Indore: 50 startups to take part in i5 Summit started virtually

Indore: 50 startups to take part in i5 Summit started virtually

His address was followed by the speakers series, with the first speaker as the illustrious Kris Gopalakrishnan, Founder and Former CEO of Infosys.

Staff ReporterUpdated: Friday, October 02, 2020, 09:49 PM IST
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Indore: As many as 50 startups are going to take part in Central India’s largest entrepreneurship summit—the i5 Summit 2020 began at IIM Indore on Friday. The three-day event, jointly organised by IIM Indore and IIT Indore will witness various events including Speaker Series, Panel Discussion, Entrepreneurship Workshop, Start-up Expo, Pitch Deck Designing & Finance Workshop and Chai Pe Charcha.

In his inaugural address, IIM Indore director Prof Himanshu Rai spoke about the auspicious starting of the event on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and shared learnings that entrepreneurs can derive from Gandhi’s life.

“The 3 P’s- Purpose, Passion and Perseverance, are ideas that embodied Gandhi and should be words every entrepreneur should live by.”

His address was followed by the speakers series, with the first speaker as the illustrious Kris Gopalakrishnan, Founder and Former CEO of Infosys.

Gopalakrishnan spoke about how Science-Fiction novels of the past have become a reality now- “Technology is no longer about the future; it is about the now.”

He also attributed the continued operation of many non-tech industries like healthcare, education to technology and the intelligence revolution sweeping through India; especially India’s startup community. He concluded the talk with a question for the attendees to ponder upon – “Do you want to Live in a Better India, or do you want to Build a Better India?”

Second speaker was Neha Motwani, Co-Founder and CEO of Fitternity, India’s largest fitness marketplace. She spoke about how her entrepreneurial journey started out with a very data-based and a problem-solving approach in bridging the gap between the consumer and fitness infrastructure like gyms or studios that were being underutilized.

She described various facets of Fitternity’s business journey elaborating how in the Covid-19 pandemic, Fitternity is involved in “bringing the best of global fitness to your house.”

Noting the distinct lack of female entrepreneurs, Motwani also highlighted groups and communities that aim to provide a support system and mentorship for and by female entrepreneurs in India.

Next speaker was Rahool Pai Panandiker, who talked about the importance of building resilience in the current times. He initiated the discussion by mentioning his idols for resilience, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, and how one can also find instances of resilience in nature.

He defined resilience as the capacity to absorb shock, recover better, thrive and create competitive advantage after the storm has passed. He talked about how leaders can inculcate the mantra of resilience to move forward. He mentioned how fundamental it is for companies to decode ways they can develop a contingency plan to absorb the shockwaves of disruptions such as that of Covid-19. He further went on to elaborate the 6 factors that drive resilience - Prudence, Redundancy, Diversity, Modularity, Embeddedness and Adaptivity. His insightful talk was followed by inquisitive questions from the audience.

The first day of the summit provided a platform for the participants not only to present their ideas to the stalwarts but also learn from their experiences. The second day of the Summit would have a panel discussion with industry leaders like Venkatesh Sarvasiddhi, Girish Ananthanarayanan, Ranjan Singh and Sonam Wangchuk interacting with IIM Indore’s director Rai and faculty Prof Sneha Thapliyal. It will have some more speaker sessions by Dr Hariprasad, Vivek Bajaj and Shantanu Deshpande.

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