The “International Seminar on Entrepreneurship” organised by Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay from March 16-18, 2006, provided a platform for the faculty and research scholars of management and behavioural sciences, consultants, trainers, counselors, administrators, and executives to share their research-findings, thoughts, and experiences. The audience had an opportunity to listen to talks by distinguished speakers like Prof. Ishwar Dayal, former director I.I.M, Lucknow, Dr. Shailesh J. Mehta, President Granite Hill Capital Ventures, U.S.A., Prof. M.R. Rao, Dean ISB, Hyderabad, Prof. Stephen Eppienger, Dean M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, U.S.A. and Prof. Brian Dabson, University of Missouri, U.S.A. The seminar was sponsored by Bank of Baroda, MTNL, and L&T.;
On the last day of the seminar, a one – day student event titled “Navonmesh” was held. The highlight of this event was the Grand finale of “B – Samadhan”, the national level business strategy competition in which three teams from VGSOM, I.I.T. Kharagpur, I.I.T., Bombay and N.I.T.I.E, Mumbai locked horns with each other. The teams had to devise the growth strategy for Educomp Solutions Ltd. The CEO of the company Mr. Shantanu Prakash came in person to judge the competition and delivered an inspiring talk of his journey in creating Educomp Solutions Ltd and introducing novel initiatives in the education technology space. The team from I.I.T, Bombay consisting of Ankur Gulati, Saurabh Gupta and Ankur Gattani, bagged the first place.
A panel discussion entitled “Inside the entrepreneurial mind: Creative solutions to overcome the roadblocks in starting/growing a company” brought budding and successful entrepreneurs together. The meaningful insights provided by the diverse panel consisting of Mr. R. Sriram Enterprise Facilitator, CEO & Managing Director, Crossword Bookstore Ltd, Mr. Indy Sarker, CEO & MD, Analec Infotech Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Minoo Dastur, Co-founder, Executive Vice President & COO, Nihilent Technologies, Mr. Vardan Kabra, Founder & Incharge, Fountainhead Education Foundation were well appreciated. The session was moderated by Mr. Manoj Khatri, Consulting Editor, Strategic Marketing.
The evening saw a lighter mood settle upon the audience. Fun@entree, a creative and entertaining event enthused the participants to come up with wacky promotion ideas for an FMCG product. Navonmesh was sponsored by Educomp, Aramex and RadioCity.