Yatra—a 15-day train journey around India to understand the roots of entrepreneurship, or doing a with entrepreneurs from Shark Tank India Season 1 to reach a wider audience through the domain. 

I have not only become a lot more confident but have also learnt to optimize for experiences. 

I am forever indebted to CfE for the opportunities it has given me and for the person I have become today. Undoubtedly, the InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship has been the best part of my Ashoka life.

Graduating with more than nine Entrepreneurship courses on my transcript, a great community of super-smart peers and experts from all around the world, and an amazing CfE team to fall back on, I am excited to conclude my rewarding tryst with Entrepreneurship at Ashoka.

(Aditi Tibarewal is a Computer Science & Entrepreneurship student from the Ashoka class of 2023. She is an incoming APM at KiranaClub)

51���

Entrepreneurship @ Ashoka in 2022

"There are decades where nothing happens;   

and there are weeks where decades happen"

                                                 ~ Lenin

Our times have come to justify what Lenin said many decades ago. When we stepped into 2022, there was still fear and caution about the pandemic lingering around. We continued living our professional lives through the boxes on our screens for almost the entirety of the first quarter.

This was not much difficult for any as the inertia of WFH had already kicked in, the challenge was to break it, shun our pyjamas, and don a mask in a physical setting. There were students and colleagues who had started their journey with us virtually. It was an exciting period post the mid-sem break in March to finally meet them and get back into our work space and classrooms after two springs.

We had kickstarted the Spring Semester in January with a major uptick in the number of Entrepreneurship courses being offered. We were fortunate to have some of the pioneers and thought leaders in their respective fields teaching our students. From Pramod Bhasin, the Founder of Genpact doing a Leadership course to Raman Roy, a leader in the Indian BPO Industry and a prolific investor doing a course on How to Start a Startup. Then we had courses on the themes of digital transformation, real estate, finance, and investing added to our course catalogue. The trend of the Entrepreneurship course offerings going north continued for the Monsoon Semester in September with some amazing courses being offered in the areas of Leadership, Strategy, Finance, Digital Transformation, Management and Entrepreneurship. The number of students being engaged by us makes Entrepreneurship the biggest minor on campus. Our courses even attracted staff and alums who sit through them. I am particularly proud of a first-year student who spent her Monday evening voluntarily attending Aditya Ghosh’s In Pursuit of Service Excellence course. An alumnus travelled all the way from Gurgaon to attend the same class. It is these acts of dedication and determination that keep us going, and act as an assurance that we are on the right track.

As always, our courses had learning components even beyond the classroom through late-night Dhaba conversations with the faculty and guest speakers, field trips, and real-life immersive assignments where the students had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through directly working with organizations, running live social media marketing campaigns, conducting sales research on the field, and even minting NFTs. A highlight of this year was the Dinner with Founders where our students could interact with 51��� founders like Ashish Dhawan, Pramath Raj Sinha, and Aditya Ghosh interact with students in an informal setting, singing along with them while strumming the guitar. 

Another gratifying moment this year for us has been to see so many of our Entrepreneurship students acknowledging that their experiences with us have immensely contributed to their success during the Placement Season.

We continued empowering and supporting student-led initiatives on campus through various clubs like the Entrepreneurship Club and the Business Club, better known on the campus as E-Club and B-Club, besides assisting the Ashoka Investment and Consulting Clubs. They have surely been able to enhance the level of engagement on campus through their various intra as well as inter-institution events.

Supporting the startup founders and the startup ecosystem is of prime importance to us. The Startup Incubation Lab and the Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs witnessed Ashokapreneurs (student and alum startup founders) being systematically supported by mentors like Srikant Sastri, the President of TiE Delhi-NCR. We also participated in initiatives to strengthen the startup support ecosystems locally as well as globally. 

Collaboration is a cornerstone of Entrepreneurship, and we were able to contribute to some interesting initiatives like the Panchkula Urban Dialogues with the Government of Haryana and the Registrar’s Office, Inclusion Through Innovation: Designing Barrier-free Environments with the OLS, and an L&D initiative for the staff and a fun staff after hours with the HR.

As Entrepreneurship at Ashoka progressed in leaps and bounds, there was a personal high for me in 2022. My book, ‘'  co-authored with Prof. Mukesh Sud was published by Penguin India. It lays down six evidence-based insights to help readers advance their careers at an incredible pace.

In 2023, as we look to reinforce our various offerings including our courses, we would strive to promote and practice Human Centered Entrepreneurship and live the Ashoka Sutra values. We definitely want the weeks of 2023 to become fruitful, and help us set even higher benchmarks for ourselves. May 2023 in the pages of Ashoka’s history be a period where a ‘decade’ happened.

Prof. Priyank Narayan is the Director of the InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship at 51���.

51���

My Tryst with Entrepreneurship at Ashoka: A journey of deep gratitude

The InfoEdge Center for Entrepreneurship has greatly aided my journey through Ashoka and beyond. I could not have imagined where it would take me when I sat to attend my first entrepreneurship course. I was your typical second year at Ashoka; confused about my career after college with no idea what the corporate world involved beyond corner offices and pencil skirts. Furious googling, frantic phone calls to seniors and many existential crises later, I stumbled into the department's introductory offering of Entrepreneurial Marketing and Finance. I saw it as a way to dip my toes into this unknown world and hopefully gain some clarity on my skill set.

The course delivered over and above what I had expected. Not only did I discover how fun the problem-solving aspect of the fields we studied could be, but I also discovered opportunities that went beyond the classroom. It led me to my next course in entrepreneurship, Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset where the classroom was fertile ground for new ideas and introduced me to people who were just as excited about them as I was. The enthusiastic peer group that the department provides compels you to pick up on essential soft skills. This includes the ability to clearly and effectively communicate your ideas in a classroom bursting with opinions. The journey turns classmates into teammates, friends, and eventually even co-founders. The Centre gave us the opportunity to start a business club on campus, and I am proud to say that the Ashoka Business Club (ABC) is now a year old and thriving. The ABC hosts events, guest sessions, field trips and a vibrant learning community that contribute to my growth every day!

The coursework and club introduced me to a wide range of ideas and perspectives, which helped me think creatively and outside the box. Looking back, I realize that this was crucial during my placement process, especially for consulting firms like McKinsey, which value creative problem-solving, entrepreneurial initiative and innovative thinking. These experiences also taught me practical skills such as market research and pitching. Moreover, they gave me a deeper understanding of how businesses operate, and how to identify and solve problems. This knowledge is critical for consulting and is often what interviewers look for during the placement process. 

The most important learning from these experiences, however, was confidence. University life, especially in the middle of a pandemic, has the ability to make you question your every move. It is not easy to shake it off and move on. When you are sitting for 10 interviews a day and facing rejections, dismissive responses and sometimes pure disinterest, it is imperative that none of them shakes you. The opportunities I have been given through the Centre have given me the ability to pose a confident front through the placement cycle and eventually win over potential employers. 

I am deeply grateful to the Center for Entrepreneurship and the mission it has undertaken. The Centre has provided me with opportunities that have helped me grow in countless ways. Through the various programs and resources offered, I have gained valuable experience and knowledge about the corporate world. I have had the chance to network with industry professionals I would not have dreamt of meeting, let alone having conversations and gaining advice from. The Centre has also provided me with a sense of community and support and I am forever grateful for the impact that the staff and community have had on my growth. These learnings have helped kickstart my career and will stay with me all the way till that corner office and pencil skirt collection is actually mine! 

Kavya Satish is an ASP'23 at 51���.

51���

My Tryst with Entrepreneurship at 51���: From scepticism to belief

I was first exposed to Entrepreneurship at Ashoka during our online classes, where I had signed up for a pair of 2-credit courses to see what all the hue and cry was about. Admittedly, I was initially unimpressed. Amusingly enough, my first impression, particularly after Pramod Bhasin’s first class in his course ‘Theory & Practice of Leadership’ was that practitioners should remain in the industry and leave the teaching to Professors. This hasty judgement was soon revised when I realised the insights and unique perspectives our distinguished Professors had to offer, backed up by anecdotes that would leave you hanging off the edge of your seat. Eventually, I gave up Bhasin’s course in favour of Yash Gupta’s course ‘Real Estate & Investments’ since I only had the bandwidth for one course at the time; nonetheless, it was far from an easy decision to make and I promised to take up the former course again at some point in the future.

Being a student of Political Science, I was very keen to get back in touch with the business and financial world, since I’d always loved Economics but chose against pursuing it in college due to my fear of Calculus. I also realised very quickly that I was disillusioned in believing that studying political science would prepare me for my grand aspirations for my longer-term goal of a career in politics. While this wasn’t entirely untrue, I might argue that I’ve learnt more crucial life skills and practical knowledge in the course of the past 6-10 months than I did in my three years of Political Science. 

Having taken up courses like ‘Business Communication & Negotiation’ and ‘Entrepreneurial Marketing’, I learnt a lot about the real-world implications of individual and institutional decisions. Courses like ‘Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics’ and ‘Metaverse Decoded’ didn’t just provide me with an opportunity to learn new skills and actually understand so many ‘buzzwords’ that so many of us throw about without thinking, but also look at their practical applications - something which was a thorough miss for me in my three-years degree insofar. 

That being said, me being the eternal sceptic that I am, I approached Entrepreneurship at Ashoka initially wondering what on Earth the university was up to by teaching business at a liberal arts school. My very first course with Professor Yash Gupta shattered this sceptical outlook - the man is nothing short of a genius. His course, along with Professor Jhangiani’s Marketing course, has to be, by far, amongst my top 5 courses at Ashoka across the four disciplines I’ve dabbled in. The cherry on the cake, of course, was the occasional glamour and glitz we were exposed to on our field trips - an integral part of almost every course. 

Before I knew it, I had made up my mind to stay back for the fourth year and pursue a minor in Entrepreneurship (and no, it was not just for the fun beyond the classes). I did my major in Political Science, a minor in International Relations and a concentration in Media Studies - all in all, a diverse mix of disciplines. Surprisingly enough, it was Entrepreneurship courses that served as a silent and yet sturdy glue that bonded them together and created a complete picture for me. 

I feel almost guilty to have once looked upon the department’s role at Ashoka with scepticism, given that the department almost feels like a third home for me at Ashoka now. The courses that have been offered (as well as the exciting upcoming line-up) have provided us with an opportunity that very few colleges in India - and perhaps even in Asia - would be able to offer. To learn from industry stalwarts and renowned academics such as Aditya Ghosh, Pramod Bhasin, Pawan Ahluwalia and Yash Gupta has been a privilege. I am eagerly waiting to don the hat of a UGTA and assist Prof. DVR Seshadri in the upcoming semester.

Abhiir Bhalla is an active youth environmentalist and freelance sustainability consultant. He is currently part of the Ashoka Scholars Programme at 51��� and is pursuing a minor in Entrepreneurship and Media Studies, after having completed a major in Political Science and a minor in International Relations. 

51���

<strong>Minting NFTs </strong>

Entrepreneurship Education is not just about class lectures but also includes hands-on exercises, teamwork, real-life interactions, and thinking outside the box in many other ways to provide an immersive learning experience to the students.

During the Monsoon Semester 2022, for the Metaverse Decoded course by Jaspreet Bindra, the course participants were given a unique team-based assignment. They had to create a piece of art - painting, drawing, music, video, photograph, or collectible. Mint it as an NFT (non-fungible token) on any platform/marketplace/site and put it up for sale. 

In this blog, we shall share with you how two teams went about the assignment. Below are mentioned excerpts from their assignment reports. A unique feature of the assignment was that the individual contributions of the team members had to be enlisted along with learnings from the process of minting NFTs.

Team 1: DeFi.Nomists

Context for Team Name: The core of this assignment is Decentralized Finance (DeFi); Nomists comes from the Greek word nomos, meaning law or principle (as used in Economists). 

Group Members: Ankit Sharma, Harsha Mini, Nidhi Munot, Pranav Wali, Reeya Gupta, Samarth Jain, Twinkle Madke, and Vansh Jogani

The Process: We divided ourselves into four sub-groups, minting one NFT each. We wanted to mint different types of content into NFTs to see the differences in the minting process if any and test out the different platforms to check if they influenced the NFT’s performance. The wallets used were MetaMask and Metasky (which were created for free).

1. Harsha and Samarth (physical artwork): 

Mintable- a gasless store was a viable option that allowed us to mint without paying gas fees upfront. This made minting the NFT free of cost since additional fees were only factored in once the NFT was sold. The reselling of the NFT on the platform provides a 10% royalty to primary owners, creating a revenue stream from future transactions.

We took a picture of Harsha’s physical artwork called “Parallel Realities” and minted it on the Ethereum Blockchain. We opted for the listing to be auctioned instead of choosing a fixed price because, without appraisal of the NFT, we were unsure of the price to assign to the piece. The minimum bid was 0.01 ETH (around $14.96), with it now priced at 0.013 ETH. The NFT received a total of 31 views.��

NFT Link:

2. Nidhi and Reeya (digital artwork): 

Since digital art pieces are one of the most popular types of NFTs that have a growing market of both buyers and sellers, we decided to mint and sell a digital art piece made by Nidhi on the OpenSea platform. A Metamask wallet was created to try tokens besides Ethereum MainNet, which otherwise are expensive.

We used the Polygon Blockchain Network and the Matic MainNet token. We then used a thematic supply faucet to generate some funds; a free site that provides small amounts of free tokens. We linked the wallet to an OpenSea account and minted the piece titled ‘Sunset at Sea Link’, which we listed for sale at a fixed price of 1 ETH. The NFT received 5 views.

The caveat with OpenSea is its large number of undifferentiated verified sellers, which would at least partially explain the low number of views. 

NFT Link:

3. Ankit and Pranav (video): 

Apart from digital and physical art, we also wanted to explore mp4s/gifs as NFTs. To sell a video NFT, we realized we needed something of sentimental value or something buyer-interest-centric. So we chose a clip from the Ashoka Premier League (Ashoka’s annual intra-university football league) of a last-minute goal in the finals.

We looked at the best websites for mp4s/gifs and uploaded the NFT titled “f�����쾱���첹���” on OpenSea. The NFT was publicized through social media and word of mouth to create hype and generate traction among the Ashokans. A fixed price of 0.0004 ETH (around 0.62USD) was set and we received an offer. Alternatively, an auction might have been set up given that the NFT holds value in the Ashokan context. However, it might not have generated enough participation from the general Ashokan body, owing to the lack of knowledge/interest in DeFi. We marketed this to the goal-scorer, who was willing to pay the gas fee only if we made this a series. We are currently looking to mint it on arbitrum in order to save gas fees while still maintaining Ethereum which is a great ecosystem.

NFT Link:

4. Twinkle and Vansh (whitelist): 

Curiosity made us attempt whitelisting—an NFT minting mechanism which allows a list of individuals guaranteed early access to mint. Whitelists are created by organizations to reward early and consistent supporters, prevent gas wars and stop spam by fake accounts.��

We got whitelisted for the record label AZRV’s NFT on the NEAR Blockchain, which uses less energy compared to other blockchains, making it easier and more efficient for minting. With this NFT, we obtained early access to their upcoming music, live tour and community-only art events along with exclusive access to the discord channel with other AZRV NFT owners. This channel provided regular updates on the label and its artists. It also gave us a platform to interact with like-minded supporters of the label. However, although the NFT comes with multiple perks, we are not allowed to sell it yet. 

Challenges:

• For Mintable, the categories and subcategories were very broad. The reach of the piece could have been improved with more specificity. Sellers had the option to add tags, but buyers could not search for them in the dropdown while searching for NFTs.
• OpenSea doesn’t allow filtering. If the feature were present, it would have added more relevance to the listing. Additionally, there were no tags that could be attached to the listing to increase reach.
• The dearth of an NFT appraisal mechanism led us to highly overvalue or undervalue our NFTs.
• Gas price fluctuation resulted in constant changes in pricing; this causes lower-valued NFTs to have lower saleability.��
• Uncertainty about which platform had better reach and a relevant buyer market for the listed NFTs.��
• The consequence of being a new and unverified user was low viewership of the listed NFTs.
• Creating a utility of the NFTs beyond the resales.�� 

Improvements:

• We could have used “boosts” to increase the visibility of our NFTs on the platforms. However, we didn’t as it requires payment.
• We could have created a collection of NFTs, which would provide greater utility and value when compared to NFTs sold individually. In the Ashokan context, if we had created a collection of NFTs related to the campus, Ashokans would likely assign greater value to those NFTs. We could also attach intangible benefits to this collection (e.g. priority access to slot-sign-ups for the piano room).
• Platform Visibility and Relevancy: To better understand which platform works best for a particular type of NFT we could have compared the visibility of different platforms by listing similar pieces of content on different platforms with similar tags, and then comparing the reach. Offer prices could also be a metric for comparison.

Team 2: Built to Mint

Group Members: Abhirup, Abhiir, Anusha, Megha, Nikhil, Prabhav, Zorawar

We all contributed to the initial brainstorming, discussions, and final report writing process. In addition to this, our contributions are:

Abhirup: Compiled 21 NFTs to create 3 distinct collections on OpenSea and contributed 6 NFTs of my own - photography, digital art and composed the music NFT ‘Voyage’ () - Combined ~ 200 views.

Abhiir: Uploaded wildlife-specific NFTs, explored other platforms like , and marketed collections through Instagram stories.

Anusha: Created a piece of GenArt (via code), and minted it on Mintable () to explore that platform (~50 views). For the Ashoka-themed collection - clicked pictures of the sky from different places around campus. 

Megha: Created ‘The Ashokan Artist’ NFT portfolio to showcase original digi-art made by students from the University. 

Nikhil: Attempted to create an NBA NFT equivalent by minting moments from Ashokan Sporting Tournaments () - Combined ~50 views.

Prabhav: Found satirical content in Ashokan and non-Ashokan contexts to create 6 NFTs; marketed all collections through a campus-wide email.

Zorawar: Drafted the campus-wide email. 

Introduction

When Built to Mint was given the task of minting an NFT, we were initially apprehensive about it. None of us had any experience in this domain and were puzzled about how to actually ‘mint’ an NFT and makes it perform well. What this project showed us was that creating NFTs and crypto wallets is far simpler than we had thought and that there are a lot of factors that determine an NFT’s price, popularity, and ultimate value.��

The Minting Process

Our apprehensions regarding NFT marketplaces being complex were debunked when we realized that minting an NFT takes less than 5 minutes! All platforms allowed us to simply choose and upload whichever item we wanted.

We realized early on that getting a random piece of art to gain traction would be challenging. On every major platform, the NFTs that seemed to be doing well:

1. Had been uploaded by a verified user.

and/or

2. Had a story woven around them in a way that made the artwork significantly more appealing to the audience.

These platforms have an algorithm like Instagram where verified profiles with the characteristic blue tick tend to perform better, in terms of views and favourites. Becoming a verified creator takes time, and since it was impossible for us to become one so soon, it was clear that for our NFTs to perform well, they needed to be a part of a larger narrative. Therefore, we chose a close-to-home theme to work with - Ashoka. We created a collection of NFTs titled ‘Inside 51���’ where we uploaded images ranging from the famous Sonepat skies to the infamous Ashokan eating habits.��

Secondly, to broaden our horizons, we curated a collection titled ‘A Lil’ Something for Everyone’ consisting of photographs (ranging from satire to wildlife), digital clip art, and an original piano composition titled ‘Voyage’.&�Բ�����;

We decided to mint all items on OpenSea as it is arguably the biggest NFT marketplace currently. More importantly, it doesn’t charge creators any minting fees (‘gas money’). Creators only pay a small percentage of the sale price, if and when an NFT is sold. Our pricing strategy was to compare the prices and quality of different forms of art on the platform (videos/audio/images), and then decide our price points based on the competition we faced. We ended up setting the prices extremely low, with most of them being around 0.0005 ETH (approximately 65 INR – less than the cost of a sandwich on campus!).

In addition to OpenSea, we experimented and minted some art pieces for free on platforms like Mintable, Rarible etc. For example, on Mintable, we minted the following GenArt, ‘Abstract Colourful Lines’.

Viewership

To ensure that our Ashoka-specific NFTs perform well, we sent an email to the entire student body with the links to all the account profiles across the platforms we used. 

We also shared them through Instagram stories and leveraged our personal connections to boost viewership. Additionally, we got to learn how using listing tags on NFT platforms can be helpful. By using these, our views for the Mintable NFT went up from around 2-3 to 20 within just 2 days.

Of all the OpenSea NFTs, we noticed that the music NFT, Voyage, witnessed the greatest increase in views. As of 5^th November 2022, Voyage stood at 38 views, while Abstract Colourful Lines on Mintable at 49 views.

Key Learnings

From the NFT minting process, we learned that the story mattered far more than the NFT itself. A digital creation has no tangible value of its own. People assign value based on the creator and the story behind it, not necessarily its aesthetic quality. 

Why is it that a pixelated crypto-punk sells for $7,560,000 while a digital doodle of the Northern Lights by an Ashokan student gets hardly any? The former has a story that has captured the collective fancy. It is known as one of the 9 alien punks, making it an extremely rare piece. 

Additionally, an exciting insight for us was that through NFT marketplaces, we can potentially monetize and profit from any piece of art in our surroundings as long as it is unique and has a story behind it.

What could’ve been done differently

Looking back, after going through the entire process, we think we could have boosted our NFTs’ performances by:

• Conducting better research into the trends and purchasing behaviours of users in NFT marketplaces to understand which category of art performs the best.
• Starting marketing our NFTs immediately after minting them.
• Exploring NFT forums on Reddit, Discord, etc to increase our viewership.
• Focusing more on weaving a story behind each NFT, to allow users to form personal connections.

Recommendations for Platforms

While minting an NFT is quite simple, purchasing one isn’t. For Indian customers, the first step to owning an NFT from a marketplace like OpenSea is to transfer Ethereum from a popular Indian wallet like WazirX to MetaMask, as OpenSea doesn’t allow direct transactions. This costs significant gas fees. For example, while our NFTs in rupees cost about 80-100 INR, the gas fee is more than 1000 INR. Moreover, even if Indian consumers begin with Metamask, the minimum transaction amount for buying ETH is $30 (≈2500 INR). Such costs disincentivize potential buyers to purchase NFTs, especially low-cost ones. 

Another point of concern on OpenSea is that although uniqueness is the defining feature of NFTs, there are no authenticity checks to ensure that an item has not existed on any other platform. Mintable, on the other hand, does run such checks and provides buyers with links to other similar items found on the internet. Therefore, this is an area where OpenSea can improve.

Hope you enjoyed going through the blog and learnt how NFTs can be minted & which platform works best for you. Happy Minting!

By Team DeFi.Nomists (Ankit Sharma, Harsha Mini, Nidhi Munot, Pranav Wali, Reeya Gupta, Samarth Jain, Twinkle Madke, and Vansh Jogani) & Built to Mint (Abhirup, Abhiir, Anusha, Megha, Nikhil, Prabhav, Zorawar)

Edited by Ekanto Ghosh and Charu Veluthoor (ASP'23) 

51���

My Tryst with Entrepreneurship at Ashoka: Experiencing entrepreneurship differently

I remember someone telling me in my first year that Entrepreneurship cannot be taught. I think they are right. It has to be experienced through real-time projects, simulations and real-world case studies. I believe that to be an entrepreneur one must have multiple skills and a specialization in a few. There’s so much that an entrepreneur has to understand and then make decisions accordingly. My experience with entrepreneurship at Ashoka has been deeply rewarding and enriching.

My first entrepreneurship course was Dr Priyank’s Creativity and Design Thinking Course. This was the beginning of my journey. I learnt about various models in design thinking, which is a very powerful way to solve problems. At the end of the day, an entrepreneur is a problem solver, who’s solving product, marketing, finance and so many other problems in their startup. The course allowed me to explore the fields of behavioural science and user experience design. I spent the next year working in the field and learning hands-on in startups.

Then I did some courses on Marketing and Brand Building, which allowed me to understand how great brands are built and why marketing is so crucial. Using the learnings, I was able to work on the brand building of the podcast and small educational startup I was working on. I also did Nish’s Digital Professional Course, which taught me industry skills to run digital marketing campaigns.

It was because of all these courses that I was able to get exposure to how the real world works and what skills are valued. During the summer, I worked as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at a health supplements startup, which allowed me to use all the things I had learnt in these courses. It was an enriching experience as I was able to add a lot of value to the strategy and execution of various verticals in the company.

My last semester has been particularly very interesting. There were so many courses and across functions. The four courses allowed me to further expand and deepen my knowledge in areas of finance, business analysis, sales, distribution, marketing and branding. It also allowed me to understand how great businesses are created and what factors govern that.

Overall, my experience has been quite rewarding, considering the applicability of the skills I learnt in these courses. Although it didn’t make me an entrepreneur, but my overall business acumen has improved a lot. It has also allowed me to excel at different skills that an entrepreneur needs to make a startup successful.
Running a successful startup is dependent on multiple factors, some of which are in our control and some not. What entrepreneurship at Ashoka has allowed me to do is give me more control of the factors that are in our control.

Ayush Agarwal is an ASP'23 student at 51���.

51���

My Tryst with Entrepreneurship at Ashoka: Learning about myself and the world

My tryst with Entrepreneurship at Ashoka has been one of adventure, going out of my depth to attempt to try something that I had never come close to trying before and doing it with people that may be "Smarter" or have more knowledge of the subject field. I'd never done entrepreneurship before this semester began and didn't know what to expect but decided to go for it and see after the first semester of the year whether I wanted to continue or not, while the first semester of the year had its ups and downs, moments where I wondered if it was truly for me, if I was good enough, if it was worth it, the answer to all those questions were definitely yes and I wanted to continue to pursue a minor and so much more. I'm unsure of whether I want to be an entrepreneur or start my own venture, however, I quickly realized entrepreneurship at Ashoka isn't about wanting to startup by yourself, but is more about building the entrepreneurial mindset in an individual and preparing you for the outside world and these are skills that any organization would want, and in this regard, I learnt more in my one semester about myself and being a leader than I had in the entirety of the previous 21 years of my life.

This past semester I had taken 3 Entrepreneurship courses - Leadership Lessons from the Road Less Traveled, Venture Planning and Strategy, and Understanding Law for Entrepreneurs.

During my time on the road less travelled, the takeaways that I have had from Professors Sunil Handa and Rashmi Bansal supersede that comfortably. I've felt more empowered and confident in myself when I have heard their stories notwithstanding the fact that even a lot of the guest speakers that we hosted, had turned to them for help. Now that I see myself towards the end of the course, I see the transformation in myself as a professional, thanks to the opportunities I've been given by the Entrepreneurship Department. One key takeaway that I will hold and spread about entrepreneurship at Ashoka is that whether you want to be an entrepreneur or not it's important to take these courses because even if you do decide to work, the mindset of an independent entrepreneur is crucial.

Whereas another course I thoroughly enjoyed was Venture Planning and Strategy in which having been from a psychology background, I have spent a lot of time analyzing behaviour within scope, with there being an outcome which is expected or lines in between that we couldn't escape. However, with this course, I felt encouraged to colour outside the lines, to express thoughts which might, as ridiculous as they sounded have some semblance of truth to how it worked if analyzed in the correct method. One aspect that I loved about the course was the analytical aspect, the fact that we were encouraged to think on our feet, the fact that with the case we were encouraged to come up with a one-pager for a question that may or may not exist and more than that the fact that we discussed all the aspects of our cases with our peers, and even the faces behind the cases at times, and that we weren't discouraged from asking the hard-hitting questions.

Last but not the least, the third entrepreneurship course that I've done was one with the most mixed emotions. It wasn’t too taxing because it was on a Saturday. However, when it came to the contents of the course it was arguably one of the most interesting courses that I had done in the semester, in the sense, no other course covered the length and breadth that this course covered. As someone that has a vast interest in law and has had generations do law, it was of great insight to me and offered the privilege to learn from esteemed practitioners.

My tryst with entrepreneurship is something that I really do want to continue post my time at Ashoka and really do believe that a lot of the relationships I've made with the faculty will be relationships for life and I will be forever grateful for this. That is something the Entrepreneurship at Ashoka has done that no other department has been able to do.

Rohan Manoj is an ASP’23 student at 51���.

51���

Bridging the gap between crypto and people

Melbin Thomas (YIF ‘13) is the co-founder of Sahicoin, a social platform for crypto users. Sahicoin recently landed $1.75M seed funding from Alameda Ventures, Better Capital, and other investors. In conversation with the ARO, he delves into what he’s been up to since Ashoka, his interest in the finance industry and what Ashoka means to him.

As a Fellow from the second batch of the Young India Fellowship, Melbin’s association with Ashoka spans for close to a decade. Reflecting on this journey, he thinks that the initial few batches defined the ethos of Ashoka and of YIF as a program. “The main thing that the Ashoka community fosters is participative decision making. This not only brings the community together but also gives incentive for Ashokans to be invested in the future of the University”, he says.

Melbin had completed his Bachelors in Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2011, but was haunted by the feeling that something was missing in terms of what he had learnt in college and how the real world worked. That’s what led him to the YIF. “That and my passion to work in the football industry”, he jokes. Post the Fellowship, this passion led him to ISL team Bengaluru FC where he headed the Soccer Schools and played a key role in scaling it up to 1000 students within a year. He then worked with Digital Green, an agri tech non profit, on creating an Uber-pool solution for farmers in Bihar and Maharashtra. 

His journey in crypto and blockchain technology started in early 2020 while he was working with Teller finance, a crypto start-up. He witnessed first hand the impact of crypto and blockchain in disrupting the finance industry. He was also able to pinpoint the resistance in mass adoption of the technology. “I realized that one of the key issues was that it was complex and difficult to understand. There weren’t many tools that would simplify it for people”, he says. As he was pondering on this, he reached out to his batch mates from IIT Kanpur — Amit Nayak and Ankush Rajput who had also independently been building their own thesis for their investments. 

Sahicoin was born out of long conversations among the three founders on how they could make crypto accessible. “We realized that people only invest if they get trusted signals from within their network. Sahicoin is built on one simple idea: Simplify crypto investments by investing and learning from people you already trust.” He draws strong parallels between the crypto industry now to the internet boom of the mid-90’s and believes that the next generation of innovations is set to take place in this space. Sahicoin has raised $1.75 million in the latest seed round led by Alameda Ventures (FTX), Better Capital, and others. 

As a co-founder of not one but two start-ups, he believes that entrepreneurship is a journey not a destination. He believes that while an entrepreneur must have conviction in their ideas, it is important to seek feedback and build on it. 

He signs off with a note to aspiring entrepreneurs, “Once you decide to become an entrepreneur, it is a lifelong journey of learning, breaking down your own biases, and rebuilding from scratch. An entrepreneur cannot do everything on their own. A major insight over here is to build conviction in your team about your vision as well as inspire them to achieve their own dreams.”

51���

Inclusive Incubation – Towards a New Dawn

We live in a time where changing the organisational logo into rainbow colors during Pride Month (rainbow washing in popular parlance) and having a D&I (Diversity & Inclusion) practice have become mandatory brand building theatrics. This is however an acceptance of the existence of diversity but how these organisations would fare if a D&I audit was conducted, is questionable. Are the single-digit percentage reservation in hiring, organisational policy stating ‘equal treatment for all regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation’, inclusive health policies, and gender-neutral washrooms enough?

Life is not always fair to those who do not identify between the binary genders. The way society treats them many times than not, does take a toll not only on their mental health but sometimes also on their physical well-being. The primary results of the societal ‘push to the edge’ are loss of professional opportunities, discrimination at the workplace, harassment, etc. Many of the non-binary people, especially trans people (more than two million approx.) are forced to live in dire poverty due to lack of skill-building and apt opportunities. The current pandemic has only worsened things for them like forcing many to go back to abusive homes, loss of complete livelihood, etc.
A finding from a public opinion could reflect the root cause for this issue. 41 percent of Indians would not want a homosexual neighbour, and 64 percent believe that homosexuality is never justified.

"Give a man person a fish and you feed him them for a day. Teach a man person to fish and you feed him them for a lifetime."

Some would say even the quote reeks of the dominance of one over the other(s), so we made it gender-neutral.

As India has successfully adopted the ‘starting up’ mindset by escaping from the ‘job seeking’ mentality, it has given rise to not just a robust startup ecosystem that is now moving into a ‘job creation’ zone by giving rise to multiple unicorns, big-ticket investments, and acquisitions.

Taking cues from the Indian Startup Story, ways can be found to achieve greater gender equality through enablement in the form of enhanced livelihoods. Earlier this year, the InfoEdge Centre for Entrepreneurship at 51��� was selected by the UNDP to design and deliver a unique and first-in-India incubation programme which would support innovative solutions for LGBTI Livelihoods and Gender Equality. The programme is not just a first step towards ‘teaching to fish’ but also an attempt to call upon the ‘new dawn’. The innovative solutions from across India being incubated belong to a wide spectrum.

For example, NachBaja.com, a startup from Bihar is founded by Reshma Prasad who identifies as a Trans person. The vision of the startup is to build a platform where performers from the community of Trans people can list their performing art as a service. This would prevent the exploitation of these artists where-in they are many a time not paid after their performances or have to face harassment. This initiative has also been granted financial grants by the UNAIDS.

A startup from the North-Eastern part of India, Ya All, founded by Sadam has been a pioneer in organising the Queer Games - North-East’s first sports league for trans-people besides working on the health and well-being of youth and LGBTI community of the North-East. Sadam’s relentless relief efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic have been recognised by the Dettol by featuring their photo on the covers of products. Sadam also features on the fifth episode of Apple TV’s The Me You Can’t See which is hosted by Oprah and Prince Harry.

The above two impact stories of the entrepreneurs who do identify themselves within non-binary gender identities are just test-case proof that the part of the workforce which is usually pushed to the edge, can come up as entrepreneurial leaders with a dollop of empathy in the mix of leadership traits because they realise from personal experiences how it feels to be harassed, bullied, to be cornered, and pushed to the edge. Eliminating them from the nation’s growth story is a natural loss to us and akin to anti-nationalism.

However, a true sense of inclusive incubation can only come about if the binary gendered also contribute towards gender equality. In our incubation programme, we have such entrepreneurs too who feel equally passionate about the cause and are up in arms.

For example, LonePack, co-founded by Siddharth Sudhakaran out of a personal experience aims to make resources on mental health education and treatment accessible for all. They realise that there is a higher prevalence of mental health issues with non-binary identity people, more so because of the pandemic. They claim that a study has found that people who identify as LGBTQ suffer higher rates of depression (11 to 90 percent individuals), anxiety (14 to 24 percent individuals), and substance abuse (45 to 65 percent individuals). Just launched in May ’21, their app has already exchanged more than 83k messages and counting.

Likewise, another incubatee, Priyal Agrawal started StandWe Speak with a vision to create a safe space for young people to learn about sex education. She realised the need for sex education when she interacted with sex offenders lodged in Tihar Jail who had no idea of consent and intimacy, and also had no empathetic source to learn about relevant content. StandWe Speak has already engaged with more than 2,000 students across 100 schools and colleges in India where many of them learned about concepts like consent, healthy relationships, sexuality, health and wellbeing for the first time. To reach out to the wider section of the society, they also conduct relevant podcasts and now are looking to transform themselves into a SexEd-Tech organisation. They have already begun the transformation by putting together specially curated, free-of-cost videos which educates about the various facets of sex education with a separate module on “Understanding Gender”.

Like in any social business pitch, an impact investor has a keen eye on the Impact slide, likewise, there would always be a scanner on our incubatees and the impact they are making, probably without any discount – that is the level of inclusivity we as an incubator would aim for. As Martin Luther King has said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step,” we along with our incubatee change-makers and partners have already taken a step towards a ‘new dawn’, others should too so that it shines upon us quicker than expected, and with LOVE and PRIDE for all.

The author is the Head of the Department, Entrepreneurship and Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship at 51���. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect that of 51���.

51���

Webinar – The changing nature of Corporate Law and Corporate Responsibility in India

The Ashoka Distinguished Policy Speaker Series cordially invites you to a distinguished webinar by Ms. Manjaree Chowdhary, Executive Director, and General Counsel, Maruti Suzuki, India on February 20, 2021 (Saturday) from 5:00-6:00 PM (IST).

She will be delivering the talk on – The changing nature of Corporate Law and Corporate Responsibility in India 

Date: February 20, 2021 (Saturday)

Time: 05:00-06:00 pm IST 

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented corporations all over the country with a turbulently dynamic legal and social business environment. The regulatory frameworks concerning India's corporate sector have been largely capricious in the last year, with strict operational regulations being imposed on one hand and flexibility being increased in certain sections of corporate affairs and compliance on the other.  Amidst these changes, the pandemic has also demonstrated to all businesses and firms the responsibility they hold toward society and the consequences of corporate social irresponsibility on their profits and images. It has made corporations of all kinds epiphanically realize the stake they hold in the long-term development of our society. As a result, the boundaries of what constitutes corporate responsibility are slowly changing alongside the laws that govern them. It is thus imperative that we discuss the changing nature of Corporate Laws and Corporate Responsibility at this juncture of crucial change, given the implications that they hold for us as societal stakeholders. This distinguished webinar by Ms. Manjaree Chowdhary will touch upon what these changes mean for India and its corporate citizens in the long-term future and the role public policy plays in driving them.

Speaker’s Bio

Ms. Manjaree Chowdhary, currently Executive Director, and General Counsel at Maruti Suzuki, India is an experienced general counsel with over 20 years of expertise in various industries, from the healthcare to automobile sector. She holds an LLM degree in Law and Development along with Corporate Law and was awarded the prestigious Felix Scholarship for the same. In the past, she has worked with various multinational conglomerates including, but not limited to, General Electric - Power, Healthcare; Genpact, and SABIC in eminent positions such as General Counsel (GE) and Vice President - Legal Affairs and Compliance (SABIC). She is also a member of the CII National Committee on Regulatory Affairs, in addition to being a visiting speaker at various top business schools such as IIM Bangalore, and law schools in India.�� 

Ms. Chowdhary has led significant industry initiatives such as the formulation of a “Voluntary Code of Ethics'' adopted by NATHEALTH, the National Healthcare Federation of India. She was awarded the “Outstanding Woman Leadership Achievement Award'' at the CXO and General Counsels Leadership Summit and Excellence Awards in February 2018, and shortly after, recognized as one of the twenty-five General Counsels for their contribution to the Indian corporate legal sector and felicitated at the Indo-UK Law Society Summit at the House of Lords in London in November 2018. She was recognized as the “General Counsel of the Year (Female) at the prestigious Legal Era Annual Legal Awards, 2020.  Most recently, she has become a part of the Elite BW Legal World Top 100 General Counsels of India, 2020.

----------------

The talk will be followed by a moderated Q&A session. For any questions, comments, or suggestions please write to us @Ashoka Distinguished Policy Speaker Series

51���

The ABC of Business: Masterclasses and Competitive Events

The business vertical of the Ashoka Business, Consulting, and Investments Club, organised 51���’s 2nd Ashoka Business Conclave 2019 last month. With an objective to empower the youth to ideate, innovate and implement business solutions, participants were asked to develop business and marketing plans in three events in the fields of Fashion Management, Restaurant Management and Film-Making and Marketing.

The Conclave had three competitive events, each preceded by a Masterclass, delivered by an expert. In addition there was a keynote speech by Ms. Shaili Chopra, business journalist, author and founder of SheThePeople.TV. Her speech focussed on journalism in a digital age, women empowerment, women and voting.

The first competitive event, Fashion Management, tested participants’ ability to build a fashion brand, develop a business and marketing plan around it, and handle a PR crisis on-the-spot. The Masterclass for this event was delivered by Ms. Monika Chaudhary, the founder of Lakme
Fashion Week brand, MonikaNidhii and focused building a business model around a fashion brand.

The second event, Restaurant Management evaluated participants on building a restaurant chain with a focus on marketing, revenue and cost. The Masterclass was delivered by Mr. Varun Tuli, founder of Delhi’s favourite Asian restaurant chain Yum Yum Cha, who explained how to start a restaurant chain.

The final event, Film-Making and Marketing was about creating an ad for a bottle of water, along with a marketing plan and a budget to support it. The Masterclass was delivered by Mr. Kireet Khurana, founder of Climb Media, also Bollywood director who has created more than 500 ad-films. He taught participants about the ideation behind films and advertisements and budgeting.

This year ABC 2019 took a different approach by providing delegates with the opportunity to directly interact with experts via the Masterclass and addressed the interest of students from various liberal arts fields.

51���

51��� in Partnership with Harvard Business School Hosted the First Batch of the Executive Programme on Strategic Nonprofit Management in India

August 2018: The Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) in partnership with the Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education and Dasra hosted the second batch of its executive programme on Strategic Nonprofit Management in India from 29^th July to 2^nd August, 2018at the 51��� Campus. The programme was be spearheaded by V. Kasturi Rangan, Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing and Co-chair of the Harvard Business School, Social Enterprise Initiative and Vikram S. Gandhi, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who delivered classes to senior leadership, trustees and board members of nonprofits organizations operating in South or Southeast Asia.

Inspired by Harvard Business School Executive Education’s successful Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management programme on the HBS campus in Boston, the Strategive Nonprofit Management in India programme was underwritten with financial support from 51��� by offering full scholarship to almost 60% of the participants.

Launched in 2017, the program explores best practices in nonprofit strategy, leadership, and governance, to prepare participants to build a high-performance organization. It is the only program for the nonprofit sector in India today that brings faculty from Harvard Business School (HBS) to India to facilitate sessions using the HBS case study methodology.

The programme curriculum focuses on planning for scale, performance measurement and improvement, and adopting a disciplined approach to strategy, governance, and operations to help emerging leaders at the forefront of the not-for-profit sector drive meaningful social change.

The Strategic Nonprofit Management—India program presents a new platform for executives to sharpen the  organization’s mission and strategy, design effective operational models, raise funds, and strengthen governance and leadership. Key lessons will come into focus as the classes will be constructed according to the critical challenges of the respective organizations. Return to work will mean building a high-performance organization that can fulfill its mission, expand its scope, and achieve its potential.

51���

Startup Ashoka 2017

By Centre for Entrepreneurship 

As a way of celebrating the National Entrepreneurship Day, the Centre for Entrepreneurship at 51��� organized Start-up Ashoka in November 2017 where 130 students participated.

Startup Ashoka is an annual 30-hour non-stop roller-coaster ride where aspiring entrepreneurs at 51��� are given a platform to come up with their big ideas and make them viable business plans. The event required participants to develop team- building and coordination skills through a variety of tasks, with the objective of introducing them to the concept of “Starting Up”. The event was facilitated by Apoorv Bamba, Innovation Manager at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and founder of Startup Safari, a global travel immersion program for young entrepreneurs.

Participants voted for the top 16 ideas from a pool of over 65 and then formed teams to work around these ideas to deliver their final pitches. The teams were mentored by industry experts consisting of Priyank Narayan, Director, Entrepreneurship Programs at 51���; Manish Upadhyay, Cofounder, LIQVID and Advisor to Central Square Foundation and AIM Smart City Accelerator; Kshitij Garg, Founder, Healers at Home; Vidushi Malhotra, CEO, Startup Safari; Deepak HariHaran, Founder, MentorYes and Prashast Srivastava, Co-founder, Saajha. The mentoring sessions helped the students gain insights on the business aspects and viability of their startup ideas. The keynote speech was delivered by Ms. Shreyasi Singh, Head Ed-Tech initiatives at 9.9 Media and author of the Wealth Wallahs.

Team Wearability bagged the first prize with their idea to empower the specially-abled by giving them an opportunity to experience fashion, comfort and happiness. The first runners-up were team Insolar, for a prototype of solar powered back covers for mobile phones. The second runners-up were team Jugaad AC who presented an air cooler made by using plastic waste and recyclable materials. The Jugaad AC is reportedly the world’s first-ever ‘zero electricity’ air cooler.

The top teams received cash prizes worth 25,000 apart from, exclusive mentorship from industry experts, free access to co-working spaces in Delhi, free credits on cloud computing platform (if required) and direct selection and discounted tickets to Startup Safari.

51���

Startup Ashoka 2017

By Centre for Entrepreneurship 

As a way of celebrating the National Entrepreneurship Day, the Centre for Entrepreneurship at 51��� organized Start-up Ashoka in November 2017 where 130 students participated.

Startup Ashoka is an annual 30-hour non-stop roller-coaster ride where aspiring entrepreneurs at 51��� are given a platform to come up with their big ideas and make them viable business plans. The event required participants to develop team- building and coordination skills through a variety of tasks, with the objective of introducing them to the concept of “Starting Up”. The event was facilitated by Apoorv Bamba, Innovation Manager at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and founder of Startup Safari, a global travel immersion program for young entrepreneurs.

Participants voted for the top 16 ideas from a pool of over 65 and then formed teams to work around these ideas to deliver their final pitches. The teams were mentored by industry experts consisting of Priyank Narayan, Director, Entrepreneurship Programs at 51���; Manish Upadhyay, Cofounder, LIQVID and Advisor to Central Square Foundation and AIM Smart City Accelerator; Kshitij Garg, Founder, Healers at Home; Vidushi Malhotra, CEO, Startup Safari; Deepak HariHaran, Founder, MentorYes and Prashast Srivastava, Co-founder, Saajha. The mentoring sessions helped the students gain insights on the business aspects and viability of their startup ideas. The keynote speech was delivered by Ms. Shreyasi Singh, Head Ed-Tech initiatives at 9.9 Media and author of the Wealth Wallahs.

Team Wearability bagged the first prize with their idea to empower the specially-abled by giving them an opportunity to experience fashion, comfort and happiness. The first runners-up were team Insolar, for a prototype of solar powered back covers for mobile phones. The second runners-up were team Jugaad AC who presented an air cooler made by using plastic waste and recyclable materials. The Jugaad AC is reportedly the world’s first-ever ‘zero electricity’ air cooler.

The top teams received cash prizes worth 25,000 apart from, exclusive mentorship from industry experts, free access to co-working spaces in Delhi, free credits on cloud computing platform (if required) and direct selection and discounted tickets to Startup Safari.

51���

Ashoka Students visit Startup Nation Israel to explore entrepreneurship

In the summer of 2017, five undergraduate students from 51��� completed a summer course in ‘Business Entrepreneurship’ at the prestigious Tel Aviv University in Israel. Israel is termed as the Startup Nation, courtesy the acclaimed book Startup Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle by Dan Senor and Saul Singer about the economy of Israel. It examines how Israel, a 60-year-old nation with a population of 7.1 million, was able to reach such economic growth (that at the start of 2009) -- some 63 Israeli companies were listed on the NASDAQ, more than those of any other foreign country.

Hence, studying entrepreneurship in the Startup Nation had its own advantages, as the students got to visit a number of accelerators and interact with successful entrepreneurs. They were accompanied by Vineet Gupta, Founder and Trustee, 51��� and Priyank Narayan, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Professor Mukesh Sud who teaches entrepreneurship at Ashoka.

Mili Anand, an undergraduate student who attended the summer course exclaimed that the program made her realize that entrepreneurial skills are not innate but can be learnt and honed. She further said that the topics covered were so basic on the surface, yet provided a great framework for generating and scanning ideas as well as preparing and improving one’s business model.

“The meetings organized for us after class hours with various entrepreneurs beautifully complemented what was being taught in class, as we got to see and learn how entrepreneurs have actually built their companies from ground up and what they learnt in the process. These interactions also went a long way in giving me a deeper understanding about the social and entrepreneurial culture in Israel,” said Anushka Kapur, another student who was a part of Ashoka’s cohort at Tel Aviv University.

(From left to right: Vineet Gupta, Mukesh Sud and Priyank Narayan)

Like most summer school programmes, our students not only enjoyed the programme but also got a chance to explore the wondrous city of Tel Aviv. Whether it was visiting Jerusalem, floating in the Dead Sea or looking over the border of Syria, they unanimously agreed that the experience was unparalleled.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship is the creative hub at 51��� that nurtures the entrepreneurial endeavours of all students, fellows, faculty and founders alike. With complete support from the founders of Ashoka, the CfE has some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country on board helping students make their dreams into reality.The Centre is committed to assisting students in every stage of the lifecycle of an enterprise– right from inspiration, ideation and initiation, to incubation, investments and internationalisation for both mainstream innovations as well as ventures around social innovation and sustainability.

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Ashoka welcomes the second cohort of Entrepreneurs in Residence Programme

November, 2016: This year, 11 Young India Fellows have come together to form the second batch of Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiR) for the Centre for Entrepreneurship housed at the Ashoka campus. The Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) programme is a 5-month programme open to the Young India Fellowship alumni of 51���. The underlying philosophy behind the programme is to offer avenues of growth to alumni intending to take their entrepreneurial ventures to the next level.

The EiR programme aims to provide a support platform for aspiring entrepreneurs at YIF; they get the opportunity to nurture their business ideas while being in a university environment.

“Entrepreneur in Residence programme (EiR) has a very dynamic cohort of startups this year. While we have interesting social ventures like Lets Endorse and Maadhyam, we also have ventures working in nextgen technologies like Crytocurrency and virtual reality. Total 11 EiRs are representing 9 startups, from across the various batches of Young India Fellowship”, Priyank Narayan, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship.

The programme provides classroom sessions, mentorship, networking possibilities and expert opinions to the selected entrepreneurs. The participants also receive a monthly stipend and optional accommodation on 51���’s campus as a part of the programme. Here is a snapshot of the 9 startups a part of the program this year.

Pramod Emjay Co-founder, CryptoMe, YIF Batch – 2012-13

Portfolio Management for Cryptocurrency Investments

CryptoMe is developing an automated, machine-learning supported system for creating a risk-weighted portfolio of cryptocurrency-based investments. CryptoMe’s prior work in the Blockchain space has covered remittances and microtransactions, as well as a successful manual trading strategy that has produced notable month-on-month profits.

Varun Kashyap Co-founder, Lets Endorse, YIF Batch – 2011-12

Partners in Sustainable Social Development

LetsEndorse is a multi-sided market-network bringing together the development ecosystem, to foster knowledge transfer about the most scalable innovative solutions across developmental issues, enable collaboration among stakeholders to co-create powerful projects and leverage community and network of do-gooders to mobilize funds, expertise and time for implementation and continuous assessment.

Monika Shukla Co-founder, Lets Endorse, YIF Batch – 2011-12

Partners in Sustainable Social Development

LetsEndorse is a multi-sided market-network bringing together the development ecosystem, to foster knowledge transfer about the most scalable innovative solutions across developmental issues, enable collaboration among stakeholders to co-create powerful projects and leverage community and network of do-gooders to mobilize funds, expertise and time for implementation and continuous assessment.

Maansi Verma Founder, Maadhyam, YIF Batch – 2014-15

Connecting Policy Stakeholders Through Technology

Maadhyam is a digital platform which will capture inputs from various stakeholders and use them for policy making with the help of technology applying the design thinking principles of empathy and co-creation. The objective is to overcome time and space constraint, enable exchange of information and provide opportunities for meaningful collaboration so that policy making becomes more participatory.

Mohit Gulati Co-founder, Kappde, YIF Batch – 2015-16​​​​​​​

Techno-Aaparel for Next Generation

Kappde is an apparel brand celebrating the confluence of technology (stimulus based dyes, Nanotechnology etc.), culture and fashion. Kappde intends to makes you feel confident and comfortable by providing high quality apparel reflecting your identity. We are committed to deliver the most fashionable and functional clothes that you would want to wear everywhere.

Arpit Jain Co-founder, Kappde, YIF Batch – 2015-16​​​​​​​

Techno-Aaparel for Next Generation

Kappde is an apparel brand celebrating the confluence of technology (stimulus based dyes, Nanotechnology etc.), culture and fashion. Kappde intends to makes you feel confident and comfortable by providing high quality apparel reflecting your identity. We are committed to deliver the most fashionable and functional clothes that you would want to wear everywhere.

Shahzaib Ahmed Founder, iViewd Technologies, YIF Batch – 2013-14​​​​​​​

Look around – Virtual Reality is here

iViewd aims to be a complete VR ecosystem which will cater to content creation, hardware innovation and offline VR experience setups. The idea is to allow the user a seamless VR experience and create an effective marketing channel for businesses through the medium of VR that offers an immersive and interactive user experience.

Himanshu Ranjan Co-founder, Chalk N Dust, YIF Batch – 2013-14​​​​​​​

Integrating Pedagogy and Technology

A chain of model learning centers on a mission to provide quality, accessible and affordable education that is focused on performance by integrating pedagogy and technology.

Soumit Saha Co-founder, The Hunger Cycle, YIF Batch – 2012-13

The Airbnb of Food from India

Project THC will unlock the authentic recipes from households across the world. Now everyone can cook and sell to everyone else. A host listing their meal will serve guests and they enjoy the authenticity of the host cooked meals. This will be the last move in the eating out paradigm.

Nidhiya V Raj Co-founder, Nirbhaya, YIF Batch – 2015-16​​​​​​​ 

Tracking Device to Prevent Human Trafficking

Nirbhaya is a tracking device that assists the organizations and authorities in human trafficking rescue operations. The project will be piloted mostly in Ranchi and product will be made available as an independent wearable as well as an add-on to existing accessories to cater the needs of various customer segment.

Sanjog Sahu Founder, Māti Farms, YIF Batch – 2011-12​​​​​​​

Building Soil, Building Democracy

Māti Farms is an initiative to redefine our relationship with food. We are biodiversity-friendly high-density farming from Eastern India. Combining proven traditional methods with contemporary principles of agroecology, we strive towards optimum production levels on limited acreage without externalizing the environmental costs of our operations.

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Startup Ashoka

Centre for Entrepreneurship’s vision is to create a culture where everyone dares to dream the unthinkable. Startup Weekend is an annual 3-day non-stop rollercoaster ride where aspiring entrepreneurs are given a platform to come up with big ideas and make them viable business plans.

Day 1 is centered around the “Art of Pitching.”All participants, eager to pitch their ideas, are given 60 seconds to sell their ideas to the group. Negotiation and marketing ensues, resulting in the top 15 ideas making it to Round 2. Over the course of the next two days, the participants with the best ideas meet their co-founders, brew their ideas over midnight bonfires, get mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and create convincing pitches to present before a jury.

For some, Startup Weekend is a reality check; It exposes their ideas to criticism and teaches them how a team functions. For others, it is a reaffirmation of the potential in their idea. Pushing creativity to new limits, this event is one where people make mistakes, learn to think big and forge long-lasting friendships.

CLICK HERE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT STARTUP ASHOKA

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An entrepreneur who wants to create micro entrepreneurs

Team Ashoka

Soumit Saha believes in having a bigger cake which he can share with others than to eat a small cake, all by himself. This is what reflects in the concept of his entrepreneurial venture— Dino,  an online marketplace that enables home chefs to host paid dining experiences using their signature dishes for guests at their residence. Soumit founded Dino with his Co-founder Sourabh Gupta whom he met at BITS. “Through Dino, we want to create micro entrepreneurs in each household. Everyone loves some side income. The concept is also about cultures and preserving our family recipes. Food connects people and everyone loves home food,” he says.

The idea of Dino was born as Soumit and Sourabh felt that people are losing the flavour of diverse cuisine home food and they don’t eat these delicacies much. Whenever he witnessed friends and family hosting dinners at homes, he thought why not do this at scale and let people make money from it.

Soumit Saha, the founder of DINO and the owner of the Hunger Cycle cafe at 51���, has worked in supply chain at a pharmaceutical major previously. He is an engineer from BITS Pilani and a Young India Fellowship Alumnus.

Just three months into launching Dino, Soumit and Sourabh have much to share about what customers think about it and the learnings they have already had. “We have done 20 hosted meals yet in our pilot and learnt a lot. Feedback has been good to great each time. We are flooded with requests from closet cooks,” says Soumit.  However, a startup’s journey is not as smooth as it seems. Any young startup would have challenges in this competitive market and so does Dino.  Though everyone loves home food but people don't want to pay a good price for it. “Customer’s willingness to pay has been diverted heavily towards good decor, imported ingredients, chef statuses and a desire to be popular on social media. That’s a key consumer insight,” he says.
 

When did the entrepreneurship bug bite Soumit? He started his career with pharmaceutical company Cipla and claims it to be the best place to start it. “Imagine having to swim the ocean on your first day of learning how to swim. It helped me learn so much and so fast that it shaped my work habits of today. After two years, I felt that the time was right to execute my dream of having my own restaurant.”  As an ardent lover of food who comes from a family of passionate home chefs, food was the most familiar area for him start a business.

It is strange how small instances inspire people to build the biggest of empires. Soumit recalls when he was a Young India Fellow in the year 2012 , eminent Journalist and media anchor Prannoy Roy  had laughed off at his four-year plan then to start his own restaurant saying that, it's got the highest fail rate. “So that word of caution was a motivator to start with meticulous planning,” says Soumit.

Apart from this, there are numerous memories of Fellowship which have contributed heavily in developing his perspectives and outlook towards life.  He says, “From Professor Dwight’s teaching of how to work in a team to the case approach in solving business challenges by Prof Rajiv Lochan to understanding oneself and people around you from Prof. Kenwyn’s classes, to appreciating design as a way to solve problems via ELM and Art courses to going into the depths of issues from my history classes, I feel I am the person I am today partly because of the mindsets the fellowship inculcated in me.”

Plans ahead for Dino

Dino is planning a pilot in Assam and Kashmir soon. “We’re also launching a budget line to target more users. Another metro city pilot will go off soon. A secret dinner format will be done in April-May. Dino will also start some experiential events curated by everyday folks around us. We’re finding synergies with other YIF startups to collaborate.” Dino will also be expanding its team this year by offering various internships and tying up with strategic partners.

It’s a great time to be starting up in India and Soumit too is enthusiastic about his startup. “We are a very fickle consumer base and brutal competition so it’s a worthy challenge. As we are a huge market in a growing economy, there is a lot of potential to scale-up,” he concludes.

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Glimpses from the two-day Entrepreneurs-In-Residence Workshop

Towards the mid of last month, the Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) at 51��� organised a two-day workshop for the members of  Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EiR) programme. The attempt of the workshop was to give a rounded view of entrepreneurship to various EiRs that run startups in different sectors. It covered diverse topics ranging from the importance of networking to how to make a pitch to investors or prospective clients.

Arpit Jain, Founder, Kappde and a Fellow from last year, who attended the workshop shared his takeaways from the workshop, “A mix of stalwarts from necessary sectors that every company should concentrate on,  several growth hacks and lean strategies-  all in all, enough pump to work for the next few months.”

The first day started with an introduction and keynote from Jairaj Bhattacharya, an alumunus of the YIF and Founder, Convegenius.  He spoke about his entrepreneurial journey and successfully leveraging the Ashoka network. Another highlight of the day was a session with Manish Upadhay, Co-founder of LIQVID, a Soft Bank group funded organization. He spoke about strategic aspects of scaling up.

Aspects covered in the workshop:

1. Early stage funding
2. Govt. schemes and funding for startups
3. Digital Marketing and Social Media
4. Legal aspects of Startups

The day ended with a crucial session by Dr. Shikha Suman, Founder and CEO Medimojo, a digital healthcare platform for storing, tracking and sharing health records on the. Having recently secured a substantial amount of investment for her own venture, she conducted a workshop on the art of pitching to investors. The entrepreneurs were given a day’s time to prepare a pitch which they had to present to Vineet Gupta, Founder and Trustee, 51��� the next day.

The workshop, an initiative by the EiR Programme at 51��� left the entrepreneurs enthusiastic and geared up for their endeavors. Priyank Narayan, Director, Entrepreneurship Programmes at the University noted the relevance of the workshop in the overall programme, ”EiR is an incubator programme designed to provide a launch pad for Ashoka alumni who have decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge. The programme provides comprehensive support such as – accommodation, office space, continuous mentoring, high quality relevant content and even a stipend to support the entrepreneurs’ initial days.”

Soumit Saha, Founder DINO and an EiR, concluded, “It was a session with the right mix of speakers for the right set of entrepreneurs at the right time given their stage in growth.”

The Entrepreneur in Residence is a five- month program open only to the alumni of 51���.

The underlying philosophy behind the program is to offer avenues of growth to alumni intending to take their entrepreneurial ventures to the next level. Through the program – the Center for Entrepreneurship tries to give wings to the entrepreneurial dreams of Ashoka alumni.

In its second year, the current EiR cohort has 11 members. The program provides classroom sessions, mentorship, networking possibilities and expert opinions to the selected entrepreneurs.

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AIM Smart City Accelerator Begins!

The AIM Smart City Accelerator Program started its work by preparing entrepreneurs from across India to inspiring talks and engaging activities about entrepreneurship. This preparation began with an on-site training program of two weeks, giving the startups an opportunity to not only informally mingle with each other but also learn from their peers and trainers. Soon the cohort headed to the off-site Noor Mahal in Karnal for inspiring talks and impactful activities. Back on 51��� campus, the Centre hosted goal-setting activities in one-on-one sessions with the entrepreneurs to detail out the finalized operating plans.

Startups interacted with Vineet Gupta, a seasoned entrepreneur and Pro-the Vice Chancellor at 51���. This brought in the perspective on the DNA of an entrepreneur-to set the need be an entrepreneur right and value of critical thinking and to take the strongest foot ahead to reach startup goals.

The entrepreneurs also interacted with Anirudh Rastogi, Himanshu Arya and Amit Mishra- about legal issues with a startup, Digital Marketing 101 and networking skills respectively. These sessions gave the diverse perspective for various elements needed to make a startup a success.

The second week started with a stakeholder development workshop by Prasanna at a spiritual retreat location in Delhi. Startups were assigned with the task to reach out to each and every possible customer, supporter or competitor and get their insights for the businesses.

The cohort interacted with Sujit Ghosh, Chief Innovation Officer, Dalmia Group and understood how an old company is reviving its energy with the upcoming new ideas and innovations to be in the market for the longer time. They also engaged with the leadership team of the Microsoft to learn how they are moving forward to support startups.

The week ended with the launch party, at the Lodhi Gardens, where Deep Kalra, Chief Guest for the event shared his words of wisdom with the startups to be successful. This event witnessed participation by various mentors, partners and supporters of not only the Aim SmartCity Accelerator Program but also of the larger startup eco-system of India.

With the hope to hit the targets and reach the set milestones, startups headed back to the cities they came from, because this event was just preparation- the real war is yet to be won.

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AIM Smart City Accelerator

The Dalmia Bharat Aim Smart City Accelerator program is a 20-week program supporting startups that provide solutions for Smart Cities. It is a partnership program of 51���, ISB Hyderabad, and Microsoft India.

This program supports startups in 10 smart city focus areas with a diverse and deep academic and industrial network along with financial support. It has also been identified as one of the top accelerators in the Indian eco-system by Inc42.

To know more about this program please visit- 

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Ashoka launches the Entrepreneurs in Residence Programme

July, 2015: This year, five Young India Fellows have come together to form the first batch of Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiR) for the Centre for Entrepreneurship housed at the Ashoka campus. The EiR programme aims to provide a support platform for aspiring entrepreneurs at YIF; they get the opportunity to nurture their business ideas while being in a university environment. These entrepreneurs have access to the ever-growing and diverse network of mentors, alumni and other fellow entrepreneurs at Ashoka.

The Fellows from the Class of 2015 – Anirudha Verma, Anoop Maurya, Apoorva Kamat, Dhruv Sharma and Sruthi Kande – have already begun their journey as entrepreneurs and are working diligently on their respective projects.

“The EiR programme is designed to provide a soft landing to aspiring entrepreneurs from Ashoka and has got a keen response from the Fellows, who are excitedly working on their ventures,” said Priyank Narayan, Director of the Centre.

Fellows have come up with innovative ideas and some of them are working tirelessly with a desire to give back to the society they live in. For instance, Apoorva Kamat and Sruthi Kande are busy meeting cobblers in Churu, Rajasthan as they decide on the design for the next range of products for their start-up, Karmantik. The start-up aims to foster sustainable livelihoods for artisans by reviving and preserving their traditional craftsmanship and helping them pass on their knowledge to future generations. Through their start-up, Apoorva and Sruthi wish to provide these craftsmen with the respect, better working conditions, market and livelihood opportunities that they feel they truly merit.

“We’re trying to get shoe-makers in Churu, Rajasthan to come on board for the project and are tirelessly working towards our goal to make exquisite and comfortable handcrafted footwear for the urban market,” says Sruthi. Apoorva Kamat, who was a Gandhi Fellow before he came to the YIF, feels that the EiR programme has presented them with a perfect opportunity to help their project incubate and flourish.

Each Fellow has a different reason for choosing to go the entrepreneurship route rather than after a regular job, “We came in to Ashoka knowing that we wanted to be entrepreneurs. We had some sketchy ideas of what we wanted to do. Engaging with every aspect of the Fellowship helped us arrive at our present idea. At the start of our entrepreneurial journey, we feel great to be in a simulating environment,” said Dhruv Sharma. Dhruv is working with Aniruddha Verma to create a platform that offers customised, individual and team experiences of varying durations to help students, graduates and young professionals make informed professional choices and career transitions.

Through their startup, Emergence, the duo will allow access to quality experiences that ease early stage ‘what next?’ decision-making. The two Engineering graduates hope to create something fresh and game-changing in the space for supplementary education and non-traditional experiential learning.

Another Fellow who feels the need to address grass-roots issues in India is Anoop Maurya. An alumnus of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, he is creating a platform for its 1.2 million strong alumni network, where they can connect and come together to give back to their school. JNV is a fully-funded residential and co-educational schooling system for rural students with more than 596 branches across the country.

Anoop intends to create a team of 60 like-minded individuals (professors, principals, teachers, lawyers, CAs, entrepreneurs and social activists) from more than 14 states of India and bring them together as the founding members of this mentorship project. ‘‘The ultimate aim of the project is to create an effective ecosystem with a dual objective of focusing on learning and then creating leadership in the school education system of India,’’ says an excited Anoop.

The CFE is already giving guidance and help through its resources to six other start-ups other than the ones under the EiR. This cohort of five will continue to work for their start-ups at the Centre for the next six months, after which the Centre will accept fresh applications.

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The Entrepreneur in Residence Program

The Entrepreneur in Residence is an exciting 5-month program that allows Fellows and undergraduate alumni to stay back on Campus after graduation, work on their entrepreneurial idea and take it to a fundable business plan stage. Through this process the entrepreneur is supported by the Centre and matched with a mentor. This program also provides access to world class content on venture development and business planning. Apart from this, being an Entrepreneur in Residence at Ashoka gives the alumni various perks like the privilege to stay on campus free of cost along with a stipend to work on their own venture!  The objective of this program is to provide a support platform for aspiring entrepreneurs at 51��� to nurture their business ideas in a university environment, having access to networks, mentors and other fellow entrepreneurs.  Application Process and FAQ’s:  What is the Entrepreneur in Residence Program? What is its objective?  An exciting 5-month program for 51��� alumni that allows them to stay on campus and work on their entrepreneurial ideas. The entrepreneur is supported by the Centre and has a mentor assigned to them so they can take their ideas to a fundable business plan stage. You not only stay on campus for free but also get paid to work on your own venture.  1. How is it different from similar incubators? 

• Weekly telephone updates with the EiR team of mentors
  • Monthly performance review with the EiR board
  • Regular evaluations at various stages of the program
  • Contact classes by renowned faculty
  • Demo day - Final idea presentation

 2. What kind of startups can participate?  As long as you can provide a proof-of-concept you can apply at any stage in your startup.  3. Who can apply ?  Any alumni of 51��� is eligible to apply for the program.  4. What are the program offerings? 

• Access to world class content on venture development and business planning.
• Access to investors and mentors (Experienced entrepreneurs and faculty).
• Scholarships up to Rs. 15,000/- awarded to deserving ideas.
• Access to co-working spaces.
• Optional accommodation on campus.

 5. What is the application procedure? 

• Online application can be filled here: https://ashokaprogram.typeform.com/to/MOsXif
• Interview with panel

 6. Do I have to stay on campus?  You only need to be present for the contact classes. Apart from that one can stay on/off campus as per their convenience.  7. What are the program expectations? 

• Full-time commitment to the program.
• Willingness to travel for contact sessions with industry experts.
• Contribute and assist in strengthening the Ashoka startup ecosystem.

 8. What is the application timeline?  The tentative dates for the program every year are as follows: 

• Application Deadline: 31st March
• Interviews: April second week
• Cohort Begins: 20th July
• Cohort Closure/Demo Day: 15th December

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