REPORT ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARENESS CAMP (EAC)

Don Bosco College of Engineering kick started three days Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp (EAC) for Second Year Engineering students of Computer Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and Final Year Students of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering from 23 to 25 January 2020. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) under the DST-NIMAT Project sponsored the camp.

On Day 1 at the inauguration, Principal, Dr. Neena Panandikar welcomed all the participants and appreciated them for choosing Entrepreneurship as their career option. Director, Fr. Kinley D’Cruz spoke about the first generation entrepreneurs and motivated the participants to ideate and think and start. Amey Tilve, I&E-Cell Faculty Coordinator briefed the students about the objectives of the camp and the itinerary.

The first speaker Tarun Krishnakumar, Director, Ulavan Agritech Services spoke on the present scenario of Entrepreneurship and encouraged the students to think beyond their normal scenario and look out for problem areas.

Our Alumni Rohit Sankpal, Batch 2019, Computer Engineering narrated his journey of his start-up – Internship Station. The participants asked many questions and were curious to know why he took up this start-up.

The second speaker Suwarna Surlakar, Director, FunMinds Learning Tech Pvt. Ltd. spoke on Business Opportunities and Mechanisms. She encouraged students to start thinking about projects in the third year and start building on problem statement that would one day fetch business.

The next session was on IPR and Patents by Sudip Faldesai, Project Officer, Goa State Innovation Council. He discussed the importance of patents and the need to safeguard ideas. He explained the process and advantages of patenting.

On Day 2, Tushar Sawant, Incubation Manager at FiiRE explained the government schemes available for startups and small businesses. He described the Chief Minister Rojgar Yojana and the Prime Minister Revenue Generation Scheme.

Sushant Surlakar, Founder Emerging Minds Academy spoke on the Charm of Becoming an Entrepreneur, Creativity and Problem Solving in the next session. He showed them practical real world businesses like Amazon, Nirma, Flipkart that started small by identifying problems in society but grew into giant businesses.

Post lunch session was on Choice of Technology by Vivek Jog, Assistant Professor, Don Bosco College of Engineering. He spoke on ideation and the need to convert that idea into a business model. He provided information on the technology used and gave reference of a few websites too.

The day ended with a visit to FiiRE, our Technology Business Incubator and the students interacted with the founders of some of the start-ups. Insheyah Ali, Community Manager, FiiRE spoke about FiiRE – (Forum for Innovation Incubation Research & Entrepreneurship) and incubation processes to help startups visualize and build prototypes.

On the third day, Anandkumar Lotlikar, Founder, Deviant Strokes conducted a session on the Business Model Canvas. He gave examples of the various business models of large and renowned companies.

The next session was on Soft Skills and its importance in Business conducted by Rohini Gonsalves, Founder, Sevarat. She narrated her own journey as an entrepreneur and the balance of soft skills needed to survive.

At the Valedictory, Fr. Kinley D’Cruz spoke about FiiRE and the fire within each of the potential entrepreneurs. He guided the students to ideate, to think and to speak and one day they will have successful stories to tell. He later distributed the certificates to the enthusiastic participants. Mathilda Colaco, I&E-Cell Faculty Coordinator thanked the management for the support and all the participants for an overwhelming response.

The camp saw active participation of 80 students who were made aware of the various rules, regulations, documentation required to start their own business. The students had a good learning experience and were motivated to take the first step towards being their own boss.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell organized the EAC coordinated by Avila Naik, along with the faculty members Mathilda Colaco, Amey Tilve, Manjunath Narwate and Satyesh Kakodkar.